Book Description

"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 exercises 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!

From the Author

Programmable shaders are the best and latest in the computer graphic industry. With the latest generations of video cards out there developed by ATI Technologies and nVidia, it is now possible to draw interactive scenes on a computer with an unsurpassed realism. With the current rate of advancement in this field, it is only a matter of years before the quality of graphics generated matches the visuals in some of most recent Hollywood movies such as "I, ROBOT" or "Spider Man 2". Some of the most anticipated video games this year, such as Doom 3, HALO 2 and Half-Life 2, take full advantage these cards and I wanted to show my readers exactly how easily it could be done.

Most books out there which cover the topic of programmable shaders also covered broadly the topic of computer graphics. I wanted to do something different and focus in-depth on the specific topic of programmable shaders. To accomplish this, I have taken advantage of a tool called RenderMonkey, developed by ATI Technologies, to quickly prototype shaders and spend less time worrying about the other aspects of computer graphics.