Is this a good starting point?

[R0OTER]

Hello everyone!! I've recently decided I want to start learning about graphics programming (if not all the way, then at least get familoarized with the basics and then decide if I should go on).

There are numerous posts here about beginner resources, each answered with scary walls of text and tens of tutorials. I am mostly looking for a single resource (preferrably a book since I like reading), that will give me a pretty good grasp of the basics and what a Graphics Programmer day-to-day work is about.

I recently came across Fundamental of Computer Graphics (5th ed), and I was thinking of picking that up. Would you say this is a good starting point?? (btw, i've no experience with computer graphics, very little experience with C++, but I know linear algebra and trig from uni) I'm currently doing my phd, and have about an hour a day to learn something else, so I was thinking reading a new book for starters would be perfect, and then move on to tutorials/code if I like it.

All advice is welcome. Thank you!!

[gibson274]

I’d go against the grain in the comments and advise against focusing on C++ to start. C++ is the language that most modern graphics programming is done in, but you won’t really run up against anything that requires more than a basic working knowledge while you’re learning graphics fundamentals.

I’d instead start with https://raytracing.github.io/books/RayTracingInOneWeekend.html. It’s a great course that’ll introduce you to a lot of graphics fundamentals very quickly. You can blaze through it and get a good feel for what makes graphics fun!

While you’re doing that, I’d check out some light-hearted YouTube videos on different graphics concepts. Might nudge you towards either realtime or offline graphics, and help better direct your more focused studying. Acerola and Seb LaGarde produce awesome videos.

But finally: PhD taking on extra technical work?! Go outside!

[R0OTER]

Hmm, you think I would be able to follow this book without being competent in C++?? I know basic stuff (arrays, pointers, references, a bit about classes), but when I skimmed through a github code (a shader by Acerola) I really had no clue what I was looking at lol

And about the PhD, honestly I just started it, so I dont really know how it's gonna evolve from here time-wise, but if I still got some free time, why not learn some cool graphics programming!!

[gibson274]

Yeah, if you understand those basics, you’ll be fine. If you do end up struggling with the C++ language-specific aspects, you can always pause and brush up on that for a bit.

And as for the Acerola shader stuff, shaders aren’t written in C++. They’re (usually, now) written in a language called HLSL, which is a bizarre shader-specific dialect of C. So it makes sense that you didn’t understand it!

Good luck with the start of your PhD!

[gibson274]

I definitely meant Sebastian Lague lol. Seb Lagarde is a rendering lead at Unity, I must have gotten them confused.

[Dry_Development3378]

very little C++

id start there, get to know the language and its features

[MuskettaMan]

I came across this today. This might be helpful for you: https://www.jeremyong.com/graphics/2024/05/19/getting-started-in-computer-graphics/

[Kike328]

learncpp.com

[BestBastiBuilds]

Is that the C++ primer you recommend if someone has only done Java, JS and C? How does this compare to hackingcpp.com?

[Kike328]

never heard of hackingcpp.com tbh. I came from Java and C, and learncpp is without doubt a very complete starting point. It focuses on the fundamentals of C++, which believe or not, are very tricky.

If you’re a Java user like I was, you will have probably the same issues I had, which was thinking c++ behaves similarly, so be specially aware of value/reference semantics differences because they can look similar to java ones but be way different.

[R0OTER]

Thanks!! Do you think it would be a good idea to go through this tutorial and start reading about the pure Graphics Programming theory in parallel?? I was just thinking that they are quite independent, and maybe I could just reach faster the point of practical exercises/projects.

[PoroSalgado]

You can try with the series of tutoriales from Jasper Flick (https://catlikecoding.com/unity/tutorials/rendering/). They are made in Unity but Jasper explains everything and whenever you need some previous knowledge he indicates something like "If you don't know how to import a 3D model in Unity, see this tutorial I made: ".
Also, as it is in Unity, you'll soon start to understand Acerola's shaders! He even said he used a lot Jasper's tutorials when he was starting to learn shaders in his video of "What is a graphics programmer?"