Learning DirectX

I think that "Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus-Advanced 3D Graphics and Rasterization" by André LaMothe is a good book to learn the mechanism behind the 3D engine. Then you could easy learn any api whit the built-in help-section.

If you want to be able to innovate and then use D3D to implement your ideas, you're going to have to go a little beyond what's in most API books.

The best thing to do is probably read a good general 3D graphics book along side a good D3D book.

As the previous poster has mentioned, LaMothe's Advanced 3D Graphics book will teach you how to build a complete software rasterizer. Notice that I said "software". That's an important distinction because the material in the book does not use D3D or OpenGL at all. It is meant to teach the underlying theory of rasterization.

LaMothe's book is good for teaching you how to implement in software what D3D and OpenGL are doing underneath. However, not all graphics techniques fit in the standard graphics pipeline. For a general 3D book, I would recommend Real-Time Rendering, 2nd ed. by Möller and Haines. For a good D3D book, check out the reviews here on GameDev and on Amazon and pick the one which best suits your needs.

neneboricua

[edited by - neneboricua19 on May 15, 2004 2:08:07 PM]

I agree with the others. I two own TOT3GPG. I also just bought Real Time Rendering 2nd Edition . However, these books are great but don't over look what everyone seems to over look--the SDK documentation. Everyone goes to it when there's a problem, I recommend reading it in its entirety. For one, it's straight from the creator (Microsoft) and includes very good tutorials that take you step by step (creating a window to making your own programmable graphics pipe line with vertex/pixel shaders). Plus, there are not any errata that you may find in books that essentially dumb down what is in the documentation.

So...

1) Get a great conceptual graphics book. (Real Time Rendering)
2) Get a book that helps with putting together a 3D Engine. (TOT3GPG)
3) Read the entire SDK managed/unmanaged C++/C#/VB documentation.


[edited by - DIRECTXMEN on May 15, 2004 7:39:30 PM]

For starting out learing DirectX I can''t reccomend "Programming Role Playing Games With DirectX" by Jim Adams enough. The version I have is for DX8 but there is supposedly a new version coming out which may be a DX9 update (check Aazon). Regardless, there are very few changes in DX9 that effect the book (most of the time you just have to add a NULL parameter to a few function calls).

You learn all sorts of things from the book like texturing, mesh handling, quad / octrees, picking, lighting, 2D in 3D, tile engine, billboarding, view frustum etc. It''s a great compendium and reference for beginners. Once you are comfortable with these concepts you progress by building on them and applying them to your own projects.