General 3D Video Engine Knowledge Sources

[Wil]

Hey there. I've been programming in C/C++ for a couple of years now, off and on, and just recently I've been doing some rough game programming using the 2d multimedia library SDL. Just recently I've become interested in 3d programming, sort of a next step sort of thing, and a friend of mine directed me towards IRRLicht.

I've set it up and run some tutorials through the compilation process, and started messing around with the engine and so far I really like what I see. One thing that has caught my attention as a potential weakness of mine is really not knowing the process of rendering 3d scenes. I've been messing around with 3d modeling for a while now, however this is my first foray into the world of programming it to run in real time. I was wondering if you fine people could possibly point me in the direction of some good articles, websites, and even books that really detail out the process of real time 3d rendering so as I can better acquaint myself with the terminology and the methods used. Not necessarily the programming required so much as just the general knowledge, such as the definitions and the processes going on one needs to really understand it.

Anything that you can give me would be great, however I would be especially grateful if you could really provide sources that explain texturing in all its glory. The process of texturing an object or a terrain really boggles my mind. I just can't seem to grasp the process of texturing a mesh with many different textures and blending them all together on the fly. From rock, to dirt, to grass, to snow. I just can't imagine that it's just one huge texture laid over the entire mesh and tweaked until it fits.

I compliment the great work that the IRRLicht team is accomplishing, and I thank you in advance for anything that you can give me to help me on my way.

[Dark_Kilauea]

gamedev.net has a lot of articles dedicated to 3D rendering, including a tutorial teach the basics of software rendering.

[piiichan]

A good way to understand 3d rendering, including texturing, is by learning OpenGL. You'll need some basics in Maths, such as matrices and vectors.
You can get started for free from these links on wikipedia.

There are also plenty of books about 3d rendering. The one I recommend (I've read it almost entirely) is
Computer graphics : using OpenGL, by F.S. Hill, Jr. and Stephen M. Kelley, Jr.

It starts smoothly with stuff like viewports and ends with advanced stuff like shadows using ray tracers. The last edition is the 3rd.

[dlangdev]

Here's a free one you can have.

I read the book for about a week. Ran the sample code and modified the code. I learned a lot from them.

The OpenGL Programming Guide - The Redbook

I know what you're going to say, don't say it now.

Please, go over them for just a week and you'll be different after that.