[JSConfUS 2013] Steven Wittens: Making WebGL Dance
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN treats it as one of the best intros to the math of 3D graphics and a staple answer to how to learn graphics programming.
What it is
Steven Wittens' JSConf US 2013 talk on drawing with WebGL, using animated visuals to walk through vectors, matrices and the rendering pipeline. Despite the title, it works as a visual primer on the linear algebra behind 3D graphics.
Recommended by 5 HN commenters across 5 different months, 2013 to 2021.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec Fr0styMatt88 · 2016-05 · on “Scratchapixel: Computer Graphics Programming from Scratch”
In addition to the recommendation by lastofus, I highly highly recommend this presentation: [this video] Despite the title, the talk is NOT WebGL specific. It's a fantastic, FANTASTIC tour of 3D graphics fundamentals. This is, IMHO, quite simply the best presentation I've ever seen on how matrix math relates to graphics programming. Also see Stevens' site: [LINK] Side note - There are some great pages there, be sure to check this one out if you're at all interested in how math is applied to animation: [LINK]
Recommends DanielRibeiro · 2013-08 · on “Rotating Images”
Another very good overview of rendering algorithms was given by Steven Wittens on his Making Webgl Dance [1, 2] [1] slides: [LINK] [2] video: [this video]
Recommends johnhenry · 2017-11 · on “Making WebGL Dance: How, Where, and What to Draw (2013)”
IT's worth linking directly to the talk: [this video] (Also, after the first few slides in the animation, there are some pretty cool animations).
Recommends seltzered_ · 2018-04 · on “Ask HN: What is your favourite tech talk?”
#Softwarish - I'm biased a bit more towards interface development: greg wilson - What We Actually Know About Software Development, and Why We Believe It’s True - [LINK] steve wittens - making webgl dance - the title is deceptive, it's in some ways a visual crash course in linear algebra - [this video] glenn vanderburg - software engineering doesn't work - [LINK] chris granger - in search of tomorrow - [LINK] alan kay - tribute to ted nelson at intertwingled fest - [LINK] bret victor - this is already mentioned but if I had to pick one it'd be 'the humane representation of thought' - [LINK] #Hardwarish: saul griffith - soft, not solid: beyond traditional hardware engineering - [LINK] deb chachra -
Recommends theandrewbailey · 2021-02 · on “Ask HN: How to self-learn graphics programming?”
I was sort of at the same place at one time. I found a presentation years ago that would have helped, so here you go: Steven Wittens: Making WebGL Dance [this video] It doesn't actually get into the math until about 12 minutes in, but it might be illuminating. Matrixes, vectors, and how they are multiplied with each other are the fundamental magic of 3D graphics.