Understand basic mathematical tools used in video game creation such as vectors, matrices, and transformations.

Discover how to describe and draw interactive 3D scenes using Direct3D and the D3DX library.

Learn how to implement lighting, texture mapping, alpha blending, and stenciling using shaders and the high-level shading language (HLSL).

Explore a variety of techniques for creating special effects, including vertex blending, character animation, terrain rendering, multi-texturing, particle systems, reflections, shadows, and normal mapping.

Find out how to work with meshes, load and render .X files, program terrain/camera collision detection, and implement 3D object picking.

Review key ideas, gain programming experience, and explore new topics with the end-of-chapter exercises.