Want to get started in Graphics Programming? Start Here!

by u/waramped at original reddit post
edited by u/CodyDuncan1260 for mdbook

First of all, credit goes to u/CorySama and u/Better_Pirate_7823 for most of this, I am mostly just copy-pasting from them. If all goes well, we can Sticky this for everyone to see.

Courtesy of u/CorySama: The main thing you need to know is “Smart” by Fabian “ryg” Giesen

OpenGL is a good API to start with. There’s a lot to learn regardless of which API you use. Once you can do an animated character in a scene with lighting, shadows, particles and basic full-screen post processing, you’ll know how to proceed forward on your own from there.

Learning Resources

• Learn OpenGL
  • https://learnopengl.com
• Ray Tracing in One Weekend book series
  • https://raytracing.github.io
  • by Peter Shirley, Trevor D Black, and Steve Hollasch
• 3D math Primer for Graphics and Game Development
  • https://gamemath.com/book
  • by Fletcher Dunn and Ian Parbery
• Game Engine Architecture, Third Edition
  • https://www.gameenginebook.com
  • by Jason Gregory
• Real-Time Rendering, 4th Edition
  • https://realtimerendering.com
  • by Tomas Akenine-Möller, Eric Haines, Naty Hoffman, Angelo Pesce, Michał Iwanicki, and Sébastien Hillaire
• Physically Based Rendering in Filament
  • https://google.github.io/filament/Filament.md.html
  • by Romain Guy @romainguy and Mathias Agopian (at google)
• A trip through the Graphics Pipeline 2011
  • https://fgiesen.wordpress.com/2011/07/09/a-trip-through-the-graphics-pipeline-2011-index
  • by Fabian “ryg” Giesen

Tools

• NVIDIA NSight Graphics by NVIDIA - https://developer.nvidia.com/nsight-graphics
• RenderDoc - https://renderdoc.org

Introductory Overview Videos

• YouTube: How do Graphics Cards Work? by @BranchEducation
• YouTube: How Do Video Game Graphics Work? by @BranchEducation
• YouTube: How does Ray Tracing Work in Video Games and Movies by @BranchEducation

How to write a software rasterizer, renderer, ray tracer etc.

• Computer Graphics from Scratch
• Tiny RayTracer
• Tiny RayCaster
• Tiny Renderer
• Rasterization in One Weekend
• Ray Tracing in One Weekend book series
  • by Peter Shirley, Trevor D Black, and Steve Hollasch
• Implementing a Tiny CPU Rasterizer
• Scratchapixel (slow web page, but still functional)

Graphics Pipeline and Architecture

• Graphics Pipelines for Young Bloods
• A Trip Through The Graphics Pipeline
  • by Fabian “ryg” Giesen
  • as cloned by Alain Galvan
• GPU Architectures
  • by Maurizio Cerrato @speedwago

Youtube Channels:

• Acerola: https://www.youtube.com/@Acerola_t
• Sebastian Lague: https://www.youtube.com/@SebastianLague, particularly his series on Raytracing
• Freya Holmer: https://www.youtube.com/@acegikmo, particularly her Video Essays & Recent Talks
• Cem Yuksel: Series on Interactive Computer Graphics