Principles of
Digital Image Synthesis
Principles of Digital Image Synthesis Volume 1 This is a two-volume book on the basic ideas behind using a computer to create realistic, synthetic images of 3D scenes. The book is constructed upon three basic fields of knowledge, which I believe form the basis for all modern forms of digital image synthesis: the human visual system, signal processing, and energy transport.
Principles of Digital Image Synthesis Volume 1

Although these fields are inter-related, I emphasize each of these topics in its own part, or set of chapters. They all come together in the fourth part of the book where I discuss rendering systems in the large. A few appendices provide reference data, historical notes, and background information on topics such as probability and linear algebra.

The book is intended to be useful in both the classroom and for independent study. I assume the reader has some background in calculus, but that's about the limit of the prerequisites. The book includes some new research material that I have only published in a very reduced or schematic form; here it's expanded quite a bit.

The book is about 1400 pages long (including a 56-page index), and published in two hardbound volumes. There are almost 90 color plates and over 800 figures. The book is dedicated to the inspiring spirit of Leonardo da Vinci, and his quotes open the volumes, as well as all major sections.

You can check out the list of errata so you don't have to stumble over typos.

The book is widely available both in physical stores, and online bookstores such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and fatbrain.

Here's the table of contents of the two volumes.

1 The Human Visual System
2 Color Spaces
3 Displays
4 Signals and Systems
5 Fourier Transforms
6 Wavelets
7 Monte Carlo Integration
8 Uniform Sampling and Reconstruction
9 Non-Uniform Sampling and Reconstruction
10 Survey of Sampling and Reconstruction Techniques
11 Light
12 Energy Transport
13 Radiometry
14 Materials
15 Shading
16 Integral Equations
17 The Radiance Equation
18 Radiosity
19 Ray Tracing
20 Rendering and Images
21 The Future
Appendix A Linear Algebra
Appendix B Probability
Appendix C Historical Notes
Appendix D Analytic Form Factors
Appendix E Constants and Units
Appendix F Luminaire Standards
Appendix G Reference Data

 

These books have received some very nice reviews, which you can read for yourself on the Amazon page. Here are some excerpts:

 

"This book is comprehensive in scope and one of the most well-written technical books in existence. In the preface the author states 'I love to write', and considering the exceptional quality of this book, this indeed shows through."

"This set of books is a unique & authorative resource... However, this is NOT just an encyclopedia or compilation of other people's works - the author (a respected senior CG researcher himself) has gone through a whole body of knowledge, explaining and linking each concept, and including the CG algorithms in a broader context along with concepts of human perception and underlying theories. Nothing like this has ever been written..."

"This is the one really fundamental book on rendering computer images... I find myself using these volumes all the time."

 
Here's another nice excerpt; you can read the whole thing here.

 

"This two volume set joins the ranks of the very few books that truly mark a milestone in computer graphics literature. "Principles of Digital Image Synthesis" is, quite simply, astounding in its scope and depth. Simply buy them. They are that good. "
--Brian Hook

 

Don't forget to download the errata if you're planning on reading these books. There are surprisingly few errors for a work of this size, but some of them are subtle and I don't want you to get stung by any of them!