DirectX Essentials LiveLessons (Video Training)

Real-time graphics programming is often considered a dark art, full of complex mathematics and esoteric tools. Even experienced programmers can find the material difficult to absorb. Furthermore, the rapid pace of advancement makes modern graphics programming a moving target, and establishing a foothold can be difficult. Quality educational material is a necessity for newcomers to the field.

DirectX Essentials LiveLessonsintroduces viewers to graphics programming through a moderately deep-dive into shader programming and the Direct3D API. Dr. Paul Varcholik guides viewers with a practical, hands-on approach to modern DirectX application development. While these videos are geared towards programmers, no prior knowledge of graphics programming or 3D math is required. The lessons begin with “Hello, World!” style rendering (drawing a single point and triangle) and extend into introductory lighting models including ambient and diffuse lighting, specular highlights, point lights, and spotlights. The videos also cover texture mapping, environment mapping, normal mapping, and color blending and introduce viewers to 3D math in a straight-forward, stress-free fashion.

The source code repository for this LiveLesson can be found at www.informit.com/title/9780134115955.

About the Author

Dr. Paul Varcholikis a twenty-year veteran of the software development industry and has spent the past ten years writing video games. He was a lead software engineer at Electronic Arts working on titles including Madden NFL Footballand Superman Returns. He is currently a programming instructor at the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA)—a graduate degree program in game development at the University of Central Florida. Paul is also the author of Real-Time 3D Rendering with DirectX and HLSL: A Practical Guide to Graphics Programming.

Skill Level

• All Levels

What You Will Learn

• DirectX 11 API essentials
• How to write shaders using High Level Shading Language (HLSL)
• The 3D mathematics behind 3D graphics
• How to load and render 3D models
• Mapping textures to 3D objects
• Ambient and diffuse lighting, specular highlights, point lights, and spotlights
• Environment mapping, fog, normal mapping, and color blending
• Survey additional topics in modern rendering, including post processing, shadow mapping, skeletal animation, geometry and tessellation shaders, deferred rendering, global illumination, and compute shaders

Who Should Take This Course

• Developers looking for a practical introduction to 3D rendering and modern Direct3D

Course Requirements

• Familiarity with the C++ programming language

Table of Contents

Introduction

Lesson 1: Introducing DirectX

Learning Objectives

1.1 Create your first DirectX application

1.2 Examine a C++ application framework

1.3 Write your first HLSL vertex and pixel shaders

1.4 Explore the DirectX graphics pipeline

Lesson 2: Understanding 3D Math

Learning Objectives

2.1 Understand vectors

2.2 Understand matrices

2.3 Investigate transformations

Lesson 3: Providing Shader Input

Learning Objectives

3.1 Use DirectX buffers

3.2 Pass uniform data to shaders

3.3 Render 3D models

Lesson 4: Mapping Textures to 3D Objects

Learning Objectives

4.1 Use textures in shaders

4.2 Explore texture addressing

4.3 Understand texture filtering

Lesson 5: Lighting 3D Objects

Learning Objectives

5.1 Explore ambient lighting

5.2 Understand diffuse shading and directional lighting

5.3 Discover specular highlighting

5.4 Implement point lighting

5.5 Implement spot lighting

Lesson 6: Discovering Additional Rendering Techniques

Learning Objectives

6.1 Explore texture cubes

6.2 Implement fog

6.3 Understand color blending

6.4 Implement normal mapping

6.5 Survey other rendering techniques

Summary

About LiveLessons Video Training

LiveLessons Video Training series publishes hundreds of hands-on, expert-led video tutorials covering a wide selection of technology topics designed to teach you the skills you need to succeed. This professional and personal technology video series features world-leading author instructors published by your trusted technology brands: Addison-Wesley, Cisco Press, IBM Press, Pearson IT Certification, Prentice Hall, Sams, and Que. Topics include: IT Certification, Programming, Web Development, Mobile Development, Home and Office Technologies, Business and Management, and more. View all LiveLessons on InformIT at: http://www.informit.com/livelessons