Wolfgang Engel
1 Overview
This book covers the usage of DirectX 9.0. Note, this book is not a cook-book type book where it tells you how to program a game in DirectX 9.0.
I would not buy this book again (ie future version/revision).
2 Not enough thought given to readership requirements
DirectX is difficult to master. Even drilling down into just D3D is exceptionally challenging for most students. I have been looking for a DX book to use on an undergraduate course and in the process I have reviewd a few. While most books have something to offer few have drawn the whole of any of the DX modules together. Given the standard of the SDK documentation there is a clear need for good textbooks. My reaction to the present text is that it is very unsutiable for beginners. In the first place, it is not well written. Secondly,some of the code is way beyond what beginners could grasp and there is very little hand holding to reassure pedagogues like me. Thirdly, the material of matrices could do with being looked at again. However, it is not all gloom. The chapter on animation is really very good and well worth spending the time on.
All too frequently we see computer programming texts come out without proper regard for the readership. Occasionally the reading public have the right to expect publishers to get material out there that was written to be read by others. I don't blame the authors, but the publishers who don't put enough editorial weight behind their offerings. I have no doubt but that this book could have been a much more useful book with appropriate editorial input. May be the 3rd edition will be.
3 Why even buy the book
I read most of it in the book store. He has like maybe 3 good pointers but overall this book is a sham. It should only by about 19.99 to say its even worth it. Hell even VB is more interesting than his writings.
4 Mixed feelings
The title of this book is misleading. It's not so much a beginners book as it is a fast-paced primer so you can get on to the good stuff. Chapters five and six (the first that take you into actual code) are *extremely* accelerated and don't really explain exactly what's going on in a lot of the code, though it's easy to figure it out once you load up the samples and play around with them for a while. It's written well, is easy to read, and it gives a great overview of the basics, just don't let the title fool you.
My advice? Go through a bunch of online Direct3D tutorials first, then read this book.
5 Good stuff... Maybe not worth $34.99
I am a totally beginning programmer, I've only taken 1 & 1/2 programming classes so far. Like the guy below me said, it isn't enough to write a game, but it's gives you a good enough understand to start your own valuable research on the topic. The author lists many really good sites to start with. Also, the section on setting up your compiler is CRUCIAL and I have never been able to get it working before now. The cd as well has some good stuff on it.
6 A book to start with
I own the first edition which was very helpful, I started to learn game programming with this book, and I can say it is a starters book.
Don't expect to program a game after that, it is the basic to the expert information on the DirectX API concentrating on Direct3D.
7 A Great place to start
I've been waiting a long time for a book like this. I'm a Unix software developer by profession, but only a hobbyist when it comes to PC game programming. Back in the good old days, before Windows and DirectX/DirectWhatever, it was possible for us casual programmers to keep up with the technology and have fun experimenting with graphics and game programming. I simply lost interest when the complexity of the operating system and video hardware started getting in the way.
I've been searching for a good book on Direct3D graphics programming for years and finally found one that delivers what it promises. Wolfgang Engel, the author, obviously understands how frustrating the learning process can be. The content of this book is masterfully structured to give the reader a solid understanding of everything you need to know. It's friendly, informal, humorous, and focused. It's a big book, but it reads fast, and keeps you interested.
The author assumes you know C and maybe a little C++. That's about the only prerequisite you'll need to understand the material
8 Excellent Book
This is a great book. It features in depth coverage of all areas of DirectX and Direct3D programming of interest to game programmers.
9 Direct3D at its best
This is the best introduction to Direct3D that I've seen in a book. Engel starts from the gound up, starting from very basic examples to a full-blown character engine with vertex and pixel shader support.
My advice: A must to any c++ programmer who wants to start programming games.
10 Excellent buy!
This is a great book with which to learn directx 9; it introduces the new shader abilities of directx. the only downside is that this book is only useful if you have a good background in C programming or better yet c++, not to mention the fact that this 2nd edition doesn't have the original chapters from the 1st edition about physics and collision detection by Amir Geva. if you know C, this is the book for you if you want to get started with direct3D without delving too deep into windows programming and general directx programming
11 shader and Direct3D introduction
This is THE shader programming introduction from the expert ! Don't miss it. Just playing around with the numerous example programs is fun. In one of the examples you can fly around with two space ships ... both are turned with a quaternion.
If you see the shader driven character engine, your yaw will drop like mine.
Grab it, buy it, read it. This one maximizes your direct3d knowledge.
