[HN Gopher] The Graphics Codex
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       The Graphics Codex
        
       Author : board
       Score  : 55 points
       Date   : 2025-01-26 05:36 UTC (17 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (graphicscodex.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (graphicscodex.com)
        
       | danwills wrote:
       | I definitely have a big interest in this (It sounds like it'd be
       | the more advanced-bits mainly (I've worked in VFX for 23 years))
       | but was a bit disheartened to learn that it was a paid service.
       | 
       | I also searched the 'try it for free' version and the word
       | 'aliasing' only seemed-to-be-mentioned once!? I would've thought
       | that the arch-enemy of computer graphics (at least the raster-
       | display kind) might have gotten more of a mention!?
       | 
       | It also seemed odd to not really talk about 'filtering' and (at
       | least from a brief investigation) it doesn't seem to really
       | concern itself much with pixels at all! Maybe that's why there's
       | a section titled "Rendering is Very Hard"?) Edit: I read-on from
       | there a bit and this turns out to be about algorithmic complexity
       | side of the rendering equation and not that it's hard to talk
       | about pixels! fair enough! this document still seems more about
       | CG in-the-abstract than the practical to me!
       | 
       | At least 'smootherstep()' got a mention, although what about
       | 'smootheststep()'!? (easier to read if u split the words up:
       | "smoothest step" example here:
       | https://www.shadertoy.com/view/ltSfWV)
        
         | somethingsome wrote:
         | I'm writing a book on computer graphics, I would love to have a
         | list of in depth topics people are interested in :) let me know
         | if you have some requirements
        
           | integricho wrote:
           | some really in-depth coverage of debugging and
           | troubleshooting tools, e.g. usage of RenderDoc, but not just
           | fluffy introductions, but some really deep down guides.
           | 
           | and something similar for performance profiling also!
        
             | somethingsome wrote:
             | OK thanks! The book will cover most of the math's in an
             | intuitive way but rigorously nonetheless. It aims to build
             | the theory from ground up.
             | 
             | I already have a full chapter on aliasing.
             | 
             | The exercices use renderdoc and nvidia tools ;)
        
         | omershapira wrote:
         | > a paid service
         | 
         | It's a book you purchase. I've never had a book charge me a
         | recurring fee, and this one is no exception.
        
         | dahart wrote:
         | This is a book mostly about writing a more modern Monte Carlo
         | global illumination path tracing style of renderer, rather
         | than, say, a rasterizer. This is why 'antialiasing' is replaced
         | with 'sampling' and 'integration'. When you start with Monte-
         | Carlo and the assumption that you're multi-sampling, aliasing
         | and filtering are generally small problems, not big ones. The
         | code provided does loop over pixels. You're right that the book
         | doesn't contain a chapter on signal processing, but graphics is
         | now far too big a topic to be covered in one book, and it's
         | certainly questionable whether one needs to rabbit-hole on
         | filtering in a college intro course; Monte-Carlo integration of
         | multiple rays over a pixel is okayish at antialiasing &
         | filtering, and pretty good for a first renderer. Antialiasing
         | and filtering aren't solved problems anyway, especially for
         | HDR, so it makes sense to leave that topic for advanced
         | courses.
        
         | homarp wrote:
         | > paid service
         | 
         | What's new section says:
         | 
         | App Changes                   Moved web hosted version to
         | graphicscodex.com, made access free for everyone.
        
       | thelaxiankey wrote:
       | it looks alright -- 10 bucks is not much for a book. but there
       | are already many great graphics books out there, and resources
       | like inigo quilez's blog are absolutely incredible for the
       | burgeoning graphics programmer
        
         | malauxyeux wrote:
         | > but there are already many great graphics books out there
         | 
         | Would you mind listing your personal top n books?
        
         | WillAdams wrote:
         | Where is the $10 purchase link?
        
           | corysama wrote:
           | It used to be on the iOS App Store. But, apparently it is "No
           | longer available"?
           | 
           | Anyone know how to buy it today?
        
             | WillAdams wrote:
             | Apparently it is now free as noted elsethread.
        
       | mjfl wrote:
       | It's a great book!
        
       | WillAdams wrote:
       | How does this compare to:
       | 
       | https://projectivegeometricalgebra.org/
       | 
       | My current project requires better solutions for conic sections
       | than I have thus far been able to find --- the last time I tried
       | solving the problem I was chaining trigonometric triangles and
       | got 5 or 7 deep (plus calculating the chord of a circle) and
       | performance bogged down --- this was in OpenSCAD, and I think
       | before Manifold, so maybe I need to revisit my code in Python in
       | (Open)PythonSCAD w/ Manifold enabled.
        
         | dahart wrote:
         | It doesn't really compare, very different topics and very
         | different content. The Graphics Codex is about rendering, and
         | Projective Geometric Algebra is pure geometry presented in a
         | subset of Clifford Algebra. I think the only 'conics' covered
         | in the Graphics Codex might be sphere-line intersection, and
         | calling that conics is a stretch. ;)
         | 
         | Out of curiosity, what kind of conics problem are you trying to
         | solve?
        
           | WillAdams wrote:
           | I am trying to work out a toolpath problem for tapered ball
           | nose tooling on CNC machines as a part of:
           | 
           | https://github.com/WillAdams/gcodepreview
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2025-01-26 23:01 UTC)