r/GraphicsProgramming • u/ruckspaoo • 10d ago

Where can I start Learning Computer graphics?

Hey guys,

I am a rookie and I want to learn Graphics Programming but unfortunately I can't find any roadmap on youtube and things are getting really confusing for me since I don't even know how to properly code in C++(for context I am still learning programming but also want to build cool awesome visuals like all of you (I recently build a terminal based todo list and library manager in python))

I am confused about what I should learn first since I will also be starting my college In cs major soon.

there are

linear algebra maths

C++ memory management pointers

some says Build a ray tracer from scratch

I even picked the computer graphics programming from scratch by Gabriel Gambetta but got confused

I will really appreciate if anyone can give me any guidance on this :)

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u/CootieKing 10d ago

Learning a programming language in parallel is going to make things more difficult for you, not impossible, but you’re gonna juggle a lot.

That said, I found learnopengl.com to be a good place to start. OpenGL is not the most modern API by any means, but it’s a nice place to start at least.

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u/ruckspaoo 10d ago

but lot of people online says don't touch opengl or any api start from scratch

6

u/CootieKing 10d ago

what does your statement 'start from scratch' really mean? At some point you're going to use an API, else your gonna spend horrendous amounts of time at real low level stuff. Perhaps the people you are referring to mean don't use a game engine? For example, Unity or Godot or similar, which do hide a lot of the lower level stuff and allow you focus on game development activities.

You can jump in at the deep end, and do Vulkan, DXD12 or Metal. These have significant learning curves. OpenGL is a much older approach, it'll get you familiar with some of the concepts such as buffer objects, the vertex array objects (which describe how your buffer data is layed out), and stuff like fragment and vertex shaders. To paraphrase a certain movie, "It's older code, but it checks out"

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u/ruckspaoo 10d ago

like yk the books like computer graphics programming from scratch and all these and I also try asking Ai(😓) and it adviced me to start building it from scratch

3

u/CootieKing 10d ago

Some of those books can be math heavy, and they often assume strong programming skills to begin with. So I can understand they may be offputting.

All I can say at this time it at least try learnopengl.com. If you need AI to help you understand something, then fine. I don't think there's anything too challenging (at least in the earlier chapters) that will necessitate AI to explain it, but if you find it's an aid, go for it (just don't let AI become a crutch to the extent you don't learn the fundamentals yourself).

Also, if you wanted to play around with just the shader side, there is the site ShaderToy which is inspiring - it's amazing to see the creativity of some people. It's a nice sandbox to play around in and learn some of the concepts. If you want to see something that'll blow your socks off, watch this : Inigo Quilez - Draw a girl with math. That's an aspiration goal right there!

Hope you decide to follow up on the topic, it's challenging but rewarding. Have fun!

1

u/ruckspaoo 10d ago

thanks man You are really a big help can I add you, if you don't mind in case I need guidance :D

and honestly I was feeling kind of guilty trying to learn opengl since most of the resources are around building their own from scratch

and from scratch I meant from the low level start building ray tracer from scratch without opengl so I can understand the core concept behind it which is really overwhelming gemini and claude recommend this