[JSConfUS 2013] Steven Wittens: Making WebGL Dance
JSConf5 HN recommenders · recommended in 5 months, 2013–2021
talk · intro · evergreen · 2013–2021 on HN
Steven Wittens' JSConf US 2013 talk on drawing with WebGL, using animated visuals to walk through vectors, matrices and the rendering pipeline. Despite the title, it works as a visual primer on the linear algebra behind 3D graphics.
HN treats it as one of the best intros to the math of 3D graphics and a staple answer to how to learn graphics programming.
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5 comments from Hacker News
In addition to the recommendation by lastofus, I highly highly recommend this presentation: ▶ this video Despite the title, the talk is NOT WebGL specific. It's a fantastic, FANTASTIC tour of 3D graphics fundamentals. This is, IMHO, quite simply the best presentation I've ever seen on how matrix math relates to graphics programming. Also see Stevens' site: link Side note - There are some great pages there, be sure to check this one out if you're at all interested in how math is applied to animation: link
I was sort of at the same place at one time. I found a presentation years ago that would have helped, so here you go: Steven Wittens: Making WebGL Dance ▶ this video It doesn't actually get into the math until about 12 minutes in, but it might be illuminating. Matrixes, vectors, and how they are multiplied with each other are the fundamental magic of 3D graphics.
#Softwarish - I'm biased a bit more towards interface development: greg wilson - What We Actually Know About Software Development, and Why We Believe It’s True - link steve wittens - making webgl dance - the title is deceptive, it's in some ways a visual crash course in linear algebra - ▶ this video glenn vanderburg - software engineering doesn't work - link chris granger - in search of tomorrow - link alan kay - tribute to ted nelson at intertwingled fest - link bret victor - this is already mentioned but if I had to pick one it'd be 'the humane representation of thought' - link #Hardwarish: saul griffith - soft, not solid: beyond traditional hardware engineering - link deb chachra - Architectural Biology and Biological Architectures - link #Getting more meta in technology and history: James Burke - Connections
IT's worth linking directly to the talk: ▶ this video (Also, after the first few slides in the animation, there are some pretty cool animations).
Another very good overview of rendering algorithms was given by Steven Wittens on his Making Webgl Dance [1, 2] [1] slides: link [2] video: ▶ this video