3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development

by Fletcher Dunn, Ian Parberry

This engaging book presents the essential mathematics needed to describe, simulate, and render a 3D world. Reflecting both academic and in-the-trenches practical experience, the authors teach you how to describe objects and their positions, orientations, and trajectories in 3D using mathematics. The text provides an introduction to mathematics for game designers, including the fundamentals of coordinate spaces, vectors, and matrices. It also covers orientation in three dimensions, calculus and dynamics, graphics, and parametric curves.

Genres: Programming, Mathematics, Computer Science, Nonfiction, Technical, Reference, Technology

846 pages, Hardcover

First published June 21, 2002

Reviews

[Mark Simpson]

Most mathematics books are very dry, and almost appear to be written for the people who already understand the concepts.

While not as complete or mathsy as a lot of the others I've read, this book goes to great lengths to demonstrate geometric interpretations, answering questions like, "What does a matrix 'look' like?", "What does a coordinate space transformation 'look' like?" and things of that ilk -- tremendously useful. This book helped me a great deal during university and gave me a much better understanding of the concepts.

I'm not really a fan of the source code listings in the book, as they're plentiful and not particularly to my taste, but the rest of the book is great.

[Mariano Bessone]

It's a great book to start on this topic. Maybe you can complement it with an OpenGL book.
It has exercises in each chapter, they're very good to check progress.

[yu]

A really good 3D math introduction with dad jokes included :P

A must-read for game engine developers & computer graphics programmers.

[Erwinsmith]

Narrative-driven experiences, such as diaries or books, often inspire in-game storylines and character development. Drawing from literature allows developers to create more immersive and emotionally engaging games. Consulting game outsourcing provides insights into structuring narratives and integrating them into gameplay. Gaming is enriched by thoughtful storytelling. Well-crafted narratives help maintain player interest. They also make gameplay feel meaningful and memorable.

[Kevin Jeong]

Surprisingly light and easy to read given the density and dryness of the subject matter. I still refer to this text from time to time at work and the clean structure of the book makes it easy to do so.

My only complaint (and it is a minor one) is that I wish it went a little bit more in depth about practical applications/performance especially in the gameplay/3C context.

[Wanderer]

It's incredibly rare to find answers to exercises within a book. Great candidate for self-learning.
Bravo to the authors!
Quaternions are discussed in great detail, as opposed to other similar books available to the market.
Thorough examples aren't somewhat present, but still better than other books.

All in all, I like the book. I'll update this review at a later date.

[Ram]

I believe this would the best all in all book to understand computer Graphics from scratch

[Satyaki]

https://www.gamemath.com/

[Hoanh Le]

a bit slow and verbose for my taste, might come back when i continue to work on my path tracer project again.

[Jer]

Shawn P recommended this book for us non-CIS guys that want to get deeper into 3D. Worked with him on an animated film, before he left to work at a major game studio. Great guy, very knowledgeable... what I'm sayin is, I trust his judgment.