Advanced Linux 3D Graphics [Paperback]

The "Advanced Linux 3D Graphics Programming" is the second volume in the set of books written by author Norman Lin. The title "advanced" is rather crudely portrayed in the examples the author has written. Many of the examples are based off true cross-platform development which adds hundreds of lines of not needed code considering the book was supposed to be for linux.

The "advanced topics" include texture-mapping, lighting, fog, and several other components which sound impressive at first however the examples given are rather long in code-size, and don't get straight to the point of what the example does. I was rather disapointed that the lighting section had no real details on the math behind it all.

From the title of the book, one would assume you would be programming 3d graphics in linux, however the author spends 60% of the book talking about Blender and World Foundry. Those programs should have been in a separate book rather then used as filler so the author could make several extra bucks on a new book.

The examples are all using the GLUT SDK for MesaGL (OpenGL for Linux) which doesn't teach you about true linux X11 initialization.

I think this was a big disapointment, and would not recommend this book.

Before there was a DirectX or OpenGL graphic library worth using, this book and its introduction volume were all that was available for programmers to use to build high precision 3D computer simulations. For those of us who want to do serious work in 3D simulations and want or want to take the benifits into embedded devices, this is our entry into the depths of the 3D libraries. The current DirectX and OpenGL libaries are the final result of years of study and application of the principals of 3D visual simulation following the groundwork in these volumes.

There are other books which intoduce us to the use of the current 3D libraries but still leave us cold on the best practices of this area of computing. Here is where you can find out the origins and deep internal operations of the current 3D libaries and also how to bring their capabilities to embedded system that don't run Windows or Linux. Hint, smart phone applications and your own robot designs.

This is the second book in the series. The first book covered the basic display mathematics and operational design of sprites and elementary 3D environments. This book advances the process into building shading, textures, mapping and animated figures. The book includes most of the code needed to replicate the projects included in the chapters. A bookjacket CD repeats the libaries and tools from the first book and also all the code and projects covered in this book.

I'm not going to cover the contents of the book in detal because so few copies are left in print. I am going to say that this book is simply one of the best introductions to the underlying processes of 3D presentation on computers that if you have any interest in thouroughly understanding the process you must read this book. It will surface from time to time and then you should grab it immediately. It isn't light reading but it goes down a lot easier than mathematics of quantum mechanics. So, just how serious are you?

If you don't get this book, expect to spend years longer learning how to build that next flight simulator, killer stock prediction program or GPS field application. I'm working with John Deere on a GPS driven robot guidance project to track and acquire farm machines in motion. Think of formation flying on the ground. This is the kind of application that calls for serious simulation work and you can forget DirectX and OpenGL libaries for that kind of work.

I highly recommend this book and its predicessor as a two volume set. In my opinion, the publishers should reprint both books again and add a third which would be entirely about graphics projects that use the first two volumes to support the third.

I highly recommend this book. Reading through the introduction,
the author states an 'educational slant' to the design and construction of the code within the book. This is important to
keep in mind, as there is a trade off to keep the book more
illustrative of the 3D pipeline design process.

Recommended for anybody who wants to further their knowledge
of not just Linux, but to the entire 3D process on the computer.
An excellent addition to his primer on Linux 3D.

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