Chapter 26. Introduction to 3D
This chapter covers
- Using the Silverlight/XNA API and templates
- Understanding vertices and primitives
- Creating and rendering basic 3D geometry
Some of you may remember the Commodore Amiga computer. I never owned one (I had a Commodore 128 and then an IBM PS/1 286, after which I built every PC I’ve owned), but my best friend had the cool Amiga 500,[1] only slightly tarnished with my drool. The thing that made the Amiga series so famous when first released was this one demo called the Boing ball. The Boing ball was a 3D red-and-white ball that bounced across the screen, with basic physics, shading, and a sound that made it seem like the ball was full of cement and old cars or something (it’s actually a sample of a foam bat hitting an aluminum garage door). Nevertheless, for 1985 this was an absolutely amazing demo. Around that same time, the Apple Mac was a black-and-white tiny-screened machine and PCs were using CGA neon four-color palettes. It would take half a decade or more before PCs and Macs mostly caught up to what the Amiga could do with graphics and sound, and only then with expensive add-ons.
1 You may be surprised to learn that the Amiga community is still quite alive and well, even to the point of continually releasing new versions of the operating system. For example: http://bit.ly/Amiga2011.