| Physically Based Rendering, Fourth Edition: from Theory to Implementation, by Matt Pharr, Wenzel Jakob, and Greg Humphreys, The MIT Press, March 2023 (more information), Patreon page, read for free. |
| Ray Tracing Gems II: Next Generation Real-Time Rendering with DXR, Vulkan, and OptiX, edited by Adam Marrs, Peter Shirley, and Ingo Wald, Apress, August 4, 2021 (Book's website, publisher's page), download for free. |
| Developing Graphics Frameworks with Python and OpenGL, by Lee Stemkoski and Michael Pascale, CRC Press, July 7, 2021 (Publisher's website). |
| Computer Graphics from Scratch: A Programmer's Introduction to 3D Rendering, by Gabriel Gambetta, No Starch Press, May 18, 2021 (publisher's page includes download of chapter 3, Google Books sample), read for free. |
| The Graphics Codex, by Morgan McGuire, 2011-2021: main site. |
| Learn OpenGL - Graphics Programming: Learn modern OpenGL graphics programming in a step-by-step fashion, by Joey de Vries, Kendall & Welling, June 2020 (Book's website, with free downloadable version; also, the beginnings of a new book, Learn Vulkan). |
| Ray Tracing Gems, edited by Eric Haines and Tomas Akenine-Möller, Apress, March 2019 (Book's website, publisher's page, Amazon), download for free. |
| Ray Tracing in One Weekend, by Peter Shirley, January 2016 (Code, tweet, blog), download for free, read (corrected version) for free. |
| Ray Tracing: the Next Week, by Peter Shirley, March 2016 (Code, tweet, blog), download for free, read (corrected version) for free. |
| Ray Tracing: The Rest Of Your Life, by Peter Shirley, March 2016 (Code, tweet, blog), download for free, read (corrected version) for free. |
| WebGL Insights, edited by Patrick Cozzi, CRC Press, July 2015 (blog), download for free. |
| Immersive Linear Algebra, by J. Ström, K. Åström, and T. Akenine-Möller, 2015-2019 (an interactive book on the subject), read for free. |
| Computer Vision Metrics: Survey, Taxonomy, and Analysis, by Scott Krig, Apress, July 2014 (table of contents and free download; see our blog for options). |
| Learning Modern 3D Graphics Programming, by Jason L. McKesson, 2012. download for free |
| 3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development, 2nd Edition, by Fletcher Dunn and Ian Parberry, AK Peters, November 2011, read for free. |
| Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications, by Richard Szeliski, Springer, Nov. 2010, download for free. |
| GPU Gems 3, edited by Hubert Nguyen, August 2007, read for free, code. NVIDIA wanted people to learn about shaders, so this excellent book being free. |
| GPU Gems 2: Techniques for Graphics and Compute Intensive Programming, edited by Matt Pharr, March 2005, read for free, code (and repo). Another gift from NVIDIA; a wonderful book. |
| GPU Gems: Programming Techniques, Tips, and Tricks for Real-Time Graphics, edited by Randima Fernando, March 2004, read for free, code (and repo). Likewise, still worthwhile and great that it's free. |
| ShaderX2: Shader Programming Tips and Tricks with DirectX 9.0, edited by Wolfgang Engel, Nov. 2003, download for free, also free code download and notes. Ancient, but worth a peek. |
| ShaderX2: Introductions and Tutorials with DirectX 9.0, edited by Wolfgang Engel, Nov. 2003, download for free, also free code download and notes. Ancient, but impressive that there's an 82-page article on shadow volumes. |
| The Cg Tutorial, by Randy Fernando and Mark J. Kilgard, March 2003, read for free. Pro tip: no one uses Cg any more. But, free is free. |
| Direct3D ShaderX: Vertex and Pixel Shader Tips and Tricks, edited by Wolfgang Engel, June 2002, download for free, also free code download and notes. Again, ancient, left here for historic purposes. |
| Computational Geometry: Algorithms and Applications, 3rd Edition, by Mark de Berg, Otfried Cheong, Marc van Kreveld, and Mark Overmars, Springer Verlag, 2008: download 2nd Edition (from 2000) for free. A well-illustrated text that explains key computational geometry algorithms. Note that the free version is the second edition; other than these errata fixes, the 3rd edition's major changes are that Chapter 7 includes information on Voronoi diagrams of line-segments and for farthest point, and Chapter 12 includes BSP trees for low-density scenes. |
| Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book, by Michael Abrash, July 1997, read for free and alternate. Truly ancient, yes, but there are still articles of general interest, and Abrash is a fine story-teller. |
| Principles of Digital Image Synthesis, by Andrew S. Glassner, Morgan Kaufmann, 1995: download for free (errata corrected), errata. An incredible book, and physics doesn't change (much), so despite the age this book is full of useful information. |
| Radiosity: A Programmer's Perspective, by Ian Ashdown, Wiley, 1994: download for free. Starts with a fine introduction to photometry concepts. |
| Radiosity and Realistic Image Synthesis, by Michael F. Cohen and John R. Wallace, Academic Press Professional, 1993: download for free. The first book on the use of radiosity in computer graphics, again with an approachable introduction to photometry. |
| Simulating Humans: Computer Graphics Animation and Control, by Norman I. Badler, Cary B. Phillips, Bonnie Lynn Webber, Oxford University Press, 1993: download for free. All about the human figure and how to model it in the computer. Old, but chock full of information. |
| Introduction to Computing with Geometry, by Adrian Bowyer and John Woodwark, Information Geometers Ltd, 1993: download for free and alternate. About surfaces and other geometry-related bits. Written in an approachable and entertaining manner, with solid math and (occasionally dusty but workable) code bits. |
| An Introduction to Ray Tracing, edited by Andrew Glassner, Morgan Kaufmann, 1989.The first book on ray tracing. Ancient, but most of the information is still valid - math is math, data structures are data structures. Download the PDF or DJVU version. Andrew Glassner's page on the book here, errata page for first printing here (all errata are corrected in the PDF version); review by Matt Pharr here; download for free. |
