Books about Shaders from Amazon.com

Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0c: A Shader Approach presents an introduction to programming interactive computer graphics, with an emphasis on game development, using real-time shaders with DirectX 9.0. The book is divided into three parts that explain basic mathematical and 3D concepts, show how to describe 3D worlds and implement fundamental 3D rendering techniques, and demonstrate the application of Direct3D to create a variety of special effects.

With this book: * Understand basic mathematical tools used in video game creation such as vectors, matrices, and transformations. * Discover how to describe and draw interactive 3D scenes using Direct3D and the D3DX library. * Learn how to implement lighting, texture mapping, alpha blending, and stenciling using shaders and the high-level shading language (HLSL). * Explore a variety of techniques for creating special effects, including vertex blending, character animation, terrain rendering, multi-texturing, particle systems, reflections, shadows, and normal mapping. * Find out how to work with meshes, load and render .X files, program terrain/camera collision detection, and implement 3D object picking. * Review key ideas, gain programming experience, and explore new topics with the end-of-chapter exercises..
Price: $27.25 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 10 presents an introduction to programming interactive computer graphics, with an emphasis on game development, using Direct3D 10. It teaches the fundamentals of Direct3D and shader programming, after which the reader will be prepared to go on and learn more advanced techniques. The book is divided into three main parts. Part I explains the mathematical tools that will be used throughout this book. Part II shows how to implement fundamental tasks in Direct3D, such as initialization, defining 3D geometry, setting up cameras, creating vertex, pixel, and geometry shaders, lighting, texturing, blending, and stenciling. Part III is largely about applying Direct3D to implement a variety of interesting techniques and special effects, such as working with meshes, terrain rendering, picking, particle systems, environment mapping, normal mapping, shadows, and rendering to textures. The book is designed for intermediate-level C++ programmers who are completely new to Direct3D and game programming, 3D programmers experienced with an API other than Direct3D (e.g., OpenGL), and programmers experienced with previous versions of Direct3D wishing to learn the latest version--Direct3D 10..
Price: $27.26 [Notify me when price goes down.]

If you want to take your Flash Professional 8 skills to a new level while learning how to produce games that rival anything available on the web, this is the book for you. Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Game Development is written by a professional game developer. Using the power of Flash and the most recent advancements in ActionScript, the book progresses through the entire development process to teach programmers and Web developers how to create professional quality games quickly. It teaches techniques for producing fast 3D effects that can be used with "cheat" techniques to produce powerful, high-performance results. It details the actual science of game development, including design, character development, the physics and motion of a game, and audio issues. And in this new edition, all of the latest features of Flash Professional 8 are covered, including the new sound channels, bitmap caching, texture pages, and more. The book covers many advanced topics in a simple, easy to understand way. It emphasizes the incredible power of the new BitmapData class and teaches how it can be used to take the performance of Flash games to a whole new level. It has never been easier to get right down to the pixel level and manipulate things at blazing speeds, making previously impossible games a breeze to make. So get to your computer, insert the CD-ROM, and prepare to begin your journey into the world of Flash Professional 8 game development..
Price: $27.94 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"Shaders for Game Programmers and Artists"—the title says it all. This book does something that other shader books don’t. It focuses solely on shaders and their creation You’ll use ATI’s RenderMonkey platform, giving you an easy-to-use framework for shader development and allowing you to focus your energy on shader development rather than the development of framework applications. Cover simple techniques, from the basics of color filters to more advanced topics, such as depth of field, heat shimmer, and high-dynamic range rendering. Extensive excercises at the end of each chapter allow you to test your skills by expanding upon the shader you’ve just developed. Whether you are an engineer or a technically minded artist, you’ve finally found the ideal guide for mastering shaders!.
Price: $11.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"Writing mental ray Shaders: a Perceptual Introduction" describes the creation and use of the software modules known as shaders in the mental ray rendering system. In mental ray, shaders can customize the entire rendering pipeline, from the simulated camera lens to object geometry and appearance and to the output of the final image. Intended both for experienced programmers new to mental ray and for artists learning how to program, this book presents the various shader types in an intuitive order based on a model of visual perception. With over one hundred example shaders and their associated scene files and explanatory diagrams, both beginning and advanced shader programmers will find the book’s catalog of techniques useful in customizing mental ray. Serving as a tutorial guide to the first two volumes in the "mental ray Handbooks" series, the present book provides further information on any topic it discusses by detailed references to those previous books.

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Price: $157.91 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Real women. Real Stories Real Life.

Undressing Infidelity is a fascinating, steamy, and compelling book that takes you beyond the cold taboo statistics of divorce and infidelity, and into the everyday lives of married women who are having extramarital affairs.

Who are these women?

They are your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers. They go to your gym. They shop at your grocery store. They are the women you see every day who seem to have it all. So why are they cheating?

Statistics tell us that 65 percent of married women cheat-but what does that really mean? Diane Shader Smith has uncovered the truth behind the numbers by doing what no one has ever done before-listening to them. After resisting the temptation to have an affair herself, she sat down one-on-one with more than 150 women, all of whom shared the intimate secrets of their affairs.

In Undressing Infidelity, Shader Smith not only reveals the fascinating results of her research, she also provides an up-close-and-personal look at the most telling stories she encountered. She takes you deep inside the marriages and affairs of twelve fascinating women-from Midwestern moms to Manhattan execs-who chose to cheat. Told in their own words, these stories weave a surprising and compelling tapestry of love, sex, and changing loyalties in today's marriages..
Price: $1.37 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The ShaderX series provides a complete toolbox of cutting-edge advanced graphics hardware and software techniques for all levels of graphics programmers, from novices to graphics gurus.

With the increasing pixel shader power of current graphics cards, techniques that were once done on the CPU or simply avoided due to their expense are now possible, and this latest volume of the ShaderX series is filled with articles that provide methods for performing these techniques. The collection covers state-of-the-art, shader rendering techniques that will bring your graphics to a new level of realism. Throughout the book you’ll find a plethora of all new, ready-to-use solutions and tools for the many graphics programming challenges you face everyday. These solutions will save valuable programming time, helping to make you more efficient and productive.

Throughout the collection you’ll find: * How to simulate cloth on the GPU * How to use ambient occlusion efficiently in a game environment * Several global illumination approaches suitable for current hardware platforms * How to do real-time caustics on the GPU * Several ways for how to make your shadow penumbra software for shadow volumes and shadow maps * Tips for using the D3DXEffects framework efficiently and how to integrate post processing * Real-time damage system that uses a damage map to store damage data * Snow rendering * Procedural generation of textures * Tricks, tips, and techniques for super shader, a light map precomputation tool that stores radiosity light maps, and a system for debugging and optimizing applications

And much more… This is an indispensable series that should be on ever graphics programmer’s bookshelf!

Sections Included: Geometry Manipulation: Kenneth Hurley Image Space: Natalya Tatarchuk 3D Engine Design: Tom Forsyth Environmental Effects: Matthias Wloka Rendering Techniques: Sebastian St. Laurent Shadows: Eric Haines Beyond Pixels & Triangles: Dean Calver Tools, Tips, and Tricks: Wolfgang Engel

On the CD: The CD-ROM contains the example programs with source code accompanying the chapters, along with demos where applicable.

System Requirements: Pentium IV/ATHLON with more than 1/5 GHz, DirectX 9 June 2005 update SDK, OpenGL 1.5-compatible graphics card, a DirectX8, 8.1, or 9.0-compatible graphics card, Windows XP with the latest service pack, Visual C++ .NET 2003, (some files require Visual Studio C/C++ 6.0), 512MB RAM, 500MB of free space on your hard drive, and the latest graphics card drivers..
Price: $41.97 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Mallory’s 65 Roses is the engaging story of Mallory, a creative and energetic little girl afflicted with cystic fibrosis (CF), an inherited lung disease. She explains her condition and its ramifications in her own words, painting a picture accessible to children and poignant to adults.

“My mom says that doctors are working hard to find a cure for CF, a way to make kids with CF all better. She says that they are close to finding a cure right now. When they do, CF will stand for ‘cure found.’ I can’t wait for that day.”.
Price: $5.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Whether you are a new or seasoned user, you'll find everything you need to get started with Carrara 5 in The Carrara 5 Pro Handbook. This edition has been completely updated to teach everything you need to know about Carrara, especially many of the new and advanced features. Explore new and creative ways to use Carrara through a great collection of step-by-step tutorials written by industry experts, including two bonus comprehensive modeling tutorials with Eovia's newest application Hexagon. These hands-on tutorials progress from basic to advanced, guiding you from the basics of 3D modeling to the challenges of animation. The book is structured so that the process of creating 3D illustrations and animations flows logically from one chapter to another. And by using this approach you can easily learn the technical aspects of working with Carrara Pro and achieve a tangible understanding of the workflow involved in creating 3D content. By the end of the book, you'll know how to use the powerful tools of Carrara 5 Pro, have new and improved 3D skills, and have gained experience in 3D production concepts. This is a must-have resource for new and seasoned users a like!.
Price: $30.22 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A careful look at the real world and you begin to realize that most of the detail you see is a result of subtle lighting effects. Your perception of reality is affected by very subtle changes in the way light interacts with the objects around you. Therefore, if your goal is to recreate reality (or to create a new reality), you must include as many of these effects as possible.

This book starts by explaining the underlying principles of lighting theory, but distinguishes itself from most titles quickly by providing practical examples using specific techniques to detail the theory. Topics include the physics of light, modeling real-world light, raytracing and related techniques, objects and materials, lighting and reflectance models, implementing lights in shaders, spherical harmonic lighting, spherical harmonics in DirectX, and real-time radiosity.

The CD-ROM contains all of the source code used in the sample applications. The applications were written with OpenGL and DirectX. In some cases, both are used for a given technique. In other cases, only one is used either because the other implementation is unnecessary (it is supported in a helper library like D3DX, for example) or because porting one implementation to another is trivial (like using HLSL shaders in an penGL/cg environment)..
Price: $5.97 [Notify me when price goes down.]