Books in the The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics series

Provides artists and programmers with an understanding of the way Maya works and how it can be enhanced and customized through programming. This book offers an introduction to the core ideas of computer graphics. It discusses problem solving with MEL (Maya's scripting language) and C++ API, with many code examples for each.

The ray tracing technique has become one of the most popular and powerful means by which photo-realistic images can be created. This title develops from fundamental principles to advanced applications, providing "how-to" procedures as well as an understanding of the scientific foundations of ray tracing. It contains color plates of images.

This is a compilation of the best of "Jim Blinn's Corner". Jim Blinn shares useful graphics tip and tricks.

Digital geometry is about deriving geometric information from digital pictures. This book details the concepts, algorithms, and practices of the discipline. It provides a collection of algorithms for a variety of geometrical picture analysis tasks, including extracting data from digital images and making geometric measurements on the data.

An Introduction to Splines for Use in Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling discusses the use of splines from the point of view of the computer scientist. The authors present the material using many examples and illustrations with the goal of building the reader's intuition.

Suitable for those who want to learn the fundamentals of Maya, how to automate tasks, personalize user interfaces, build custom tools and solve problems with MEL, this work features chapters on fixing programming bottlenecks, advanced user interface techniques and optimizing character rigs.

Discusses multidimensional point data, object and image-based representations, intervals and small rectangles, and high-dimensional datasets. This book includes a comprehensive survey to spatial and multidimensional data structures and algorithms. It also includes implementation details for some of the most useful data structures.

Learning Maya, the world's leading 3D animation and effects package, is a challenge. This guide helps the reader learn how to customize and extend Maya with scripts and plugins that take control and productivity to new levels. It includes real-world examples illustrating applications of Maya programming.

Teaches you the basic building blocks of programming needed to create advanced graphics applications including interactive art, live video processing, and data visualization. This title offers graphic and web designers working with the Processing programming environment instructions on the basic principles of the language.

Presents an overview of the technical and artistic nature of digital compositing. This book covers a wide range of topics from basic image creation, representation and manipulation, to a look at the visual cues that are useful to create a believable composite.

Offers a collection of proven solutions to fundamental problems that you'd rather not solve over and over again, including building primitives, distance calculation, approximation, containment, decomposition, intersection determination, separation, and more.