Foundations of Game Engine Development, Volume 1: Mathematics

Updated again...removed my speculative errata see the books official website for errata Update: I have read this book all the way through a couple times now and some sections I have read repeatedly. Over those readings I have come up with some good and not so good points about the book so here they are...in no particular order... The good: 1) This book is like a Lego set for 3D math. It starts with some basic pieces, then uses those pieces to build interesting 3D math parts, then uses those large pieces to build even more exotic math. Then it breaks them all down, and puts them back together to build Grassman/geometric algebra. 2) The book can be educational on multiple levels, meaning that on first glance it is introducing basic stuff that you see in every book, but upon rereading I found an entire new level of detail that I missed on the first pass that aided insights to the underlying topics. 3) All the stuff in the original review below. update...the books official website now has errata (thank you) Not so good: 1) Some of the questions in the exercises refer to material that hasn't been introduced yet. Like question 7 in chapter one refer's to planes which aren't introduced until chapter 3. There are a few place in the book this happens. Not that big a deal but still... 2) The book doesn't introduce things like converting a projection to a matrix, instead it is left as an exercise, but later in the book it uses the answer to that exercise like it was introduced. There a handful of places where the expertly crafted dialog that builds between the author and the reader break down because things like this. No matter how you slice it, this is still a 5 star book. Original review: Well edited, easy to read, and easy to follow. I'm looking forward to the next volume. This is the kind of book that keeps me passionate about computer graphics by presenting current up to date material without a bunch of redundancy. It also offers a tantalizing look into grassman/geometric algebra complete with enough implementation details to start putting the theory to use. I'm hoping the author will continue to explore this area in the other volumes of the book. (using the wedge operator with sphere's in particular) If there is anything I didn't really care for its that I felt like I was being led somewhere with the overall structure of the book and the code listings that it includes. But at the end of the book it seemed like some of these ideas were either just dropped or left up to the reader to conjure from the tables. The author recommends reading chapter 3 for experienced readers, but I would suggest starting in chapter 2, if you start falling asleep go to chapter 3 if you are lost go back to chapter 1, if chapter 1 is confusing then...segmentation fault, core dumped

I am a game developer at a triple A studio. Although the book was hard, I read and reread it so thoroughly that it helped me really grasp the fundamentals of linear algebra. In fact, the introduction to Geometric algebra (in the last chapter) gave me the tools to be able to reconstruct the learnings from the rest of the book. It taught me a lot of new things and it deepened my understanding of the things I already knew. It really boosted the confidence in my math skills and already it has greatly impacting my professional career. There are a few sections that I thought were too hard. Sometimes a conclusion is given but I wasn't able to work out the proof with the things I was taught. So in addition I spent quite a lot of time digging through study material on the web from other sources to teach me enough to do it. Those brain-wreckers are perhaps a weakness to the book, but if you refuse to give up it does make the lessons stick a lot better. I did however give up the second halve of questions provided at the end of chapter 3. I couldn't understand the answers in the solution guide no matter how much I learned and I felt it wasn't very fruitful to do so. It's the set of questions about Plücker coordinates. The tools handed in chapter 4 give a better intuition to the problems, so I recommend revisiting those questions after you finished the book. I've ordered part 2 and can't wait for 3 and 4 to release. This book teaches you some math that none of my colleagues knew about, and that includes 2 people with a PhD in Mathematics. I assure you though, knowing this is a tool in your belt that gives you an advantage that you won't easily forget about.

I haven't had linear algebra since AP classes in high school. This is a great refresher if you're trying to understand 3d game engines. I don't speak C++ but the code examples are fairly easy to follow along if you speak some sort of C-style language.

This book is must in game programming.

This is the book I've looked for, for a long time. I wanted to learn more math but as it pertains to game development. This is that book. I'm learning about the things that I need to know and give me a more fuller understanding of the math concepts specific to gaming.

i have never read anything so illuminating on linear algebra (in general). there are always code examples to clarify the math. the inclusion of geometric/grassman algebra in a practical way makes it unique.

There is nothing i can say about this book that has not been said before. Lengyel is one of the greatest minds in game development today. For him to share a multi-volume collection is amazing! 10/10 would buy again (I already own 2 copies)

Excellent book! Unlike other books on similar topics, it doesn't just leave you on the basics, it takes you all the way through to the stuff that is actually used. Looking forward to more volumes in this series.

di positivo ha che concentra in poche pagine, circa 180 reali, molti concetti e formule che altrimenti si trovano difficilmente esposte in modo altrettanto chiaro e conciso. La parte codice è solo discreta, nel senso che presenta solo le primitive (metodi per calcolare proiezioni, intersezioni etc) ma nessun esempio reale all'opera. Dato il tiro di "game development" almeno qualche esempio base sarebbe stato utile, come anche qualche declinazione più reale (invece di fermarsi a intersezioni piani-rette, perché non affrontare quelle mesh-raggio?) Ma tutto sommato raccomandato.

Incredible book! Loved all the algebra and the break down of variables, integers, and float values, excelent book for somone who just want to understand how render engine in games work that being a rasterized render engine as a posed to raytraceing which is not covered in this book but trust me 1 step at a time is better.

Will order the rest of the series!

Es un libro extraordinario, muy útil y práctico si conoces la materia para tener como referencia. A mi parecer está muy condensado como para aprender los fundamentos, pero como referencia es genial.

Easy to read and clear. Handy book to have.