Rating: 
Summary: Very good book
Review: So far, i bought 5 directx books. this book, was the first one who realy helped me start writing my own 3D scenes. i love this book because its a small one (400 pages) and focuses only on important things. i always have the dilema when buying a new book: whether to buy a 1000 pages book or a small one like this one. i always pick the bigger one and i always seem to be wrong. you should always start withg small beginners books and continue to the larger ones.
anyway this book helped me alot and today im ready for the big ones.
one thing about the source code: sometimes it takes a lot of effort to run it under vc++6. personaly, after struggeling with the vc++6 compiler, i switched to vc++7 and everything was fine.
the book's web site is very good - very friendly. all your questions will be answered by the author and you'll find a lot of extra information.
Buy this book even though you have much larger books at same price. here you'l learn the basics of direct3d (version 9) with much less pain.
cheers!
adi barda israel
Rating: 
Summary: Fairly ok, but definitely not 5 stars
Review: The book is supposed to be an introduction to 3D programming and therefore meant for beginners. lthough it shows how some things are done,it does not give explanations on why things are done, which is necessary for a beginner to do implement things on his/her own . Although there are examples, it does not include a simple game for example showing how the knowledge he impacts is put together in creating a game, which will help a beginner the more. Intermediate/advanced users wil definitely find it useless. Most of the examples are in the SDK- and are very simple ones. I didn't feel I was been taught at all, and had to return the book. Also the book is very small, like a paperback novel.I advise you browse it in a bookshop before buying it.You will learn a lot more from Lamothe's book Regarding voting buttons, I did not see any option for it while writing the review.
Rating: 
Summary: the best introduction book
Review: the title of the book consists of many words first introduction the author did a good introduction to directx and game programming.
second 3D Game Programming, although the author covered areas in 3d game programming such as math he didnt complete it .. there is no physics , ai ..etc but as the title says its an ( introduction )
in conclusion this book is very good for beginners game programmer. i suggest reading this book after taking c++ course.
Ahmed Saleh , computer graphics programmer.
Rating:
Summary: Teach yourself Direct3D
Review: This book explains the concepts of Direct3D in a clear, concise manner and will get you going on your way towards professional level 3D programming. The book has some typos and and an annoying problem where nearly all the underscores in the code examples were omitted. It has a very nice support web page, though, at http://moon-labs.com . Here the author will take you by the hand if you are stuck, as well as post useful articles and links and corrections to the book. I reccomend buying this if you are good at C++, math, and abstract thinking.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book to Start with Direct3D
Review: This book is a great start for people wanting to learn Direct3D and a great reference for Direct3D programmers. Frank Luna's book covers several important topics for getting started with 3D graphics using DirectX 9.0, and refrains from any off-topic discussions or biased rants. The book includes a section on basic math concepts for 3d programming. Also includes sections on Direct3D fundamentals (which explains D3D9 initialization, the Direct3D rendering pipeline, and drawing in Direct3D with vertex/index buffers, color, lighting, textures, blending and stenciling) and applied Direct3D concepts (fonts, meshes, .x files, cameras, basic terrain rendering, particle systems, and "picking"). The author devotes the final section to vertex and pixel shaders and effects using HLSL (high-level shading language). He also includes a quick introduction to setting up a skeleton windows application as an appendix (where it should be located in a book on DirectX). One final thing to note about this book is that it only covers the Direct3D portion of DirectX 9.0, so you'll need to go elsewhere for coverage of DirectPlay, DirectInput, DirectSound, etc. Howver, the fundamentals of Direct3D are covered with the depth necessary to give a completely understanding of how to begin coding 3D graphics with DirectX 9. After reading several books on DirectX and game programming, this is the book I wish had picked to read first.
Rating:
Summary: Concise
Review: This book is, in my opinion, a good but brief look at the basics to creating games with DX9. It does require you to have a fair knowledge of C++ and rougly A-Level maths skills are useful.
It is an interesting and easy read and covers topics that i haven't seen in other books so i would highly recommend it to someone hoping to extend their programming skills or looking to start games programming.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book For Beginners with C++ Experienced!
Review: This book starts off with a chapter on math and then bring you to the DirectX world. The author shows the prototype and declaration of the DirectX functions and classes instead of having you go into the SDK and look it up for yourself. Also, the book shows some cool and unique coding techniques and tricks that you can't find elsewhere. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has already experienced with C++. If you're a beginner or just starting out in C++, you might find the coding in this book so alien to you.
Rating:
Summary: Good balance between text, maths and code
Review: This is a hard to fault book. My only criticism is that is wasn't longer. The presentation style is excellent. Readers will need a grasp of programming in C/C++ and an understanding of the MS environment to get the full learning value from the text. Concepts are explained clearly with supporting relevant code examples. The book should stand as a model of best practice in the area. Hopefully the author will produce another volume on dynamics in DirectX some time in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book, But NOT for beginners
Review: This is an excellent book; I really liked the in-depth coverage throughout the book. However, I bought this book with very little C++ experience and was left in the dust with advanced C++ techniques immediately following the first chapter. This is probably the best DirectX 9.0 book on the market, however, don't buy it unless you are advanced in C++ and know matrix math and trigonometry. Other than that, it is really good. I bought this book, which was not designed for a complete beginner. These other reviews posted here were misleading, especially the one by Emanuel Enrique.
Rating:
Summary: Great book!!
Review: Very nice book for a 3D beginner!! I thought everything (including the example code) was explained pretty clearly. Some things take awhile to digest of course. I think as long as you are buying this book to learn how to use Direct3D and do not already know it, that you will learn from it. A good number of topics were covered.
So you know what's in the book, here's the chapter contents (taken from the book's website): Introduction Part I Mathematical Prerequisites Vectors in 3-Space
Matrices
Basic Transformations
Planes (Optional)
Rays (Optional)
Summary Part II Direct3D Fundamentals Chapter 1 Direct3D Initialization
1.1 Direct3D Overview
1.2 COM
1.3 Some Preliminaries
1.4 Initializing Direct3D
1.5 Sample Application: Initializing Direct3D
1.6 Summary Chapter 2 The Rendering Pipeline
2.1 Model Representation
2.2 The Virtual Camera
2.3 The Rendering Pipeline
2.4 Summary Chapter 3 Drawing in Direct3D
3.1 Vertex/Index Buffers
3.2 Render States
3.3 Drawing Preparations
3.4 Drawing with Vertex/Index Buffers
3.5 D3DX Geometric Objects
3.6 Sample Applications: Triangle, Cube, Teapot, D3DXCreate*
3.7 Summary Chapter 4 Color
4.1 Color Representation
4.2 Vertex Colors
4.3 Shading
4.4 Sample Application: Colored Triangle
4.5 Summary Chapter 5 Lighting
5.1 Light Components
5.2 Materials
5.3 Vertex Normals
5.4 Light Sources
5.5 Sample Application: Lighting
5.6 Additional Samples
5.7 Summary Chapter 6 Texturing 6.1 Texture Coordinates
6.2 Creating and Enabling a Texture
6.3 Filters
6.4 Mipmaps
6.5 Address Modes
6.6 Sample Application: Textured Quad
6.7 Summary Chapter 7 Blending
7.1 The Blending Equation
7.2 Blend Factors
7.3 Transparency
7.4 Creating an Alpha Channel Using the DX Tex Tool
7.5 Sample Application: Transparency
7.6 Summary Chapter 8 Stenciling
8.1 Using the Stencil Buffer
8.2 Sample Application: Mirrors
8.3 Sample Application: Planar Shadows
8.4 Summary Part III Applied Direct3D Chapter 9 Fonts
9.1 ID3DXFont
9.2 CD3DFont
9.3 D3DXCreateText
9.4 Summary Chapter 10 Meshes Part I
10.1 Geometry Info
10.2 Subsets and the Attribute Buffer
10.3 Drawing
10.4 Optimizing
10.5 The Attribute Table
10.6 Adjacency Info
10.7 Cloning
10.8 Creating a Mesh (D3DXCreateMeshFVF)
10.9 Sample Application: Creating and Rendering a Mesh
10.10 Summary Chapter 11 Meshes Part II
11.1 ID3DXBuffer
11.2 XFiles
11.3 Progressive Meshes
11.4 Bounding Volumes 11.5 Summary Chapter 12 Building a Flexible Camera Class
12.1 Camera Design
12.2 Implementation Details
12.3 Camera Sample
12.4 Summary Chapter 13 Basic Terrain Rendering
13.1 Heightmaps
13.2 Generating the Terrain Geometry
13.3 Texturing
13.4 Lighting
13.5 "Walking" on the Terrain
13.6 Terrain Sample
13.7 Some Improvements
13.8 Summary Chapter 14 Particle Systems
14.1 Particles and Point Sprites
14.2 Particle System Components
14.3 Concrete Particle Systems: Snow, Firework, Particle Gun
14.4 Summary Chapter 15 Picking
15.1 Screen to Projection Window Transformation
15.2 Computing the Picking Ray
15.3 Transforming Rays
15.4 Ray-Object Intersections
15.5 Picking Sample
15.6 Summary Part IV Shaders and Effects Chapter 16 Introduction to the High Level Shading Language
16.1 Writing a HLSL Shader
16.2 Compiling a HLSL Shader
16.3 Variable Types
16.4 Keywords, Statements, and Casting
16.5 Operators
16.6 User Defined Functions
16.7 Built in Functions
16.8 Summary Chapter 17 Introduction to Vertex Shaders
17.1 Vertex Declarations
17.2 Vertex Data Usages
17.3 Steps to Using a Vertex Shader
17.4 Sample 1: Diffuse Lighting
17.5 Sample 2: Cartoon Rendering
17.6 Summary Chapter 18 Introduction to Pixel Shaders
18.1 Multitexturing Overview
18.2 Pixel Shader Inputs and Outputs
18.3 Steps to Using a Pixel Shader
18.4 HLSL Sampler Objects
18.5 Sample Application: Multitexturing in a Pixel Shader
18.6 Summary Chapter 19 The Effects Framework
19.1 Techniques and Passes
19.2 More HLSL Intrinsic Objects
19.3 Device States in an Effect File
19.4 Creating an Effect
19.5 Setting Constants
19.6 Using an Effect
19.7 Sample 1: Lighting and Texturing in an Effect
19.8 Sample 2: Fog Effect
19.9 Sample 3: Cartoon Effect
19.10 EffectEdit
19.11 Summary Appendices Appendix A An Introduction To Windows Programming
A.1 Overview
A.2 Hello World Windows Application
A.3 Explaining Hello World
A.4 A Better Message Loop
A.5 Summary
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