Colliding billiard balls. Missile trajectories. Cornering dynamics in speeding cars. By applying the laws of physics, you can realistically model nearly everything in games that bounces around, flies, rolls, slides, or isn't sitting still, to create compelling, believable content for computer games, simulations, and animation. Physics for Game Developers serves as the starting point for those who want to enrich games with physics-based realism.Part one is a mechanics primer that reviews basic concepts and addresses aspects of rigid body dynamics, including kinematics, force, and kinetics. Part two applies these concepts to specific real-world problems, such as projectiles, boats, airplanes, and cars. Part three introduces real-time simulations and shows how they apply to computer games. Many specific game elements stand to benefit from the use of real physics, including:
<ul>
<li>The trajectory of rockets and missiles, including the effects of fuel burn off</li>
<li>The collision of objects such as billiard balls</li>
<li>The stability of cars racing around tight curves</li>
<li>The dynamics of boats and other waterborne vehicles</li>
<li>The flight path of a baseball after being struck by a bat</li>
<li>The flight characteristics of airplanes</li>
</ul>You don't need to be a physics expert to learn from Physics for Game Developers, but the author does assume you know basic college-level classical physics. You should also be proficient in trigonometry, vector and matrix math (reference formulas and identities are included in the appendixes), and college-level calculus, including integration and differentiation of explicit functions. Although the thrust of the book involves physics principles and algorithms, it should be noted that the examples are written in standard C and use Windows API functions.

Physics for Game Developers

Computers & Technology

Bourg, David M

Games & Strategy Guides

O'Reilly Media

Given the improved analytical capabilities of Excel, scientists and engineers everywhere are using it-instead of Fortran-to solve problems. And why not? Excel is installed on millions of computers, features a rich set of built-in analyses tools, and includes an integrated Visual Basic for Applications (Vba) programming language. No wonder it's today's computing tool of choice. Chances are you already use Excel to perform some fairly routine calculations. Now the Excel Scientific and Engineering Cookbook shows you how to leverage Excel to perform more complex calculations, too, calculations that once fell in the domain of specialized tools. It does so by putting a smorgasbord of data analysis techniques right at your fingertips. The book shows how to perform these useful tasks and others: Use Excel and Vba in general Import data from a variety of sources Analyze data Perform calculations Visualize the results for interpretation and presentation Use Excel to solve specific science and engineering problems Wherever possible, the Excel Scientific and Engineering Cookbook draws on real-world examples from a range of scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and physics. This way, you'll be better prepared to solve the problems you face in your everyday scientific or engineering tasks. High on practicality and low on theory, this quick, look-up reference provides instant solutions, or "recipes", to problems both basic and advanced. And like other books in O'Reilly's popular Cookbook format, each recipe also includes a discussion on how and why it works. As a result, you can take comfort in knowing that complete, practical answers are a mere page-flip away.

Excel Scientific and Engineering Cookbook: Adding Excel to Your Analysis Arsenal

Science & Math

Physics for Game Developers: Science, math, and code for realistic effects

Bywalec, Bryan

If you want to enrich your game’s experience with physics-based realism, the expanded edition of this classic book details physics principles applicable to game development. You’ll learn about collisions, explosions, sound, projectiles, and other effects used in games on Wii, PlayStation, Xbox, smartphones, and tablets. You’ll also get a handle on how to take advantage of various sensors such as accelerometers and optical tracking devices.
Authors David Bourg and Bryan Bywalec show you how to develop your own solutions to a variety of problems by providing technical background, formulas, and a few code examples. This updated book is indispensable whether you work alone or as part of a team.
<ul>
<li>Refresh your knowledge of classical mechanics, including kinematics, force, kinetics, and collision response</li>
<li>Explore rigid body dynamics, using real-time 2D and 3D simulations to handle rotation and inertia</li>
<li>Apply concepts to real-world problems: model the behavior of boats, airplanes, cars, and sports balls</li>
<li>Enhance your games with digital physics, using accelerometers, touch screens, GPS, optical tracking devices, and 3D displays</li>
<li>Capture 3D sound effects with the OpenAL audio API</li>
</ul>

Computer Science

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Books by Bourg, David M