The Best DirectX Books of All Time

Direct3D 11 offers such a wealth of capabilities that users can sometimes get lost in the details of specific APIs and their implementation. While there is a great deal of low-level information available about how each API function should be used, there is little documentation that shows how best to leverage these capabilities. Written by active members of the Direct3D community, Practical Rendering and Computation with Direct3D 11 provides a deep understanding of both the high and low level concepts related to using Direct3D 11.

The first part of the book presents a conceptual introduction to Direct3D 11, including an overview of the Direct3D 11 rendering and computation pipelines and how they map to the underlying hardware. It also provides a detailed look at all of the major components of the library, covering resources, pipeline details, and multithreaded rendering. Building upon this material, the second part of the text includes detailed examples of how to use Direct3D 11 in common rendering scenarios. The authors describe sample algorithms in-depth and discuss how the features of Direct3D 11 can be used to your advantage. All of the source code from the book is accessible on an actively maintained open source rendering framework. The sample applications and the framework itself can be downloaded from http://hieroglyph3.codeplex.com. By analyzing when to use various tools and the tradeoffs between different implementations, this book helps you understand the best way to accomplish a given task and thereby fully leverage the potential capabilities of Direct3D 11. Key Features. Presents the high level concepts used to design algorithms Describes the nuts and bolts of how to implement the algorithmsExplains each of the major components of the Direct3D 11 libraryShows how Direct3D 11 can be used in a variety of real-world situationsProvides source code and sample programs on a supplementary website.

This updated bestseller provides an introduction to programming interactive computer graphics, with an emphasis on game development using DirectX 12. The book is divided into three main parts: basic mathematical tools, fundamental tasks in Direct3D, and techniques and special effects. It shows how to use new Direct12 features such as command lists, pipeline state objects, descriptor heaps and tables, and explicit resource management to reduce CPU overhead and increase scalability across multiple CPU cores.

The book covers modern special effects and techniques such as hardware tessellation, writing compute shaders, ambient occlusion, reflections, normal and displacement mapping, shadow rendering, and character animation. Includes a companion DVD with code and figures. eBook Customers: Companion files are available for downloading with order number/proof of purchase by writing to the publisher at info@merclearning.com. FEATURES:. • Provides an introduction to programming interactive computer graphics, with an emphasis on game development using DirectX 12. • Uses new Direct3D 12 features to reduce CPU overhead and take advantage of multiple CPU cores. • Contains detailed explanations of popular real-time game effects. • Includes a DVD with source code and all the images (including 4-color) from the book. • Learn advance rendering techniques such as ambient occlusion, real-time reflections, normal and displacement mapping, shadow rendering, programming the geometry shader, and character animation. • Covers a mathematics review and 3D rendering fundamentals such as lighting, texturing, blending and stenciling. • Use the end-of-chapter exercises to test understanding and provide experience with DirectX 12.

Direct3D Professional Reference is the only reference available that provides the essential reference information that developers need to know. It completely and concisely explains what each function within Direct3D does and how it should be used. Each function has been tested, organized, and documented by the best developers. You'll even find coverage of the undocumented features as well. This book is a programmer's desktop resource; a reference that provides instantly accessible, thorough-yet-concise explanations of every function in the Microsoft Direct3D API.

For each component, you'll know what the function is, what the function is used for, and how the function works.