Interactive Computer Graphics: A Top Down Approach with WebGL

by Edward Angel

This is the eBook of the printed book and may not include any
media, website access codes, or print supplements that may come
packaged with the bound book.
Interactive Computer Graphics with
WebGL, Seventh Edition,is suitable
for undergraduate students in computer science and engineering, for
students in other disciplines who have good programming skills, and
for professionals interested in computer animation and graphics
using the latest version of WebGL.
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Computer animation and graphics are now
prevalent in everyday life from the computer screen, to the movie
screen, to the smart phone screen. The growing excitement about
WebGL applications and their ability to integrate HTML5, inspired
the authors to exclusively use WebGL in the Seventh Edition of
Interactive Computer Graphics with WebGL. Thisis the
only introduction to computer graphics text for undergraduates that
fully integrates WebGL and emphasizes application-based
programming. The top-down, programming-oriented approach allows for
coverage of engaging 3D material early in the course so students
immediately begin to create their own 3D graphics.
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Teaching and Learning Experience
This program will provide a better teaching
and learning experience–for you and your students. It will
help:

Engage Students Immediately with 3D Material: A
top-down, programming-oriented approach allows for coverage of
engaging 3D material early in the course so students immediately
begin to create their own graphics.
Introduce Computer Graphics Programming with WebGL and
JavaScript: WebGL is not only fully shader-based–each
application must provide at least a vertex shader and a fragment
shader–but also a version that works within the latest web
browsers.

752 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 28, 2014

Reviews

[Carl Leibniz · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book falls significantly short as an educational resource. Surface-level treatment of crucial concepts is its main weakness - from inadequate coverage of fundamental mathematics (vectors, scalars, Euclidean space, and affine transformations) to a lack of detailed explanation of the WebGL API and graphics pipeline. Code snippets are presented without sufficient context, making them particularly challenging for beginners to grasp.

The book's intended audience and purpose remain unclear - it's too superficial for experienced graphics programmers seeking a reference, yet lacks the necessary detail and step-by-step explanations for self-learners. While it might serve as a supplementary text in a structured classroom environment with expert guidance, it's not recommended for independent study. Those attempting to learn computer graphics and its mathematical foundations would be better served by seeking more comprehensive resources that provide clearer connections between theory and practical implementation.

[Rick E · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a good book for learning WebGL or graphics. Many topics are presented in an unorganized way. Unnecessary details over explain the obvious while other important items like quaternions are glossed over with very little detail.
The same code will be reused for multiple examples per chapter with minor changes that aren't highlighted or commented.
The choice of variable names makes the code hard to read. Very generic names like theta, phi, vertices, data and points are used in inconsistent ways without any comments to clarify their use in each program. Var theta is used for angles, orientation, lines, uniform locations...