Microsoft® XNA™ Unleashed: Graphics and Game Programming for Xbox 360 and Windows

Chapter 4. Creating 3D Objects

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Vertices

• Vectors

• Matrices

• Transformations

• Transformations Reloaded

• Creating a Camera

• Vertex Buffers

• Effects

• Textures

• Index Buffers

• XNA Game Components

• Checking Performance

• Transformations Revolutions

In this chapter we examine 3D concepts and how the XNA Framework exposes different types and objects that allow us to easily create 3D worlds. We will create a couple of 3D demos that explain the basics. We will also create 3D objects directly inside of our code. Finally, we will move these objects on the screen.

Vertices

Everything in a 3D game is represented by 3D points. There are a couple of ways to get 3D objects on the screen. We can plot the points ourselves or we can load them from a 3D file (which has all of ...