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Fundamentals of Computer Graphics

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The third edition of this widely adopted text gives students a comprehensive, fundamental introduction to computer graphics. The authors present the mathematical foundations of computer graphics with a focus on geometric intuition, allowing the programmer to understand and apply those foundations to the development of efficient code.

New in this Edition Four new contributed chapters, written by experts in their fields: Implicit Modeling, Computer Graphics in Games, Color, Visualization Revised and updated material on the graphics pipeline Expanded treatment of viewing that improves clarity and consistency while unifying viewing in ray tracing and rasterization Expanded coverage of triangle meshes and mesh data structures

744 pages, ebook

First published June 15, 2002

33 people are currently reading
405 people want to read

About the author

Peter Shirley

16 books1 follower
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Other authors publishing under this name are:


Peter Shirley, UK wildlife writer and columnist
Peter Shirley, American computer scientist and computer graphics researcher

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5 stars
37 (30%)
4 stars
43 (34%)
3 stars
32 (26%)
2 stars
8 (6%)
1 star
3 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Zephyr.
10 reviews
Currently reading
July 12, 2025
It is better than real-time rendering imo. It does a better job explaining.
67 reviews
March 26, 2009
this book does a great job of covering the fundamentals of computer graphics, but leaves some parts of the book too vague for an introductory text. In making my ray-caster and ray-tracer, it would have been helpful to have some of the trickier parts spelled out in more detail.
Profile Image for Andrew Medlin.
2 reviews
August 5, 2017
Superb book covering all the fundamental techniques and mathematics behind computer graphics. Great for those interested in the engineering behind both CGI and computer games. Includes fantastic full chapter primers on projection, linear algebra and matrices.
Profile Image for Rudolf.
6 reviews
February 2, 2022
A very basic introduction to Computer Graphics. Get Wrecked. I love it since it helped me to pass the exam.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Khashayar Ghavami.
9 reviews2 followers
March 31, 2024
While the book covers the fundamentals of computer graphics well, it is many times too shallow in terms of explanation and the mathematics behind the models and algorithms
Profile Image for Fatima.
450 reviews2 followers
July 24, 2024
reading it a third time for cs248a this time. I still don't like it! so dry :(. I often fall asleep trying to read it maybe graphics isn't my thing 🤷‍♀️

Second reading was in 2023.

First reading was for cs148a in 2015
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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