Get a focused introduction to programming 3D graphics with the Windows Presentation Foundation 3D API. Complementing his book Applications = Code + Markup, award-winning author Charles Petzold builds on XAML essentials, teaching you how to display and animate 3D graphics under the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 and Windows Vista. You’ll get expert guidance and code samples in XAML and Microsoft Visual C#— helping you master the skills you need to create high-fidelity user interfaces.

Discover how to:

• Define complex 3D objects with triangle meshes
• Enhance the illumination of 3D surfaces with light and shading effects
• Color 3D figures with gradients, bitmaps, and drawings
• Add animation with transforms and vertex manipulation
• Represent linear, affine, and camera transforms by using matrices
• Calculate vector angles, angles of rotation, and axes of rotation
• Generate triangle meshes efficiently by using C# code
• Express rotation by using quaternion computation
• Provide a user interface for manipulating and drawing 3D figures

PLUS—Get Visual C# and XAML code samples on the Web

Charles Petzold wrote the classic Programming Windows, which is currently in its fifth edition and one of the best-known and widely used programming books of all time. He was honored in 1994 with the Windows Pioneer Award, presented by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Windows Magazine. He has been programming with Windows since first obtaining a beta Windows 1.0 SDK in the spring of 1985, and he wrote the very first magazine article on Windows programming in 1986. Charles is an MVP for Client Application Development and the author of several other books including CODE: THE HIDDEN LANGUAGE OF COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE.