Hi,

What's a good geometry reference book to get for ray tracing?

I was wondering if there were any specific books anyone has found useful?

Thank you for your opinions.

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In article <web.3fbbaefbc1bd4a107059a060@news.povray.org>,
 "incognito" <nomail@nomail> wrote:

> What's a good geometry reference book to get for ray tracing?
> 
> I was wondering if there were any specific books anyone has found useful?

I'm not sure how much pure geometry will help...you'll want something 
that explains vector math and a little about matrices. Probably a 3D 
computer graphics programming book would be best. Depending on what 
you're doing, a little trig, calculus, etc. may be useful.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
http://tag.povray.org/

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Christopher James Huff wrote:
>In article <web.3fbbaefbc1bd4a107059a060[at]news.povray.org>,
> "incognito" <nomail[at]nomail> wrote:
>
>> What's a good geometry reference book to get for ray tracing?
>>
>> I was wondering if there were any specific books anyone has found useful?
>
>I'm not sure how much pure geometry will help...you'll want something
>that explains vector math and a little about matrices. Probably a 3D
>computer graphics programming book would be best. Depending on what
>you're doing, a little trig, calculus, etc. may be useful.
>
>Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
>http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
>POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
>http://tag.povray.org/
>

Thanks for replying.

Do you know of any books that will give the basic facts (I have forgotten)
on the shapes in shapes.inc and possibly shapes in other ray tracers?

I know there are a couple books out on geometry specifically for comp
graphics but they seem to vary greatly in level/content so that's where I
am confused.

Thanks a lot.

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In article <web.3fbbea1e3a0ec7871c94e40c0@news.povray.org>,
 "incognito" <nomail@nomail> wrote:

> Do you know of any books that will give the basic facts (I have forgotten)
> on the shapes in shapes.inc

Any shapes in particular? Most of them are pretty simple. I don't think 
you need Round_Box(), Wedge(), or Spheroid() explained. I don't know 
where supercones or supertorii would be explained...maybe a good 
analytical geometry book?


> and possibly shapes in other ray tracers?

Any book that covers raytracing should have the basics. For some of the 
more unusual shapes, you will probably have to look at research papers.


> I know there are a couple books out on geometry specifically for comp
> graphics but they seem to vary greatly in level/content so that's where I
> am confused.

It's a broad subject...*really* broad. I'm afraid you're going to have 
to be more specific about what you're looking for.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
http://tag.povray.org/

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Christopher James Huff wrote:
>In article <web.3fbbea1e3a0ec7871c94e40c0[at]news.povray.org>,
> "incognito" <nomail[at]nomail> wrote:
>
>> Do you know of any books that will give the basic facts (I have forgotten)
>> on the shapes in shapes.inc
>
>Any shapes in particular? Most of them are pretty simple. I don't think
>you need Round_Box(), Wedge(), or Spheroid() explained.

Yes, I do. To be blunt, I'm not that young and have not had a geometry
course in several years...I have seen there are a couple books that might
address geometry for computer graphics in general, "Geometric Tools for
Computer Graphics" and "Computer Graphics Handbook: Geometry and
Mathematics" but only have the titles/authors and have not seen the books
in person to know what they cover. Unfortunately, the library system in my
area does not carry too many books on the subject for me to check out for
free before purchasing.

Also, have not seen too many books on ray tracers either that are not the
type that teach you how to make your own (except the ones on Maya). I am
not interested in doing that and also have no guarantee of ever working
with Maya.

Thank you.

I don't know
>where supercones or supertorii would be explained...maybe a good
>analytical geometry book?
>
>
>> and possibly shapes in other ray tracers?
>
>Any book that covers raytracing should have the basics. For some of the
>more unusual shapes, you will probably have to look at research papers.
>
>
>> I know there are a couple books out on geometry specifically for comp
>> graphics but they seem to vary greatly in level/content so that's where I
>> am confused.
>
>It's a broad subject...*really* broad. I'm afraid you're going to have
>to be more specific about what you're looking for.
>
>Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
>http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
>POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
>http://tag.povray.org/
>

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"incognito" <nomail@nomail> wrote in message
news:web.3fbc34ce3a0ec787f4bb868a0@news.povray.org...

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/LiveGraphics3DApplets.html

This help?

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GreyBeard wrote:
>"incognito" <nomail[at]nomail> wrote in message
>news:web.3fbc34ce3a0ec787f4bb868a0[at]news.povray.org...
>
>http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/LiveGraphics3DApplets.html
>
>This help?
>

Yes, it sure does. Thanks very much!

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In article <web.3fbc34ce3a0ec787f4bb868a0@news.povray.org>,
 "incognito" <nomail@nomail> wrote:

> Yes, I do. To be blunt, I'm not that young and have not had a geometry
> course in several years...I have seen there are a couple books that might
> address geometry for computer graphics in general, "Geometric Tools for
> Computer Graphics" and "Computer Graphics Handbook: Geometry and
> Mathematics" but only have the titles/authors and have not seen the books
> in person to know what they cover. Unfortunately, the library system in my
> area does not carry too many books on the subject for me to check out for
> free before purchasing.
> 
> Also, have not seen too many books on ray tracers either that are not the
> type that teach you how to make your own (except the ones on Maya). I am
> not interested in doing that and also have no guarantee of ever working
> with Maya.

Okay...without knowing more about what your level of knowledge is, it's 
going to be very hard to give any advice. The POV-Ray manual explains 
vectors and quite a bit of the math that will be useful in general scene 
building. You said a book "for ray tracing", which is why I suggested a 
book on ray tracers, but if you're interested in the math they use that 
is the best way to go. Making scenes in general really doesn't require a 
lot of math...if you have some specific problems, it would help to know 
what they are.

-- 
Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
http://tag.povray.org/

Post a reply to this message

Christopher James Huff wrote:
>In article <web.3fbc34ce3a0ec787f4bb868a0[at]news.povray.org>,
> "incognito" <nomail[at]nomail> wrote:
>
>> Yes, I do. To be blunt, I'm not that young and have not had a geometry
>> course in several years...I have seen there are a couple books that might
>> address geometry for computer graphics in general, "Geometric Tools for
>> Computer Graphics" and "Computer Graphics Handbook: Geometry and
>> Mathematics" but only have the titles/authors and have not seen the books
>> in person to know what they cover. Unfortunately, the library system in my
>> area does not carry too many books on the subject for me to check out for
>> free before purchasing.
>>
>> Also, have not seen too many books on ray tracers either that are not the
>> type that teach you how to make your own (except the ones on Maya). I am
>> not interested in doing that and also have no guarantee of ever working
>> with Maya.
>
>Okay...without knowing more about what your level of knowledge is, it's
>going to be very hard to give any advice. The POV-Ray manual explains
>vectors and quite a bit of the math that will be useful in general scene
>building. You said a book "for ray tracing", which is why I suggested a
>book on ray tracers, but if you're interested in the math they use that
>is the best way to go. Making scenes in general really doesn't require a
>lot of math...if you have some specific problems, it would help to know
>what they are.

Thanks for the info.

I am confused by what you mean by the POV-ray manual. Is that help on the
GUI (in the beginning tutorial section)? I have seen this, however, I am
looking for a book (since that will show diagrams of the shapes) esp for
the ones I am not familiar with (spline based and polygon based). No, I
don't have specific problems and this is not an immediate need either.
Actually, the Web site given earlier by greybeard has been helpful too.

Thank you.
>
>Christopher James Huff <cja### [at] earthlinknet>
>http://home.earthlink.net/~cjameshuff/
>POV-Ray TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg
>http://tag.povray.org/
>

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"incognito" <nomail@nomail> wrote in
news:web.3fbed40a3a0ec7876d556f1d0@news.povray.org: 

> I am confused by what you mean by the POV-ray manual. Is that help on
> the GUI 

Yes


> I am looking for a book (since that will show diagrams of the
> shapes) 

That is in there too, complete with diagrams for many shapes.

http://www.povray.org/documentation/view/165/


-- 
Tom
_________________________________
The Internet Movie Project
http://www.imp.org/

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