3D Graphics Rendering Cookbook: A comprehensive guide to exploring rendering algorithms in modern OpenGL and Vulkan

Build a 3D rendering engine from scratch while solving problems in a step-by-step way with the help of useful recipes

Key Features

• Learn to integrate modern rendering techniques into a single performant 3D rendering engine
• Leverage Vulkan to render 3D content, use AZDO in OpenGL applications, and understand modern real-time rendering methods
• Implement a physically based rendering pipeline from scratch in Vulkan and OpenGL

Book Description

OpenGL is a popular cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) used for rendering 2D and 3D graphics, while Vulkan is a low-overhead, cross-platform 3D graphics API that targets high-performance applications. 3D Graphics Rendering Cookbook helps you learn about modern graphics rendering algorithms and techniques using C++ programming along with OpenGL and Vulkan APIs.

The book begins by setting up a development environment and takes you through the steps involved in building a 3D rendering engine with the help of basic, yet self-contained, recipes. Each recipe will enable you to incrementally add features to your codebase and show you how to integrate different 3D rendering techniques and algorithms into one large project. You'll also get to grips with core techniques such as physically based rendering, image-based rendering, and CPU/GPU geometry culling, to name a few. As you advance, you'll explore common techniques and solutions that will help you to work with large datasets for 2D and 3D rendering. Finally, you'll discover how to apply optimization techniques to build performant and feature-rich graphics applications.

By the end of this 3D rendering book, you'll have gained an improved understanding of best practices used in modern graphics APIs and be able to create fast and versatile 3D rendering frameworks.

What you will learn

• Improve the performance of legacy OpenGL applications
• Manage a substantial amount of content in real-time 3D rendering engines
• Discover how to debug and profile graphics applications
• Understand how to use the Approaching Zero Driver Overhead (AZDO) philosophy in OpenGL
• Integrate various rendering techniques into a single application
• Find out how to develop Vulkan applications
• Implement a physically based rendering pipeline from scratch
• Integrate a physics library with your rendering engine

Who this book is for

This book is for 3D graphics developers who are familiar with the mathematical fundamentals of 3D rendering and want to gain expertise in writing fast rendering engines with advanced techniques using C++ libraries and APIs. A solid understanding of C++ and basic linear algebra, as well as experience in creating custom 3D applications without using premade rendering engines is required.

Table of Contents

1. Establishing a Build Environment
2. Using Essential Libraries
3. Getting Started with OpenGL and Vulkan
4. Adding User Interaction and Productivity Tools
5. Working with Geometry Data
6. Physically Based Rendering Using the glTF2 Shading Model
7. Graphics Rendering Pipeline
8. Image-based Techniques
9. Working with Scene Graphs
10. Advanced Rendering Techniques and Optimizations

Sergey Kosarevsky is a rendering lead at Ubisoft RedLynx. He worked in the mobile industry at SPB Software, Yandex, Layar and Blippar, TWNKLS, and DAQRI, where he designed and implemented real-time rendering technology. He has more than 18 years of software development experience and more than 10 years of mobile and embedded 3D graphics experience. In his Ph.D. thesis, Sergey employed computer vision to solve mechanical engineering problems. He has co-authored several books on mobile software development in C++.

Viktor Latypov is a software engineer specializing in embedded C/C++, 3D graphics, and computer vision. With more than 15 years of software development experience and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics, he has implemented a number of real-time renderers for medical and automotive applications over the last 10 years.

Together with Sergey, he has co-authored two books on mobile software development in C++.