Foundations of 3D computer graphics (Q2855956)

The book is a concise introduction to the concepts of computer graphics, in particular to the algorithms needed to produce 3D graphics. Much of the covered material are things that we need to know to do 3D computer graphics, but also there are explanations about what is going on inside of OpenGL. An understanding of the presented material is essential to become a highly competent computer graphics programmer.NEWLINENEWLINEThe book is divided into five parts. Part 1 is devoted to some basic concepts of OpenGL (what it is, how it works) and linear algebra (vectors, bases, affine transformations etc.) which are essential in algorithms of 3D computer graphics and their implementation. Part 2 begins with the introduction of quaternions and their usage to represent rotations in 3D. Next, the arcball interface is introduced. The part ends with the problem of smooth interpolation with cubic Bézier functions, Catmull-Rom splines and spherical linear interpolation of quaternions. The third part deals with cameras and rasterization. It covers projections, the visibility problem, clipping, backface culling and rasterization. In Part 4 we find information about pixels. This part starts with modeling of materials (diffuse, shiny, anisotropic). Next, the problem of texture mapping together with some basic algorithms (normal mapping, environmental mapping, projector texture mapping) are introduced. Sampling, reconstruction and resampling problems are then presented. Part 5 is devoted to some advanced topics in computer graphics. It starts with the introduction to computer color spaces used in computer graphics. Next, some very basic concepts of ray tracing are introduced, and light and its simulation is presented from a technical point of view. This part ends with an introduction to geometric modeling and animation. At the end of the book there are two appendices. In Appendix A we find a template program for 2D graphics application written in OpenGL, and in Appendix B some information about affine functions.NEWLINENEWLINEThe book is presented in a very accessible fashion. The author gives many examples presenting the notations and problems which are considered, so it makes learning easier. Every chapter except Chapter 18 (Resampling) ends with exercises, both theoretical and programming. It is suitable for upper-level computer science/math/physics undergraduate students with at least one year of programming experience and at least elementary understanding of linear algebra.