Modern Graphics Programming Primer: Improve Your Graphics Programming Skills by Understanding the Theory and Hardware

by Hans de Ruiter

There are plenty of tutorials out there that teach how to program graphics cards to generate imagery. However, simply following tutorials alone will only get you so far. Understanding how a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) works and the theory they’re built on will make you a more effective graphics programmer. Think about it for a moment, if you understood how a machine works, what it can do and why, would you be better at using that machine? Absolutely! This e-book will give you this extra knowledge. Once you understand how the GPU works you’ll be able to think creatively instead of blindly following tutorials. You’ll think of better ways to achieve the results you want, and possibly even come up with new techniques. The ebook doesn’t try to cover everything in full detail. Instead, it covers the core fundamentals you need to get This e-book is intended to be read with the companion “Getting Started with OpenGL ES 3+ Programming” tutorial series. The tutorials cover the practical “how-to” side; taking you from zero to rendering a basic 3D scene with lighting. Be sure to get the tutorials too. Hans de Ruiter is a software engineer with a background in computer vision and graphics. As a child/teenager he taught himself programming, constructed electronic circuits from kitsets, and also had a keen interest both science and in building things himself. He persued these interests further at university, going all the way through to a Ph.D. (at the University of Toronto). He’s written both graphics software and graphics drivers, giving him a broad understanding of how modern graphics cards work.

57 pages, Paperback

Published February 18, 2019

Reviews

[Bogdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good book for beginners, describing the graphics pipeline. The simple pictures are efective and the flow is nice and easy to follow. The math is described easily.
I just wished the code would be available as a project on GitHub instead of filling out half of the book. The other half could have been filled with more information. Maybe some details about OpenGL and the difference between OpenGL and OpenGL ES. I enjoyed reading the book but I wished it went a bit deeper with the graphics pipeline .

[Wallace Obey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super 10,000 ft view of intro to graphics programming. Coming in, I understand most things in the book. They had some good visuals that helped visuals the vector math. I definitely recommend to anyone interested in starting out with graphics programming.