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View Full Version : need advice on computer graphics book



Houman
January 22nd, 2007, 02:27 PM
hi all,

I am taking a computer graphics course and unfortunately my instructor is, how do i say, AWFUL. He makes concepts so difficult to understand. And also he doesn't require a text book for the course (which is something I always hate) and also his course notes are less than adequate.

Anyways I need to buy a computer graphics book and I would like some advice. Couple months ago I bought the Red Opengl book and I regret it very badly because after buying it I realized its not for beginners at all (its taking dust on the bookshelf now). So this time I wont let that happen.

So far I am down to three choices:

1- Fundamentals of Computer Graphics, Peter Shirley, et al.
2- Computer Graphics with OpenGL (3rd Edition), Donald Hearn, M. Pauline Baker
3- Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice in C, James D. Foley, et al


So far I am leaning towards the 2nd one, but my fear is that concepts are not explained throughly enough in favor of explaining the API (which has secondary importance).

what do you think?

regards

Houman

hod139
January 22nd, 2007, 02:44 PM
I've used the second book and recommend it. The downside is that it is pretty expensive. The Hearn and Baker book with the OpenGL red book is a good pairing. Another book that is pretty good (but not targeted at beginners) is Advanced Animation and Redering Techniques by Alan and Mark Watt (http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Animation-Rendering-Techniques-Press/dp/0201544121).

Josh1
January 22nd, 2007, 02:50 PM
You could always complain.

Houman
January 22nd, 2007, 02:56 PM
hi there;
thanks hod139, I see youre a CG person yourself, so I guess I cant go wrong with your advice, (and yes, the price is awful, 120 bucks in canada).

As for complaining, I like the instructor, he is a very nice fella, and he knows his stuff. But he is just not good at explaining, once I thought I was having a brain stroke while he was teaching about quaternions :|

So I couldn't do that to him, he is very helpful which makes up for his lack of teaching skills.

Edit: And please people, never buy the redbook if you're a beginner, no matter how much people recommend it (yea its the best reference/tutorial if you already know alot of computer graphics and you're familiar with opengl, but it definitely is not a tutorial)

regards

Houman

Grey
January 22nd, 2007, 03:41 PM
I learned out of the Red Book... seriously, what's with the Red Book hate?

Houman
January 22nd, 2007, 07:08 PM
I said its a great book if you have some background, but if you dont, there are better places to start from. Thats all.

Wybiral
January 22nd, 2007, 09:29 PM
I learned a lot of OpenGL from the red/blue books too. I think all you need is a decent understanding of vector and matrix mathematics and a good reference to the API you are using... So grab some vector/matrix math how-to's and a reference like the red/blue books and you should be ok.

jblebrun
January 23rd, 2007, 05:45 AM
When I took CG, the nehe tutorials helped me immensely:

http://nehe.gamedev.net/

davek20
January 23rd, 2007, 06:23 AM
The book that my graphics course is using is "Computer Graphics using OpenGL 2nd edition" by F.S. Hill. It's a pretty good book. My prof said the 3rd edition just came out but thats all he said about it, (he told us to get the 2nd edition). The concepts are explained clear (for me anyway), gives examples every now and then and the code written in the book is in C++. The only thing I wish the book had is the answers to the questions in the book (they probably are online somewhere)

Like the others said, a good understanding of vectors and matrices really helps out. I also used NeHe's tutorials are very well put together and explain things really good.

Grey
January 23rd, 2007, 05:37 PM
Linear Algebra and Cartesian Vectors are definitely things that should be well understood before ever learning 3D graphics. Doing otherwise would be like trying to learn how to program without knowing algebra.

amo-ej1
January 25th, 2007, 07:58 AM
I'd also try F.S. Hill 's book. The red book is OpenGL for computer graphics while Hill's book is more computer graphics with OpenGL, a little different in emphasis.

But I think you should first get to know what all subjects touched by your course will be and then search for a book touching an as large as possible subset of those points. Like now you're getting suggestions for C & OpenGL based books, while you've said nowhere you're taking a OpenGL based course (you buying the red book might be a little hint though).

But when I had a computer graphics course, we didn't touch any OpenGL at all. We basicly had a whole bunch of mathematics mainly in the direction of CAGD and the background behind that all.