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

Raster Images

The last of the graphics elements we are going to examine in this chapter are raster images. These are the regular types of images used with computers such as those produced by displaying PNG or JPG files. They are presented as a grid of pixels where each pixel can be seen when the image is zoomed in, as illustrated in Figure 2.11:

Figure 2.11: A raster image of Smudge and a closeup of the corner of his eye showing individual pixels

If an image has a high resolution, you won’t be able to make out each pixel.

As mentioned in our discussion of creating text, in Pygame, images can be drawn onto surfaces that don’t appear on the main display until required. This also goes for raster images.

First, they are loaded into memory and then you can put them onto the display over and over again at different locations using screen.blit. The image you choose can include transparency. This is a nice feature as it allows you to draw a sprite...