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

Summary

In this chapter, we have focused on using the mouse and keyboard to interact with a graphics application. The basic functions available in Pygame have been explored to assist you in getting up and running with these commands. While not all principal components are required to understand mathematics in graphics, knowing these input methods does make the programs we can create to investigate mathematics more engaging. As you progress through the chapters, you will find that the mouse and keyboard will come in handy to demonstrate various key aspects presented in this book. As we move forward, other ways of using these input devices will be explored.

In the next chapter, the mathematics will step up a gear as we start getting into the fundamental concepts underlying most of the mathematics in graphics and games: vectors.