## EBOOK - Beginning DirectX 9 - Wendy Jones

In some ways this book appears to have been written as a classroom textbook but you can learn a lot about DirectX 9 from it even without a classroom teacher to guide you.
The best thing about the book might be the chapter exercises. Ultimately, the author builds up to a final project for the reader, a user controlled spaceship in flight near a planet. Solutions are provided for all reader exercises including the final project.

All code and examples are in C++. A variety of example programs are provided on the disk and some of the code could be used as the foundation for a 3D game engine. FYI, you can also download updated source code for this book from the publishers website course.cengage.com. I had only a few small problems compiling and running them in Visual Studio Express 2008. One caveat: the author seems fairly comfortable and adept with C++ classing and assumes you are, too, so be prepared to do a little additional study if you're not up to speed on C++.

This book does not really discuss game programming in any significant way and pretty much sticks to teaching a number of the most important DirectX concepts and functions, like vertex buffers, point sprites, transformations, textures, DirectInput, and DirectSound. One unfortunate omission is the subject of 3D character animation.

If you can finish the book and work out the exercises you should have a much better grasp on the subject of DirectX 9 3D graphics programming (assuming your are a novice) and can probably take it to the next level using the SDK documentation and tutorials. That's my plan, anyway, after learning some OpenGL.

Novices and non-professionals (like me) who don't have a lot of time on their hands to learn C++ low level graphics programming but who want to try their hand at 3D Games might be better off creating modules with the kits that come with some games or looking into some of the inexpensive game SDK's - in some cases free - that are on the market.

Part I Getting Down the Basics  . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Chapter 1 The What, Why, and How of DirectX  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Chapter 2 Your First DirectX Program  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Chapter 3 Surfaces, Sprites, and Salmon  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Part II It’s a 3D World After All . . . . . . . . . . .63
Chapter 4 3D Primer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Chapter 5 Matrices, Transforms, and Rotations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
Chapter 6 Vertex Colors, Texture Mapping, and 3D Lighting  . . . . . .117
Chapter 7 Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
Chapter 8 Point Sprites, Particles, and Pyrotechnics . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177

Part III Additional Needs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
Chapter 9 Using DirectInput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201
Chapter 10 DirectSound  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
Chapter 11 The Final Project  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257

Part IV Appendixes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .293
Appendix A Answers to End-of-Chapter Exercises  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295
Appendix B Using the CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311
Glossary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .315
Index  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .318

BUY EBOOK ON AMAZON (BEST SELLING)