Black Art of 3D Game Programming_ Writing Your Own High-Speed 3D Polygon Video Games in C

Description

WELCOME TO OUR NERVOUS SYSTEM

Some people say that the World Wide Web is a graphical extension of the information superhighway, just a network of humans and machines sending each other long lists of the equivalent of digital junk mail.

I think it is much more than that. To me the Web is nothing less than the nervous system of the entire planet—not just a collection of computer brains connected togeth- er, but more like a billion silicon neurons entangled and recirculating electro-chemical signals of information and data, each contributing to the birth of another CPU and another Web site.

Think of each person’s hard disk connected at once to every other hard disk on earth, driven by human navigators searching like Columbus for the New World. Seen this way the Web is more of a super entity, a growing, living thing, controlled by the universal human will to expand, to be more. Yet unlike a purposeful business plan with rigid rules, the Web expands in a nonlinear, unpredictable, creative way that echoes natural evolution.

We created our Web site not just to extend the reach of our computer book products but to be part of this synaptic neural network, to experience, like a nerve in the body, the flow of ideas and then to pass those ideas up the food chain of the mind. Your mind. Even more, we wanted to pump some of our own creative juices into this rich wine of technology.

TASTE OUR DIGITAL WINE

And so we ask you to taste our wine by visiting the body of our business. Begin by understanding the metaphor we have created for our Web site—a universal learning center, situated in outer space in the form of a space station. A place where you can journey to study any topic from the convenience of your own screen. Right now we are focusing on computer topics, but the stars are the limit on the Web.

If you are interested in discussing this Web site, or finding out more about the Waite Group, please send me email with your comments and I will be happy to respond. Being a programmer myself, I love to talk about technology and find out what our readers are looking for.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Waite, C.E.O. and Publisher

Foreword……………………………………………………………………………………………… xxiv

Preface………………………………………………………………………………………………… xxvii

Installation…………………………………………………………………………………………. xxviii

Part I: Incantations                                  1

Chapter 1: The Genesis of 3D Games………………………………………………………….. 3

Chapter 2: Elements of the Game……………………………………………………………… 21

Part II: Alchemy                                    45

Chapter 3: The Mysterious VGA Card……………………………………………………….. 47

Chapter 4: Waking the Dead with Animation……………………………………………. 105

Chapter 5: Communicating with the Outside World………………………………….. 205

Chapter 6: Dancing with Cyberdemons……………………………………………………. 267

Chapter 7: The Magick of Thought…………………………………………………………. 345

Chapter 8: The Art of Possession…………………………………………………………….. 401

Chapter 9: Multiplayer Game Techniques………………………………………………… 453

Chapter 10: 3D Fundamentals………………………………………………………………… 543

Chapter 11: Building a 3D Graphics Engine…………………………………………….. 631

Chapter 12: Solid Modeling and Shading…………………………………………………. 701

Chapter 13: Universal Transformations…………………………………………………… 783

Chapter 14: Hidden Surface and Object Removal……………………………………… 803

Chapter 15: Clipping and Rendering the Final View…………………………………. 827

Chapter 16: Voxel Graphics……………………………………………………………………. 933

Part III: Spells                                      991

Chapter 17: Optimizing the 3D Engine…………………………………………………….. 993

Chapter 18: Kill or Be Killed…………………………………………………………………. 1115

Appendix A: Cybersorcerer and Cyberwizard Contests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1155                  Index…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1159