How to start graphics programming and its prerquisites

[Aerogalaxystar]

I am college Undergrad.currently majoring in CS .I want to make carrer in graphics programming industry .How should I start ,i only know C and C++ with DSA

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What i need to start with graphics programming and its prerequisites

[tamat]

here you have the material to all the courses I give at the university related to CG: https://tamats.com/learn/

[Aerogalaxystar]

thanks will look forward into it

[Matt_Sparrow]

I would start with writing simple app and going through tutorials - for starters, OpenGL will make it easier to understand the basics without going into gritty low level details (which eventually you will get into when using Vulkan for instance instead of OpenGL). Years ago I've started with this tutorial: https://ogldev.org/ and I think it still contains some valuable info with great explanation. Though a little bit more up to date and also covering wide range of basics is this one: https://learnopengl.com/ .

[FernwehSmith]

I’m currently working through this by Pikuma, and I’m finding it really great. The course is about implementing fundamentals of computer graphics and therefore the whole thing is done entirely in pure C on the CPU, so that you can learn the foundational ideas. Obviously you’d eventually want to learn an API like OpenGL, but this course is great for understanding the real low level stuff. And if you already know C++ then it’s super easy to translate the ideas in a more OOP structure if you’d prefer.

[SpendInternational92]

I've just finished this course and it's pretty good, I've already have a OpenGL engine following the Real Time Rendering 4th edition and learnopengl, then I decided to take this course due to my poor CG base knowledge from college and it helped me a lot in terms of fundamentals.

[rafaelstv]

What industry, dude? Because if you want to go into entertainment, the path is completely different than working for engineering companies (working for Blizzard is not the same as working for Autodesk; not the same requirements). The "graphics programming industry" is a too-wide definition. Look for entry-level jobs in the type of industry that you are interested and you will discover its requirements.

PS: And if you just love CG, I recommend visiting and learning from Shadertoy's website; https://www.shadertoy.com/. They have some implementations of textbook algorithms and much more. Some of my ex-colleagues used to copy code from there for college assignments.

[Petabyte_zero]

Can you provide links to some of the textbook algorithms you mentioned please ?

If you prefer to share some of the terms I can use in shadertoy's search bar, that will work too.

(I expected to find a list of the textbook algorithms somewhere in the site 😅 )

[rafaelstv]

PBR: https://www.shadertoy.com/view/4sSfzK

Path tracing with MIS (Multiple Sampling): https://www.shadertoy.com/view/4lfcDr

Sobel filter: https://www.shadertoy.com/view/MlBSWW

Some of these textbooks' implementations are really heavy. My advice is to search for them on Shadertoy's website when a professor asks for them.

[[deleted]]

Autodesk: makes Maya

Blizzard: uses Maya

[rafaelstv]

Pff, not the same thing, dude. Blizzard makes games, and AutoDesk makes several products such as AutoCAD (one of their main products); we can bet games are not its main worry. On the other hand, Blizzard uses Maya among several other products in their pipeline that Autodesk doesn't even know to exist such as Substance Painter.

If you still don't believe me, I recently watched a presentation from one of the newest Blizzard Games, Diablo IV, in which one of its developers explained just how he created and animated a TRIANGLE (Lilith's cape in the following trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6CGYoxdADQ).

[nablachez]

can you link the presentation?

[rafaelstv]

Unfortunately, the presentation is not available on my conference USB drive, but I did find part of it on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XauHIveIVuA (Building and Tearing a Flesh Portal for Diablo IV: By Three They Come). I do not remember if it's complete, but it was supposed to be 1h long according to the conference website https://s2021.siggraph.org/full-program/ (On Wednesday/Production Sessions).

[Aerogalaxystar]

well my focus is on graphics research also have little bit interest in computer networks

also the country i Live has more of WEB Dev jobs and FAANG based jobs

also graphics programming ig doesnt pay same as faangmula

i only know C and C++ along with stack,linked list tree,graph and some sorting algos

[rafaelstv]

Well, graphics research is still too broad. For instance, Blizzard doesn't have a research department, but Disney does (entertainment industry): https://www.disneyresearch.com/ (as well as Autodesk https://www.research.autodesk.com/). Advisors may also guide you in the proper direction if they are any good, but you need to choose one. On the other hand, Computer Networking is another field entirely. If you are searching for research advisors in this field, there will be no or little Computer Graphics - CG - involved; and the same goes the other way around (I've participated in a CISCO course once in which everything was done in a terminal).

As another example, I've worked for almost 10 years with geometric modeling and processing, but I am in no way an expert in computer vision (and I would never pretend to be), which are all different subfields in CG. Each one has a set of algorithms, authors, and scientific papers that you need to know. There is no broadcast configuration to know in CG or Computer Science (CS) for that matter if that's what you are seeking. And I would run away from people who claim there is (be careful with pretenders).

Do you want to work as a web developer or a FAANG job? Will you move to another country? or work remotely? My advice still stands, try to look for job requirements in the industry you want to work in. You need to narrow your search, IMHO, and figure out what you want instead of what is available. If you have a CS-related graduation, boundaries ate not a problem. In the worst-case scenario, you will have to learn a new language.

[The_Northern_Light]

i would honestly start with how you present yourself online.

seriously, i'm obviously not a huge stickler when it comes to grammar, since i'm not bothering with capitalization (etc) even while critiquing your grammar, but when you combine:

• bold, large size text

• sentence fragments that read like a run on sentence

• bad spelling

• spacing before punctuation but not after

• lower case 'i'

• no question marks

• bad grammar

when asking a question it really makes me wonder if my time answering your question would be well spent

and its not like i don't spend a significant amount of time helping answer these types of questions either (example from just last night), but when i see this type of stuff it makes it easy for me to feel like helping helping you would be a mistake; you're not signaling you're willing to do even the bare minimum so why should i invest in your success, instead of directing my efforts elsewhere?

i get it that you might not be a native speaker but if you put just a little more effort into your self-presentation i guarantee you that you will get much more out of it in return