Real-Time Rendering, Fourth Edition

I am puzzled as to why this book has received such negative reviews. Most of the disappointment has been directed at the print quality of the text. Some of the images are slightly lower resolution than what you may find elsewhere and the pages are thin, but the book is nearly 1200 pages and the image quality is perfectly fine. The text is clear and images serve their purpose. I have verified that I have received the first printing, so unless there were some major variations in the printing process, all I can say is that the dissatisfaction with the book is at least a little hyperbolic.If you are on the fence about buying this book because of the negative reviews, I would urge you to reconsider. This is the book to buy if you are looking for an all-in-one source to learn about real-time graphics. If you are a game developer, software engineer, or just looking to learn more about this subject, you need to buy this book. It's the foundational text of the field. This edition in particular is very up-to-date, with huge additions over the previous edition including several chapters on real-time ray-tracing, volumetric rendering, and modern GPU architecture.If you were like me and were uncertain about the book because of the print quality, I can say for myself that I have found these claims to be greatly exaggerated.

I have probably only gotten through a fraction of the material in this book so far, but it has beenextremely useful for my understanding of lighting and shading as it works in current versions ofpopular game engines and Unreal in particular. There have been significant advances in renderingin the last five to ten years that are missing from the previous edition of this book.While the quality of the pictures in this edition would have been improved by glossier paper andhigher-quality printing, that would have made the book even thicker than it already is, and I didn'tbuy the book for the pictures in any case. To really understand rendering effects, you really need tosee them on screen in any case.

This book is a great overview of real-time rendering and a strong addition to the series. This series have never been about implementation details, if you want a DX12 or Vulkan tutorial you should look elsewhere. If you want a comprehensive overview of features that go into a modern game engine and the theory behind them this book is for you. No other single reference approaches the breadth of this book.The print quality is fine in my opinion. The paper is a little thin but the glossy full color pages make up for it. Definitely not worth a 2 star review.

The content of this series is top notch. If you want to learn anything about realtime graphics and rendering form basics to advanced topics, you can't go without one of these books.However, as other reviewers have noted, the 4th addition of Realtime Rendering is a joke in terms of print quality. After reading other reviews, I didn't think it would be that bad, but it literally does not compare to the 3rd edition I have sitting on my shelf. Really, it doesn't compare to ANY OTHER TECHNICAL BOOK I've bought in the last decade. Images are grainy and low resolution, color accuracy is poor, the TEXT IS NOT CLEAR (come on!), and the paper is so thin that just lightly turning pages can easily tear it. Compared to the previous edition which I've owned for years, I doubt this book will stand up to just a single read through. And when you put the two side by side and open up to similar pages, its just depressing.I mean, seriously, I have many other books by CRC Press and they're usually top quality. I don't know why this one is so astronomically different.Its unfortunate I have to give this book a 1 star review, I really have relied a lot on this series throughout my career as a professional software developer. But this book is absolutely not worth $89 + tax. If you want one of these, consider the 3rd edition. If you need the latest info, perhaps try the e version for half price. I may keep mine since I already have it and I'm reading through it. But at its current price and quality, I cannot recommend anyone else bother with this.

The page binding of the first chapter or two is terrible. Several pages fell out when turning and more are very loose. As others have shared, the print quality on the 4th edition is terrible. I might try ordering a second copy but my expectations are low.Update: ordered a second copy direct from Amazon instead of third party. Page binding looks much better and there doesn't appear to be any loose pages.

I'd love to own this book because the content looks amazing. But I am about to return my second copy after returning the first.Both books I've received have had pages just fall out. The pages seems like they're not even bound. The attached picture depicts the quality of the first book received. I opened to the physically based shading section only to have the page slide out. It seems like every 15 pages or so has a loose page that will fall out. I suspect the entire inventory of books have this issue.Do yourself a favor, don't bother buying a hard copy of the 4th edition. If you've already ordered a copy, check around page 301 for loose pages.edit: I am changing my review from 1 start to what it is now. After reading a good portion of this book, the content really is amazing. It is such a shame that the hard copy is flawed.

I originally had this book in 3rd edition. I was a little worried when I saw the comments earlier but fortunately the batch I got (this October) doesn't have the print quality mentioned before yet (I also haven't gone through the entire book). Needless to say, this book is essential for anyone who wants to learn computer graphics. I haven't done a comparison between the 3rd and this edition but the chapters I've read all touch on the latest topics. I'm very happy with the book.