Book Image

Mathematics for Game Programming and Computer Graphics

By : Penny de Byl
5 (1)
Book Image

Mathematics for Game Programming and Computer Graphics

5 (1)
By: Penny de Byl

Overview of this book

Mathematics is an essential skill when it comes to graphics and game development, particularly if you want to understand the generation of real-time computer graphics and the manipulation of objects and environments in a detailed way. Python, together with Pygame and PyOpenGL, provides you with the opportunity to explore these features under the hood, revealing how computers generate and manipulate 3D environments. Mathematics for Game Programming and Computer Graphics is an exhaustive guide to getting “back to the basics” of mathematics, using a series of problem-based, practical exercises to explore ideas around drawing graphic lines and shapes, applying vectors and vertices, constructing and rendering meshes, and working with vertex shaders. By leveraging Python, Pygame, and PyOpenGL, you’ll be able to create your own mathematics-based engine and API that will be used throughout to build applications. By the end of this graphics focussed book, you’ll have gained a thorough understanding of how essential mathematics is for creating, rendering, and manipulating 3D virtual environments and know the secrets behind today’s top graphics and game engines.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
1
Part 1 – Essential Tools
9
Part 2 – Essential Trigonometry
14
Part 3 – Essential Transformations
20
Part 4 – Essential Rendering Techniques

Putting it all together

PBR lighting models are used in many game engines, including Unity and Unreal. Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar also use PBR to light their 3D animations, and in fact, the models you’ve learned about herein are used in their graphics tools.

What distinguishes the BRDF used by PBR is that it allows for the use of parameters. These parameters allow you to customize the look of the shader and define the surface qualities of objects, using albedo for the diffuse color and values for metallicness, roughness, and ambient occlusion (AO).

Now, it’s time to put all this theory into practice, so we can see it at work in our Python/OpenGL project.

Let’s do it…

In this exercise, we will rework the project to pass the settings for albedo, metallic, roughness, and ambient occlusion through to the shaders, in addition to adding multiple lights:

  1. Make a copy of the Chapter_18 folder and rename it Chapter_19.
  2. You will need a...