Original Post
I appologize if this question has been asked hundreds of times in one form or another. Also, I realise this is subject to personal opinion. What would be the top recommendations for a book that covers 3D graphics engine architecture, and incorporate the most currently used features. It seems that I can never find one good reference. If you were looking for a book that covered designing an engine that included features like: Spatial partitioning Global illumination (Spherical Harmonics-PRT/Radiosity) Curved Surfaces Particle physics Stencil effects/Shadows Mip Mapping/Bump Mapping/Displacement Mapping Light Mapping/Dark Mapping Fog volumes Skeletal Animation Vertex and Pixel Shaders using HLSL Billboards/Decals Terrains Rag Doll physics Etc... (All the other modern things that are useful) Which would you purchase? Of course, I have looked into the new book "3D Game Engine Architecture: Engineering Real-Time Applications with Wild Magic" which really appears to cover many of these topics, but also looks to be a book length API reference and less of a how-to do it yourself. Here is what one of the reviewer's had to say: Credo Interactive has been using the WildMagic API for the past 3 years in various commercial projects. 3D Game Engine Architecture provides an excellent source of theoretical background and practical usage information for the API. Together the textbook and the WildMagic sourcecode form a comprehensive and well designed foundation for any 3D application." —Lars Wilke, Director of Development, Credo Interactive Inc. I know it's a lot to ask for one great book that has everything. But can someone help me weed out the multitude of offerings that are basically outdated, or useless for creating your own original work? Thanks for your time... [Edited by - VinnyC on December 23, 2004 1:33:07 PM]