3D Programming for Windows®

Chapter 1. Lights! Camera! Mesh Geometries!

In this chapter:

Three-Dimensional Coordinates 8

Points in Space 9

Introduction to Vectors 11

Defining the 3D Figure 15

Lights and Camera 19

The Viewport3D and Its Constituents 22

Variations in Code and Markup 25

Fields of View 29

Defining Flat Rectangles 33

Defining "Solid" Figures 37

Balancing Light Sources 39

The Orthographic Projection 43

Why Not Share the Vertices? 46

Transparency 48

Sorting Out the Classes 50

Ever since artists of the Upper Paleolithic era began adorning cave walls with images of hunters and their prey, people have strived to depict three-dimensional, real-world objects on two-dimensional surfaces. Our newspapers, magazines, books, museums, scratchpads, photo albums, movie theatres, video libraries, ...