Appendix B. Mathematics and software patterns for 3D graphics

This appendix covers

  • Coordinate systems, what they mean, and how they’re best expressed in code and matrix form
  • Fundamentals of matrix linear algebra, with a focus on concepts that are key to 3D computer graphics
  • Methods for representing rotations
  • Examples of software design patterns common in 3D graphics: scene graphs, matrix stacks, and the modelview matrix stack

This appendix isn’t a mathematics textbook; there’s a vast field out there dedicated to linear algebra and matrices, which these few pages couldn’t possibly hope to contain. Here we’ll touch only on concepts directly related to computer graphics and the Rift, and we’ll do so fleetingly. For more depth, please check ...

Get Oculus Rift in Action now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.