From the basics of the nature of light to ray tracing and photon rendering, you'll learn how to bring a new dimension of reality to the graphics in your games. By beginning with the standard foundations of ray tracing and radiosity, you'll quickly learn how photon mapping has been able to combine the positive aspects of each...

• Explores the widespread use of spells, drugs, curse tablets, and figurines, and the practitioners of magic in the ancient world
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Database design is the process of determining the organization of a database, including its structure, contents, and the applications to be run. For a long time, database design was considered a task for experts, and was regarded as more of an art than a science. However, much progress has been made in database design, and it is now...

IN THE 1980S, ADOBE DEVISED a powerful graphics imaging model that over time has formed the basis for the Adobe PostScript technologies. These technologies— a combination of the PostScript language and PostScript language–based graphics and text-formatting applications, drivers, and imaging systems—have forever changed the...

Every day, customers see the results of companies where fiefdoms have formed and silos create divisional or departmental strife: poor sales and profits, and lackluster products. It’s not hard to see that such companies are headed for an early grave.  

Regardless of the manner in which company fractures...

The book describes recent research results in the areas of modelling, creation, management and presentation of interactive 3D multimedia content. The book describes the current state of the art in the field and identifies the most important research and design issues. Consecutive chapters address these issues. These are: database modelling of...

Social constructivists maintain that we invent the properties of the world rather than discover them. Is reality constructed by our own activity? Or, more provocatively, are scientific facts--is everything--constructed? Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Science is a clear assessment of this critical and...

Going beyond mere theory and marketing hype, Eberhard Wolff presents all the knowledge you need to capture the full benefits of this emerging paradigm. He illuminates...