Programming 3D Applications with HTML5 and WebGL: 3D Animation and Visualization for Web Pages

by Tony Parisi

Create high-performance, visually stunning 3D applications for the Web, using HTML5 and related technologies such as CSS3 and WebGL—the emerging web graphics standard. With this book, you’ll learn how to use the tools, frameworks, and libraries for building 3D models and animations, mind-blowing visual effects, and advanced user interaction in both desktop and mobile browsers.

In two parts—Foundations and Application Development Techniques—author Tony Parisi provides a thorough grounding in theory and practice for designing everything from a simple 3D product viewer to immersive games and interactive training systems. Ideal for developers with Javascript and HTML experience.

Explore HTML5 APIs and related technologies for creating 3D web graphics, including WebGL, Canvas, and CSSWork with the popular JavaScript 3D rendering and animation libraries Three.js and Tween.jsDelve into the 3D content creation pipeline, and the modeling and animation tools for creating killer 3D contentLook into several game engines and frameworks for building 3D applications, including the author’s Vizi frameworkCreate 3D environments with multiple objects and complex interaction, using examples and supporting codeExamine the issues involved in building WebGL-based 3D applications for mobile browsers

Genres: Programming, Computer Science

574 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 22, 2013

Reviews

[Alessandro Pellizzari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parte molto bene, spiegando bene i concetti di WebGL, ma poi ha diversi difetti.

Primo, e più importante, il codice non è completo. Riporta nel libro solo le parti essenziali per spiegare l'argomento, ma senza scaricare i sorgenti allegati al libro è quasi impossibile riprodurre quello che spiega.

Secondariamente, a circa metà del libro introduce un framework/libreria scritto dall'autore, e poi lo usa per gli esempi successivi, rendendo molto meno generale la spiegazione (avrebbe potuto continuare con Three.js) e costringendo di nuovo a scaricare e studiare il codice a parte. Avrei preferito che almeno avesse riportato il codice di questa libreria e lo avesse spiegato.

[Manuel Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good overview of the state of HTML5 3D graphics applications and content creation pipeline.

Certainly helpful if you are familiar with the 3D graphics pipeline and want to create WebGL content with THREEJS

[Giacomo Debidda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly outdated, but still useful because it provides both an overview of WebGL and Three.js, and because in the final chapters the book gives some recommendations on:

- how to structure a 3D application,
- how to pick the most approriate WebGL framework for our project,
- how to create a WebGL framework to suit our specific project requirements, and which features to include in it.

TL;DR: skip most of the chapters, there are better resources today (e.g. WebGL Fundamentals, the Three.js online documentation, etc). Read the recommendations in chapters 8, 9, 10, 11.

[Delhi Irc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Location: ND5 IRC
Accession no: DL026839