Learning OpenGL ES for iOS: A Hands-On Guide to Modern 3D Graphics Programming

Erik M. Buck

Language: English

Published: Jan 2, 2010

Description:

Get Started Fast with Modern OpenGL ES Graphics Programming for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

OpenGL ES technology underlies the user interface and graphical capabilities of Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad–as well as devices ranging from video-game consoles and aircraft-cockpit displays to non-Apple smartphones. In this friendly, thorough introduction, Erik M. Buck shows how to make the most of  Open GL ES in Apple’s iOS environment.

This highly anticipated title focuses on modern, efficient approaches that use the newest versions of  OpenGL ES, helping you avoid the irrelevant, obsolete, and misleading techniques that litter the Internet. Buck embraces Objective-C and Cocoa Touch, showing how to leverage Apple’s powerful, elegant GLKit framework to maximize your productivity, achieve tight platform integration, and deliver exceptionally polished apps.

If you’ve written C or C++ code and know  object-oriented programming basics, this title  brings together everything you need to fully  master OpenGL ES graphics for iOS–including  downloadable examples specifically designed to  jumpstart your own projects.

Coverage includes

• Understanding core OpenGL ES computer graphics concepts and iOS graphics architecture

• Integrating Cocoa Touch with OpenGL ES to leverage the power of Apple’s platform

• Creating textures from start to finish: opacity, blending, multi-texturing, and compression

• Simulating ambient, diffuse, and specular light

• Using transformations to render 3D geometric objects from any point of view

• Animating scenes by controlling time through application logic

• Partitioning data to draw expansive outdoor scenes with rolling terrain

• Detecting and handling user interaction with 3D geometry

• Implementing special effects ranging from skyboxes to particles and billboards

• Systematically optimizing graphics performance

• Understanding the essential linear algebra concepts used in computer graphics

• Designing and constructing a complete simulation that incorporates everything you’ve learned

About the Author

Erik M. Buck is a serial entrepreneur and author. He co-wrote Cocoa Programming in 2003 and Cocoa Design Patterns in 2009. He founded his first company, EMB & Associates, Inc., in 1993 and built the company into a leader in the aerospace and entertainment software industries. Mr. Buck has also worked in construction, taught science to 8th graders, exhibited oil on canvas portraits, and developed alternative fuel vehicles. Mr. Buck sold his company in 2002 and took the opportunity to pursue other interests, including his latest startup, cosmicthump.com. Mr. Buck is an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Wright State University and teaches iOS programming courses. He received a BS in Computer Science from the University of Dayton in 1991.