About the Book
Game Physics is an introduction to the ideas and techniques needed to create physically realistic 3D graphic environments. As a companion volume to Dave Eberly's industry standard 3D Game Engine Design, Game Physics shares a similar practical approach and format. Dave includes simulations to introduce the key problems involved and then gradually re
Table of Contents:
Introduction; Basic Concepts from Physics; Rigid Body Motion; Deformable Bodies; Physics Engines; Physics and Shader Programs; Linear Complementarity and Mathematical Programming; Differential Equations; Numerical Methods; Quaternions; Appendices: Linear Algebra; Affine Algebra; Calculus; Ordinary Difference Equations Bibliography
About the Author :
Dave Eberly is the president of Geometric Tools, Inc. (www.geometrictools.com), a company that specializes in software development for computer graphics, image analysis, and numerical methods. Previously, he was the director of engineering at Numerical Design Ltd. (NDL), the company responsible for the real-time 3D game engine, NetImmerse. He also worked for NDL on Gamebryo, which was the next-generation engine after NetImmerse. His background includes a BA degree in mathematics from Bloomsburg University, MS and PhD degrees in mathematics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and MS and PhD degrees in computer science from the University of North Carolina at ChapelHill. He is the author of 3D Game Engine Design, 2nd Edition (2006), 3D Game Engine Architecture (2005), Game Physics (2004), and coauthor with Philip Schneider of Geometric Tools for Computer Graphics (2003), all published by Morgan Kaufmann. As a mathematician, Dave did research in the mathematics of combustion, signal and image processing, and length-biased distributions in statistics. He was an associate professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio with an adjunct appointment in radiology at the U.T. Health Science Center at San Antonio. In 1991, he gave up his tenured position to re-train in computer science at the University of North Carolina. After graduating in 1994, he remained for one year as a research associate professor in computer science with a joint appointment in the Department of Neurosurgery, working in medical image analysis. His next stop was the SAS Institute, working for a year on SAS/Insight, a statistical graphics package. Finally, deciding that computer graphics and geometry were his real calling, Dave went to work for NDL (which is now Emergent Game Technologies), then to Magic Software, Inc., which later became Geometric Tools, Inc. Dave's participation in the newsgroup comp.graphics.algorit
Review :
"I keep at most a dozen reference texts within easy reach of my workstation computer. This book will replace two of them."-Ian Ashdown, President, byHeart Consultants Limited "Implementing physical simulations for real-time games is a complex task that requires a solid understanding of a wide range of concepts from the fields of mathematics and physics. Previously, the relevant information could only be gleaned through obscure research papers. Thanks to Game Physics, all this information is now available in a single, easily accessible volume. Dave has yet again produced a must-have book for game technology programmers everywhere." -Christer Ericson, Technology Lead, Sony Computer Entertainment "Game Physics is a comprehensive reference of physical simulation techniques relevant to games and also contains a clear presentation of the mathematical background concepts fundamental to most types of game programming. I wish I had this book years ago." -Naty Hoffman, Senior Software Engineer, Naughty Dog, Inc. "Eppur si muove ... and yet it moves. From Galileo to game development, this book will surely become a standard reference for modeling movement." -Ian Ashdown, President, byHeart Consultants Limited "This is an excellent companion volume to Dave's earlier 3D Game Engine Design. It shares the approach and strengths of his previous book. He doesn't try to pare down to the minimum necessary information that would allow you to build something with no more than basic functionality. Instead, he gives you all you need to begin working on a professional-caliber system. He puts the concepts firmly in context with current, ongoing research, so you have plenty of guidance on where to go if you are inclined to add even more features on your own. This is not a cookbook-it's a concise presentation of all the basic concepts needed to understand and use physics in a modern game engine. It gives you a firm foundation you can use either to build a complete engine of your own or to understand what's going on inside the new powerful middleware physics engines available today. This book, especially when coupled with Dave's 3D Game Engine Design, provides the most complete resource of the mathematics relevant to modern 3D games that I can imagine. Along with clear descriptions of the mathematics and algorithms needed to create a powerful physics engine are sections covering pretty much all of the math you will encounter anywhere in the game-quaternions, linear algebra, and calculus." -Peter Lipson, Senior Programmer, Toys For Bob "This comprehensive introduction to the field of game physics will be invaluable to anyone interested in the increasingly more important aspect of video game production, namely, striving to achieve realism. Drawing from areas such as robotics, dynamic simulation, mathematical modeling, and control theory, this book succeeds in presenting the material in a concise and cohesive way. As a matter of fact, it can be recommended not only to video game professionals but also to students and practitioners of the above-mentioned disciplines." -Pal-Kristian Engstad, Senior Software Engineer, Naughty Dog, Inc. "Increases in processor power now make it feasible to run complex physical simulations in real time, which greatly increases their practical importance. Thus there is an increasing need for books like David Eberly's Game Physics that can give graphics programmers a grounding in the physical principles that underlie realistic computer animation." - W.Lewis Johnson --Physics Today
