Helps first-time users discover the true meaning of leading-edge animation in the Windows programming environment. Covers the techniques of cel, behavioral, kinematic, 2-D, 3-D, real-time, and frame animation. Shows readers how to achieve common effects such as run-cycles, background pans, motion blur, adjustable timers, and much more. 3.5" disk included.

This Wrox Blox shows you how to add graphics to Visual Basic 2008 applications by explaining fundamental graphics techniques such as: drawing shapes with different colors and line styles; filling areas with colors, gradients, and patterns; drawing text that is properly aligned, sized, and clipped exactly where you want it; manipulating images and saving results in bitmap, JPEG, and other types of files. Also covered are instructions for how to greatly increase your graphics capabilities using transformations, which allow you to move, stretch, or rotate graphics. They also let you work in coordinate systems that make sense for your application. The author also describes techniques for using the above in printouts, describing the sequence of events that produce a printout and show how to generate and preview printouts, with examples which show how to wrap long chunks of text across multiple pages, if necessary. In addition, you will learn about two powerful new graphic tools that were introduced with .NET Framework 3.0: WPF graphics and FlowDocuments. XAML graphic commands allow a WPF application to draw and fill the same kinds of shapes that a program can draw by using graphics objects. Finally, a discussion on the FlowDocument object shows you how to define items that should be flowed across multiple pages as space permits. This lets you display text, graphics, controls, and other items that automatically flow across page breaks. FlowDocument viewers make displaying these documents easy for you, and simplifies the user's reading of the documents. This Wrox Blox also contains 35 example programs written in Visual Basic 2008, although most of the code works in previous versions of Visual Basic .NET as well. The most notable exceptions are WPF graphics and FlowDocuments, both of which require WPF provided in .NET Framework 3.0 and later.

All the tools you need to create the full range of Visual Basic(r) color graphics applications Expert Rod Stephens provides you with everything you need to add advanced graphics to your applications in this in-depth introduction to graphic programming with Microsoft Visual Basic. From images using as few as 16 colors to "true-color" applications that use more than 16 million, he shows you how to create the full range of color graphics applications. You'll learn how to use Visual Basic controls to create impressive graphic effects without having to buy expensive add-on products. This book/CD-ROM package also explains how to integrate imaging, animation, and two- and three-dimensional graphics into an application. And you'll find the tools to manipulate color images, overlay one image on another, build scrolled windows, and much more. The Second Edition covers: * New API functions * Bitmap image morphing * New algorithms for hidden surface removal * Print preview with multiple pages and scales * Image processing, including high color and true color * Examples of controlling animation using simulation * New examples that demonstrate shape-distorting transformations * New examples of fractals and tilings * Gouraud shading, Phong shading, and texturing * Ray tracing speed improvements * Ray tracing for new kinds of objects The CD-ROM includes: * More than 400 complete, ready-to-run example programs * Pictures to use with the example programs * Images generated by the programs * Color images of many of the figures from the book * Source code for all example programs from the First Edition

A sequence of Visual Basic programming code samples for studying basic computer animation. Samples are arranged systematically and progressively. Visual Basic basic knowledge and experiences are required. To execute the samples, Windows PC and Visual Basic of Visual Studio are required. Visual Studio 2008 was used to create the samples. Since the most common features are used to code the samples that the samples should work for the prior or next versions of Visual Studio. Picture files used by the samples can be downloaded from the internet.

Topics in DirectX 8 and Visual Basic.NET Development include networked games, 3D multimedia applications, enable Force Feedback joystick devices in their own applications, multimedia applications that allow for multiple user input devices, and multimedia applications that use music and sound.

From Pixels to Animation: An Introduction to Graphics Programming deals with the C programming language, particularly for the Borland C and Microsoft C languages. The book reviews the basics of graphics programming, including graphics hardware, graphs, charts, changing colors, 3D graphics, high level functions provided by Borland and Microsoft C. The text also explains low-level graphics, getting around the limitations of standard, graphics libraries, SVGA programming, and creating graphics functions. Advanced topics include linear transformations, ray tracing, and fractals. The book explains in detail the aspect ratio of pixels (length of the pixel dot divided by its width), pixel colors, line styles, and the functions to create the graphic. The text also describes the presentation of a three-dimensional object by using perspective, shading, and texturing. Between the operating system, which carries out the instruction of the program, and the hardware, which displays the output of the program, is the Basic Input/Output Services (BIOS). The BIOS is a set of routine instruction inside the different parts or hardware devices in the computer. The book explains programing animation effects by utilizing routines provided by Microsoft or Borland. The text also notes that a programmer can create good animation effects by directly addressing the graphics adapter, bypassing the BIOS or the high-level routines created by Microsoft or Borland. The book is suitable for beginning programmers, computer science, operators, animators, and artists involved with computer aided designs.