Technical Directors Reading list

[pclaes]

Hi all,

I've just compiled a list on amazon with some of the books I recommend in regards to technical director work.

There are different levels of difficulty as it represents some of the books I have read and learned from in the process of learning more about 3d.

Most of these books have contributed to learning and understanding Houdini indirectly as well. There are a few tending towards the GPGPU because that is a more recent interest of mine and I believe that is going to increase a lot more in the near future.

For a lot of people on this forum they will recognize most of the books already, but perhaps pick up one or two, or better yet, post their own list (here or on Amazon). For younger people it might give a direction and recommendation in the jungle of books that is out there.

amazon technical directors reading list

Of course there are a whole bunch of video tutorials and papers that contribute to learning and development of effects out there too. But this is just books .

kind regards,

Peter

Edited August 12, 2010 by pclaes

[mightcouldb1]

Thanks for posting this Peter. I'm sure this will be extremely valuable to all of those seeking direction, myself included. I have quite a few of these books but I can't help only reading half before I move on to something else. Time to knock that habit and finish one.

Jason

Edit: Did you finish reading that new CUDA book? I was going to buy it but wasn't sure if it was worth it. I haven't programmed in OpenGL or CL or C++ so I bought the red and orange books and was going to read those before I moved on to the CUDA stuff. What do you think?

Edit again: A couple other books that I have that might be good for TDs are "Level Set Methods and Dynamic Implicit Surfaces" by R. Fedkiw (Took me a week to get through the first chapter, then I quit. Definitely some challenging stuff), "The Computational Beauty of Nature" by G. W. Flake, and "The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants" by A. Lindenmayer. The last two are geared towards recursive growth, and from what I've heard, no one is using l-systems for plants and modeling them instead. These books still might serve some use to those who are interested.

Edited March 28, 2010 by mightcouldb1

[Ratman]

CUDA, OpenCL, OpenGL, won't make much sense at all if you don't know C and/or C++, I'd recommend getting a good understanding of that first before thinking of jumping to CUDA or OpenCL. Specially a good understanding of arrays and pointers.

[digitallysane]

Excellent list. One observation it would be that it favors a little bit too much the view of TD = programmer.

I think a good visual knowledge and a creative thinking are things that are as useful (and can also be learned), because all the programming in the world won't make a good light shader if you're not aware of how it should actually light the scene from an aesthetic POV.

Lots of my TD time is actually spent figuring out how to approach and solve a new problem, and many times the solution might just be a clever SOP/CHOP network without any programming.

Here are a few books which I think would make a nice addition to the list (they definitely helped me):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Filming-Fantastic-Visual-Effects-Cinematography/dp/0240809157/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Painting-Light-J-Alton/dp/0520089499/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Matchmoving-Invisible-Art-Camera-Tracking/dp/0782144039/ref=pd_sim_b_3

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Science-Digital-Compositing-Techniques/dp/0123706386/ref=pd_sim_b_1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Compositing-Visual-Effects-Animation/dp/024080760X/ref=pd_sim_b_3

Dragos

[pclaes]

I got Fedkiw's book too, but I did not add it to that list because I think Robert Bridson's book is a lot better to start with if you don't know that much. It builds things up slower and in simpler terms.

Regarding the new cuda book, you should indeed learn C and/or C++ first. I am still reading the cuda book at the moment, it covers a whole lot about the architecture and how to make use of it and really optimize your programs. There is remarkably little actual code in the book, but that's fine as there are so many examples in the cudazone.

I would recommend to learn C++ and a bit of OpenGL first, perhaps throw in a bit of QT for interfaces (especially seeing as Maya will soon be using those as well, it won't be wasted knowledge and it makes interfacing with OpenGL quite easy).

Thanks for the suggestions of the plants books, I have not had a loot at them yet.

[Andz]

I have the Chaos: Making a New Science.

I love it, but is more a theoretical than a practical book.

Thank you for the list!

Edited March 30, 2010 by Andz

[eetu]

Here's a previous thread on books to read , more book tips is always a good thing

eetu.

[pclaes]

sweet, thanks Eetu, should have known, odforce being odforce (and you being you ) that there already was a thread similar to this.

I just ordered: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Computational-Beauty-Nature-Explorations-Adaptation/dp/0262561271/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269971561&sr=8-1

Looks tasty .

[edward]

I have the Chaos: Making a New Science.

I love it, but is more a theoretical than a practical book.

Oh, I love that book too! Read it while in high school and that became my religion.

[Macha]

Oh, I love that book too! Read it while in high school and that became my religion.

If those kinds of books are allowed in this selection then I would heartily recommend this too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Reality-Complete-Guide-Universe/dp/0224044478

Not directly related to CG or programming or art but it does illuminate a lot of mathematical concepts from an interesting point of view. I must a admit though that I understand perhaps just 1% of it. But I often go back for insights and amazement.

If I feel overly clever or smart, then a random peek into this book firmly and quickly puts me back to the bottom of the intellectual pile.

Edited March 31, 2010 by Macha