The Cg Tutorial

Cg is the key to unlocking the power of a new generation of programmable graphics hardware. This book is the definitive introduction to Cg, and will be essential for anyone programming high-quality real-time graphics. The Cg Tutorial will teach you to use Cg to create effects never before available for real-time applications. --Larry Gritz, Author of Advanced RenderMan (Morgan Kaufmann, 2000) An important and timely book: Pixel-level procedural textures--animated clouds, fire, water, the whole bag of procedural tricks--finally go from the movie screen to the desktop. Access to computation of this power through a C-like language will usher in an exciting new era for the graphics community. --Ken Perlin, Professor, New York University Cg (C for graphics) is a complete programming environment for the fast creation of special effects and real-time cinematic quality experiences on multiple platforms. By providing a new level of abstraction, Cg lets developers more directly target OpenGL®, DirectX®, Windows®, Linux, Mac OS X®, and console platforms, such as the Xbox™, without having to program directly to the graphics hardware assembly language. Cg was developed by NVIDIA® Corporation in close collaboration with Microsoft® Corporation, and is compatible with both the OpenGL API and Microsoft`s HLSL for DirectX 9.0. The Cg Tutorial explains how to implement both basic and advanced techniques for today`s programmable GPU architectures. Major topics covered include: 3D transformations Per-vertex and per-pixel lighting Skinning and key-frame interpolation Environment mapping Bump mapping Fog Performance optimization Projective texturing Cartoon shading Compositing The accompanying CD-ROM includes the tools needed to run Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.