Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, Third Edition, remains the most authoritative introduction to the field. The first edition, the original “Foley and van Dam,” helped to define computer graphics and how it could be taught. The second edition became an even more comprehensive resource for practitioners and students alike. This third edition has been completely rewritten to provide detailed and up-to-date coverage of key concepts, algorithms, technologies, and applications.

The authors explain the principles, as well as the mathematics, underlying computer graphics–knowledge that is essential for successful work both now and in the future. Early chapters show how to create 2D and 3D pictures right away, supporting experimentation. Later chapters, covering a broad range of topics, demonstrate more sophisticated approaches. Sections on current computer graphics practice show how to apply given principles in common situations, such as how to approximate an ideal solution on available hardware, or how to represent a data structure more efficiently. Topics are reinforced by exercises, program­ming problems, and hands-on projects.

This revised edition features

• New coverage of the rendering equation, GPU architecture considerations, and importance- sampling in physically based rendering
• An emphasis on modern approaches, as in a new chapter on probability theory for use in Monte-Carlo rendering
• Implementations of GPU shaders, software rendering, and graphics-intensive 3D interfaces
• 3D real-time graphics platforms–their design goals and trade-offs–including new mobile and browser platforms
• Programming and debugging approaches unique to graphics development

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

2 Introduction to 2D Graphics Using WPF

3 An Ancient Renderer Made Modern

4 A 2D Graphics Test Bed

5 An Introduction to Human Visual Perception

6 Introduction to Fixed-Function 3D Graphics and Hierarchical Modeling

7 Essential Mathematics and the Geometry of 2-Space and 3-Space

8 A Simple Way to Describe Shape in 2D and 3D

9 Functions on Meshes

10 Transformations in Two Dimensions

11 Transformations in Three Dimensions

12 A 2D and 3D Transformation Library for Graphics

13 Camera Specifications and Transformations

14 Standard Approximations and Representations

15 Ray Casting and Rasterization

16 Survey of Real-Time 3D Graphics Platforms

17 Image Representation and Manipulation

18 Images and Signal Processing

19 Enlarging and Shrinking I mag es

20 Textures and Texture Mapping

21 Interaction Techniques

22 Splines and Subdivision Curves

23 Splines and Subdivision Surfaces

24 Implicit Representations of Shape

25 Meshes

26 Light

27 Materials and Scattering

28 Color

29 Light Transport

30 Probability and Monte Carlo Integration

31 Computing Solutions to the Rendering Equation: Theoretical Approaches

32 Rendering in Practice

33 Shaders

34 Expressive Rendering

35 Motion

36 Visibility Determination

37 Spatial Data Structures

38 Modern Graphics Hardware

About the Authors

John F. Hughes is a Professor of Computer Science at Brown University. His primary research is in computer graphics, particularly those aspects of graphics involving substantial mathematics.

Andries van Dam is the Thomas J. Watson, Jr. University Professor of Technology and Education, and Professor of Computer Science at Brown University. Andy’s research includes work on computer graphics, hypermedia systems, post-WIMP user interfaces, including immersive virtual reality and pen- and touch-computing, and educational software.

Morgan McGuire is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Williams College. He's contributed as an industry consultant to products including the Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Titan Quest video game series, the E Ink display used in the Amazon Kindle, and NVIDIA GPUs.

David F. Sklar is a visualization engineer at Vizify.com, working on algorithms for presenting animated infographics on computing devices across a wide range of form factors.

James D. Foley is a professor and holds the Fleming Chair in the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. He has also held faculty positions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The George Washington University, as well as management positions at Mitsubishi Electric Research.

Steven K. Feiner is a Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University, where he directs the Computer Graphics and User Interfaces Lab and co-directs the Columbia Vision and Graphics Center. His research addresses 3D user interfaces, augmented reality, wearable computing, and many topics at the intersection of human-computer interaction and computer graphics.

Kurt Akeley is Chief Technology Officer at Lytro, Inc. Kurt is a cofounder of Silicon Graphics (later SGI), where he led the development of a sequence of high-end graphics systems, including RealityEngine, and also led the design and standardization of the OpenGL graphics system.