Introduction to Computer Graphics
Version 1.3, August 2021
(Version 1.3.1, December 2021)
(Summer 2023: Version 1.4, with a new chapter on WebGPU is under construction)
Author: David J. Eck (eck@hws.edu)
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WELCOME TO Introduction to Computer Graphics, a free, on-line textbook covering the fundamentals of computer graphics and computer graphics programming. This book is meant for use as a textbook in a one-semester course that would typically be taken by undergraduate computer science majors in their third or fourth year of college. Version 1.3 contains significant updates from Version 1.2 of January 2018, including an update of the three.js material to release number 129, the addition of some material on WebGL 2.0, and an update of Appendix B to Blender 2.93. See the preface for more information. The web pages for this book include live, interactive demos that require a modern web browser such as recent versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge. You might have to experiment to find a browser in which the demos will work well. While the book is mainly designed for reading on a desktop computer, most of the demos should also work on recent mobile devices, using a touchscreen instead of a mouse. Words in the book that are shown in this style or underlined like this refer to glossary entries; click the word to see a definition. You can download this web site for use on your own computer. PDF versions of the textbook are also available. Links to the downloads can be found at the bottom of this page. Short Table of Contents:
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License. (This license allows you to redistribute this book in unmodified form for non-commercial purposes. It allows you to make and distribute modified versions for non-commercial purposes, as long as you include an attribution to the original author, clearly describe the modifications that you have made, and distribute the modified work under the same license as the original. Permission might be given by the author for other uses. See the license for full details.)
The home site for this book is: http://math.hws.edu/graphicsbook/
Downloading Links
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Full Web Site Download:
- http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs424/downloads/graphicsbook-web-site.zip — This "zip" archive contains a complete copy of the web site for this textbook. You can publish a copy of the web site on your own web server, or you can use it locally on your own computer. Size: 24 Megabytes.
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PDF Downloads:
- http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs424/downloads/graphicsbook-linked.pdf — a PDF version with internal links for navigation and external links to source code files and other resources that are not included in the PDF. Recommended for on-screen reading. 456 pages. Size: 5.3 Megabytes.
- http://math.hws.edu/eck/cs424/downloads/graphicsbook.pdf — a PDF version without links, more suitable for printing. 463 pages. Size: 5.0 Megabytes.
Printed Version
- The web site and linked PDF are the preferred versions for reading this book, but for the convenience of readers who would like a bound copy, I have made a printed version available at the publish-on-demand site lulu.com. (Note that the printed version is sold at lulu.com's cost, and that I don't make any profit from it.) You can purchase the printed version through this link: https://www.lulu.com/shop/david-eck/introduction-to-computer-graphics/paperback/product-1jzn2z5r.html
28 January 2016, Version 1.1 released
6 January 2018, Version 1.2 released
1 August 2021, Version 1.3 released
20 December 2021, Version 1.3.1 released