Review of Focus On Photon Mapping (Game Development) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

I've implemented photon mapping myself in the past, and this book presents one of the worst attempts at "searching in the dark" (pun intended) I've ever seen.The author obviously does NOT understand photon mapping, neither the concepts behind it or nor its proper usage.Even the "sample images" presented lack the quality and correctness of a proper implementation.The author presents ludicrous methods of "improving performance," by reducing the number of photons (which only increases error), and calculating light only at vertices (whats the point of emitting photons at all then?).

Photon mapping is a technique for generating realistic lighting phenomenon, such as diffuse effects, caustics, and soft shadows, efficiently.This book teaches methods that are not only incorrect, but no better than standard, low quality lighting techniques.People who are serious about implementing photon mapping should invest their money in a book that actually teaches the background and methods necessary to understand the technique, not one that blindly tries to pass off sub-standard results as the product of a realistic method.

Product Description
Game developers, now create real-world lighting simulation in your games! This Focus On book isolates the topic of photon mapping, explaining its practical use in C and C++ languages.You will build your existing knowledge with the hands-on approach to implementing this algorithm and applying it to games and graphics applications. Focus On Photon Mapping includes a basic overview on the physics of light to help you visualize and understand how light works before moving on to implementing the simulated lighting techniques.

About the Author
At 22, Marlon John is already a veteran of the computer world. He first began developing HTML pages a a hobby shortly after receiving his first computer at age 14. Two years later, Marlon took his first job with a computer new media company, Advanced Media Concepts. Marlon's computer graphics skills expanded to include Director, Authorware, Freehand, Frontpage, Lightwave, Photoshop, Illustrator, and more. In 1998, he began programming in C++ and developing games. Marlon started his own company, Advanced Internet Technologies, in 2000.

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Review of C++ Weekend Crash Course (Paperback)

Although the "C++ Weekend Crash Course" is a decent starting point for C++, it doesn't deliver as promised. Digesting the content of the book will take much more than the proposed 24 hours. Triple or quadruplethat if you've never programmed with C++ before and you'll have an accurateestimate as to how long it takes to complete this book.

Good points: 1 -includes DJGPP and RHIDE (a compiler and environment) so that you can workon coding right away. 2 - covers classes quite thoroughly, and devotesseveral chapters to debugging. I can say quite confidently that I can debugmy own code properly. 3 - 500 pages of info is bound to benefit you.

Badpoints: 1 - The code contains errors. Once you figure out how to workaround them (use "cin >> whatever" instead of "cin> whatever") you'll have a lot more success. It -is- frustratingfor the novice, however. 2 - There's no real reference in the book. Unlikesome titles, there's no decent list of functions, variable types, etc.You'll need to invest in something like that separately. 3 - Most sectionsare fairly chaotic. Although the author does have a basic pattern to hischapters consisting of "introduction of topic, practical coding,conclusion/summary", the practical coding section is a mishmash ofcoding and an assortment of unorganized points that the author couldn't putinto a chapter.

Overall, some readers may feel confused after having readthis book. A complete novice to C++ may still not know when to use apointer instead of a global variable, and there were sections in the bookthat were too advanced for the time they were presented (such as bitwiseoperations). If you're already a programmer fluent in another language,this book might work for you. If you need to review C++ before an exam,this is your book. For complete newbies, however, skip this one.

Product Description

• Includes an introduction to C++ as used in Microsoft's new .NET platform, including Managed Extensions, and the new Visual C++ .NET compiler.
• Updated for the new ISO C++ Standard.
• The valuable CD-ROM includes new Windows XP-compatible compilers, source code and examples, and assessment software to help readers guage their progress.
  
  

From the Publisher
BONUS CD-ROM INCLUDES:

GNU C++ compiler
All code and auxiliary files for the sample programs
Assessment software to help gauge your progress!--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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