CG TUTORIAL, THE - THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO PROGRAMMABLE REAL-TIME GRAPHICS

Cg is the key to unlocking the power of a new generation of programmable graphics hardware. This book is the definitive introduction to Cg, and will be essential for anyone programming high-quality real-time graphics. The Cg Tutorial will teach you to use Cg to create effects never before available for real-time applications.
--Larry Gritz, Author of Advanced RenderMan (Morgan Kaufmann, 2000)
"An important and timely book: Pixel-level procedural textures--animated clouds, fire, water, the whole bag of procedural tricks--finally go from the movie screen to the desktop. Access to computation of this power through a C-like language will usher in an exciting new era for the graphics community."
--Ken Perlin, Professor, New York University
Cg (C for graphics) is a complete programming environment for the fast creation of special effects and real-time cinematic quality experiences on multiple platforms. By providing a new level of abstraction, Cg lets developers more directly target OpenGL®, DirectX®, Windows®, Linux, Mac OS X®, and console platforms, such as the Xbox, without having to program directly to the graphics hardware assembly language. Cg was developed by NVIDIA® Corporation in close collaboration with Microsoft® Corporation, and is compatible with both the OpenGL API and Microsoft's HLSL for DirectX 9.0.