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Monday, December 19, 2005

A link to the 2nd edition book page is up--it is still under construction, but it should give a preview.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

There has obviously been a lack of updates to the site. The main reason is that I have been devoting my time to the second edition of the book. Now that I am nearing the end, more frequent updates should occur.

A brief table of contents of the second edition can be found here. It might look similar to the old one, however, it has been rewritten about 80%, though, I have tried to keep the same format and structure since readers seemed to like it. One thing to note is that the book starts off using shaders almost immediately. For example, we have a lighting chapter like we did in the first book. But, in contrast to the first book, we do not use the fixed pipeline at all; instead, we implement the lighting completely in shaders. Consequently, the math in this book might be a little more intense since we have to do things ourselves (like lighting). I have tried to summarize the key equations and give an intuitive explanation of them so that, even if the reader doesn't follow the math 100%, the reader can still apply the formulas to obtain an end result.

In 2-3 weeks I will upload a support page for the 2nd edition, which will include a more in depth overview of it and screenshots from the demos.

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Well it looks like I didn't get around to finishing the new terrain texturing paper for awhile, but it is up now in the resources section. Please report any errors that you find. In other news, I NO LONGER CHECK EMAIL from this site because the amount of spam is too annoying to sift through. If you want to get in contact with me, then use the forum, which I try to check several times a week. You can use the private message feature if you need to contact me privately. So if I have ignored your email, please post/repost the question in the forum.

NVIDIA has updated there development page with some interesting utility applications. In particular, they have released an updated version of their scene graph SDK, which may be worthwhile to check out.

A Mr. K.A. Bahar has implemented a managed DirectX version of the new terrain sample; it can be downloaded here. The corresponding article is here (not English language).

Sunday, September 12, 2004

A new terrain sample has been added to the resources section. The corresponding paper explaining it should be done in a few days. I have also added some new free texture resource links.

Friday, September 10, 2004

Some small updates have been made today, most of them probably transparent. First, the solar system skybox textures did not match, which caused seems and so the textures where just taken out completely. Second, the ID3DXEffect framework made a small change in the 2004 DirectX Summer Update, and so the skinned mesh samples had to get a minor update. Third, the Direct Input Camera sample has been updated; it includes a new skybox, more columns, a tiled textured floor for better detail, and it utilizes a new sample framework I am experimenting with which I am considering using for new samples and the next edition of the book (whenever that will be)--so I appreciate any feedback and bug reports. Also, the new framework (should) handle lost devices from alt tabbing and allows you to switch to full screen mode at runtime. Finally, the links section has been updated.

I also should have some free time to work on the website for the next week, so hopefully I should get a new terrain paper and sample up within the next few days.

Sunday, August 1, 2004

David Goben has now finished porting the demos for Part IV: Chapter 16-19 to C# and Managed DirectX. You can download the C# ports on the the Book Sample Programs page. Thanks again David.

In other news, this article was found interesting: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1629295,00.asp.
It is really nice to see vertex and pixel shaders being designed into a common core shader system. Tim Rowley has posted a web page with SIGGRAPH 2004 papers here: http://www.cs.brown.edu/~tor/sig2004.html. In particular, Hoppe's "Geometry Clipmaps: Terrain Rendering Using Nested Regular Grids" seemed pretty amazing. Check out the paper and a video here: http://research.microsoft.com/~hoppe/. Note that you will have to scroll down to find the paper and video--it is the sixth entry under "Publications."

I've been busy and as such, have not had time to work on anything for the website. However things should calm down my mid-August, so I'm hoping to definitely have something new by the end of the month (end of August).

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

David Goben has now finished porting the demos for Chapter 9-15 to C# and Managed DirectX. You can download the C# ports on the the Book Sample Programs page. Thanks again David.

Tuesday, June 8, 2004

David Goben has ported the demos for Chapters 1-8 to C# and Managed DirectX. You can download the C# ports on the the Book Sample Programs page. Thanks David. In other site news, some links were added if you have not checked them out for awhile.

Friday, March 19, 2004

Some readers requested help on working the mouse, so a new updated camera sample has been uploaded that uses a "mouse look," along with some other embellishments. You can find the new sample in the Resources section.

Friday, February 20, 2004

A new paper on skinned mesh character mesh animation using the D3DX library interfaces has been uploaded. Check the Resources section to download it and the corresponding source code and binaries. As always, feedback on clarity and errors is always appreciated.

The next update planned is an outline of a new book. The new book will be on the next version of DirectX, so it is still probably a year or two away. However, some chapters will be API independent and I would like to get feedback on what readers would like it to contain.

Saturday, January 10, 2004

An Archive/FAQ board has been added to the message forum. This will eventually replace the current FAQ page. Work on the skinned mesh tutorial will begin this coming Monday. An end of the month of January release for this paper is still the goal. However, the proposed frustum culling paper will be pushed back till about March.

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

A new paper has been uploaded on mesh hierarchies. The paper describes how to model a virtual solar system. The corresponding source code can be downloaded here. Feedback on clarity and errors is always appreciated. And, in case you have not read it, Beyond3D has an article on the next version of DirectX: http://www.beyond3d.com/articles/directxnext/.

Saturday, November 29, 2003

Since the release of Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0, some readers have required additional help in creating and running the book’s sample applications. To address this, a new paper A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating and Running the Sample Applications in Visual Studio .NET 2002 has been written and uploaded. Please post suggestions and or correction in the feedback forum.

Additionally, some more detailed papers are in progress. One is on frustum culling, and the other is on skinned mesh skeletal animation using the D3DX library and vertex shaders. The aim of the animation paper is to provide a much simpler look at skinned meshes than the SDK sample provides. Both of the papers are planned to be done by the end of January 2004.

Finally, if you enjoyed the book and have an amazon.com account, please post a positive review. Thanks in advance and thanks to all readers that have already submitted a positive review.

Saturday, September 27, 2003

Errata page has been updated and the FAQ and errata pages have been converted to Adobe PDF format.

Saturday, August 23, 2003

The FAQ has been updated. Please check there before posting a question in the message forum or emailing the author.

Friday, June 13, 2003

To help motivate the reports of book errors and suggestions on book improvements, the first reader to report an error or to give a helpful suggestion, will be added to the "Acknowledgments" section of future editions. Email such reports to book@moon-labs.com.

Sunday, March 16, 2003

A new paper, with source code, showing how to integrate Direct3D 9.0 with MFC and the document/view architecture has been added to the Resources section.

Friday, February 21, 2003

The book Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX^® 9.0 has been submitted in for production.