Computer Graphics from Scratch: A Programmer's Introduction to 3D Rendering

Description

Computer Graphics from Scratch demystifies the algorithms used in modern graphics software and guides beginners through building photorealistic 3D renders. Computer graphics are at work everywhere today, adding eye-popping details to video games, hyper-realistic CGI to major blockbusters, and life-like imagery to computer-animated films. This beginners book will introduce you to a core slice of this ever-expanding field, 3D rendering, with a focus on two popular algorithmic methods: raytracing and rasterization. Written to be easily understood by high-school students but rigorous enough for professional engineers, you’ll build each of these surprisingly simple algorithms into complete, fully functional renderers as you build your knowledge base. The first half covers raytracing, which simulates rays of light as they bounce off of objects in a scene; the second half breaks down rasterization, the real-time process for converting 3D graphics into a screen-compatible array of 2D pixels. Every chapter gives you something visually new and exciting to add to your works-in-progress, from creating reflections and shadows that make objects look more realistic, to rendering a scene from any directional point of view. You’ll learn how to: • Represent objects in a scene, and use perspective projection to draw them in • Compute the illumination for light sources (point, directional, and ambient) • Render mirror-like reflections on surfaces, and cast shadows for depth • Use clipping algorithms to render a scene from any camera position • Implement flat shading, Gouraud shading, and Phong shading algorithms • "Paint” textures that fake surface details and turn shapes into everyday objects The book uses informal pseudocode throughout the text, so you can write your renderers in any language. In addition, the author provides links to live working versions of his algorithms. Brief Contents Contents in Detail Acknowledgments Introduction Who This Book Is For What This Book Covers Why Read This Book? About This Book About the Author Chapter 1: Introductory Concepts The Canvas Coordinate Systems Color Models Subtractive Color Model Additive Color Model Forget the Details Color Depth and Representation Color Manipulation The Scene Summary Part 1: Raytracing Chapter 2: Basic Raytracing Rendering a Swiss Landscape Basic Assumptions Canvas to Viewport Tracing Rays The Ray Equation The Sphere Equation Ray Meets Sphere Rendering our First Spheres Summary Chapter 3: Light Simplifying Assumptions Light Sources Point Lights Directional Lights Ambient Light Illumination of a Single Point Diffuse Reflection Modeling Diffuse Reflection The Diffuse Reflection Equation Sphere Normals Rendering with Diffuse Reflection Specular Reflection Modeling Specular Reflection The Specular Reflection Term The Full Illumination Equation Rendering with Specular Reflections Summary Chapter 4: Shadows and Reflections Shadows Understanding Shadows Rendering with Shadows Reflections Mirrors and Reflection Rendering with Reflections Summary Chapter 5: Extending the Raytracer Arbitrary Camera Positioning Performance Optimizations Parallelization Caching Immutable Values Shadow Optimizations Spatial Structures Subsampling Supporting Other Primitives Constructive Solid Geometry Transparency Refraction Supersampling Summary Part 2: Rasterization Chapter 6: Lines Describing Lines Drawing Lines Drawing Lines with Any Slope The Linear Interpolation Function Summary Chapter 7: Filled Triangles Drawing Wireframe Triangles Drawing Filled Triangles Summary Chapter 8: Shaded Triangles Defining Our Problem Computing Edge Shading Computing Interior Shading Summary Chapter 9: Perspective Projection Basic Assumptions Finding P’ The Projection Equation Properties of the Projection Equation Projecting Our First 3D Object Summary Chapter 10: Describing and Rendering a Scene Representing a Cube Models and Instances Model Transform Camera Transform The Transform Matrix Homogeneous Coordinates Homogeneous Rotation Matrix Homogeneous Scale Matrix Homogeneous Translation Matrix Homogeneous Projection Matrix Homogeneous Viewport-to-Canvas Matrix The Transform Matrix Revisited Summary Chapter 11: Clipping An Overview of the Clipping Process The Clipping Volume Clipping the Scene Against a Plane Defining the Clipping Planes Clipping Whole Objects Clipping Triangles Segment-Plane Intersection Clipping Pseudocode Clipping in the Rendering Pipeline Summary Chapter 12: Hidden Surface Removal Rendering Solid Objects Painter’s Algorithm Depth Buffering Using 1/Z instead of Z Back Face Culling Classifying Triangles Summary Chapter 13: Shading Shading vs. Illumination Flat Shading Gouraud Shading Phong Shading Summary Chapter 14: Textures Painting a Crate Bilinear Filtering Mipmapping Trilinear Filtering Summary Chapter 15: Extending the Rasterizer Normal Mapping Environment Mapping Shadows Stencil Shadows Shadow Mapping Summary Afterword Appendix: Linear Algebra Points Vectors Representing Vectors Vector Magnitude Point and Vector Operations Subtracting Points Adding a Point and a Vector Adding Vectors Multiplying a Vector by a Number Multiplying Vectors Matrices Matrix Operations Adding Matrices Multiplying a Matrix by a Number Multiplying Matrices Multiplying a Matrix and a Vector Index