Review of Focus On Curves and Surfaces (Focus on Game Development) (Paperback)

The book is great on giving people an intuitive grasp on what a B-Spline or NURB is, allowing people to look at series of points and knowing "sorta" what the curve will look like.

The only serious lacking point is it's explanation of Knot Vectors and the reason they're ordered the way they are and what the numbers in them represent.It's a tricky subject to explain though, and the author made a good effort, but really needs to explain what the numbers DO persay.(Though if you play with the source and have a good eye it eventually makes sense).Anyway, excellent book and is the reason I'm the only person in my 3D Graphics class who knows how NURBS work (teacher included... "Just download code off the internet" he says, sheesh).

Anyway, BUY!It be good!

Product Description
This is the only curves and surfaces book for beginners. It provides clear, practical explanations of curves and surfaces with the minimum of esoteric mathematical notation, making it far more accessible. You will be able to work along with the material for a better understanding of the concepts and a working knowledge of practical applications. Focus on Curves and Surfaces splits the material in two sections.The first part walks you through several forms of curves and surfaces explaining lines and functions of the equations.The next part moves from simple planes to complex surfaces so you can learn how to render surfaces using smoothing and simplification.

About the Author
Since 1995, Kelly Dempski has been a researcer at Accenture's Technology Labs working in the areas of multimedia, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Interactive TV, with a strong focus on photo-realistic rendering and interactive techniques.He has authored several papers and has had a project included in the Smithsonian's permanent collection on Information Technology. In addition to his research work, Kelly has taught Java, developed rendering engines, and dabbled in image processing and compression. Kelly is the author of "Real-Time Rendering Tricks and Techniques in DirectX" from Premier Press (March 2002).

Click Here to see more reviews about: Focus On Curves and Surfaces (Focus on Game Development) (Paperback)