Book Image

Real-Time 3D Graphics with WebGL 2 - Second Edition

By : Farhad Ghayour, Diego Cantor
5 (1)
Book Image

Real-Time 3D Graphics with WebGL 2 - Second Edition

5 (1)
By: Farhad Ghayour, Diego Cantor

Overview of this book

As highly interactive applications have become an increasingly important part of the user experience, WebGL is a unique and cutting-edge technology that brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the web. Packed with 80+ examples, this book guides readers through the landscape of real-time computer graphics using WebGL 2. Each chapter covers foundational concepts in 3D graphics programming with various implementations. Topics are always associated with exercises for a hands-on approach to learning. This book presents a clear roadmap to learning real-time 3D computer graphics with WebGL 2. Each chapter starts with a summary of the learning goals for the chapter, followed by a detailed description of each topic. The book offers example-rich, up-to-date introductions to a wide range of essential 3D computer graphics topics, including rendering, colors, textures, transformations, framebuffers, lights, surfaces, blending, geometry construction, advanced techniques, and more. With each chapter, you will "level up" your 3D graphics programming skills. This book will become your trustworthy companion in developing highly interactive 3D web applications with WebGL and JavaScript.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)

Summary

Let's summarize what we've learned in this chapter:

  • There is no camera object in WebGL. However, we can build one using the Model-View matrix.
  • 3D objects undergo several transformations to be displayed on a 2D screen. These transformations are represented as 4x4 matrices.
  • Scene transformations are affine. Affine transformations are constituted by a linear transformation followed by a translation. The WebGL groups affine transforms into three matrices: the Model-View matrix, the Projection matrix, and the Normal matrix, and one WebGL operation: gl.viewport().
  • Affine transforms are applied in projective space, so they can be represented by 4x4 matrices. To work in projective space, vertices need to be augmented to contain an extra term, namely w, which is called the perspective coordinate. The four-tuple (x, y, z, w) is called Homogeneous coordinates. Homogeneous...