The Awesome Power of Direct3D/DirectX

Peter J. Kovach
  • December 2002
  • ISBN 9781884777479
  • 840 pages
  • printed in black & white
This title has been retired and is no longer for sale.

If you are programming real-time 3D applications for siumlations, games, marketing, demonstrations or computer-animated videos using Microsoft's Direct3D Software Development Kit, this book is for you. Unlike other books, The Awesome Power of Direct3D/DirectX shows you how to build a complete working 3D application, including 3D sound, joystick input, animation, textures, shadows, and even collision detection!

It shows you how to write code using both Retained Mode and Immediate Mode. It does not bury the code in "wrappers" that hide the nuances of the SDK. Nothing is hidden.

Revised Printing Includes: 100 new pages covering the new DirectX 5 commands and an expanded CD containing the complete DirectX 5 distribution and all of the demonstration projects. All of the subprojects for the tutorial chapters have been reorganized and rebuilt with MSVC++5.0 and DirectX 5.

CD-ROM contains:

  • More tna 140 DirectX .x objects, some with animation (70 megs)
  • .3ds originals of the .x objects (58 megs)
  • 52 high-quality textures (4 megs)
  • Microsoft's DirectX 5 SDK (356 megs)
  • All the code from the text

what's inside

  • Complete step-by-step tutorial for Direct3D retained mode (windowed and full-screen) applications
  • All the steps required to create an immediate mode program
  • Basics of DirectDraw
  • How to integrate all DirectX components into a working program
  • Special techniques for shadows and 3D sound
  • Integration of direct input devices like joystick and mouse
  • Comprehensive library of high-quality, free, reusable 3D objects and textures
  • Cross-reference DirectX retained mode library

about the reader

If you are programming real-time 3D applications for siumlations, games, marketing, demonstrations or computer-animated videos using Microsoft's Direct3D Software Development Kit, this book is for you.

about the author

An independent developer of 3D graphics applications ane games, Peter J. Kovach has been a vice president with a national developer of virtual reality and arcade systems and CEO of a corporation developing 3D systems for advertising and product development.

I like the style of explaining the code as it is revealed and not hiding it from the reader.

Jeff Lander, Darwin 3D

A great book for the technically proficient - has an excellent reference section with lots of technical information.

Kyle Lussier, author of Power-3D

The way the book is divided into a how-to section and a reference section meets the needs of both less and more experienced programmers and avoids the necessity of keeping around multiple manuals.

Kevin Hamilton, Georgia Tech

One of the nest of the new books... chock full of useful information and sample code.

Phil Taylor, Microsoft DRG

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