Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Physically Based Rendering Book

pbr-book.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 49 posts

Re: Physically Based Rendering Book

#5

Post by marvindanig »

mkl95 wrote: post #3

> January 15, 2021: A fourth edition is in the works. Progress on the text is coming along well and the source code is available on github. We expect that the printed version of the book will be out in Summer 2021. https://www.pbrt.org/

Why the dead-tree?

Can we not try monetization of your book straight on the web instead, right here on your website? As developers we should lead the change away from pulp to electronic screens…

Edit: I mean, I'd be happy to pay the author (note, not donate*) for this corpus online.

Re: Physically Based Rendering Book

#6

Post by misnome »

marvindanig wrote: post #5
mkl95 wrote: post #3

> January 15, 2021: A fourth edition is in the works. Progress on the text is coming along well and the source code is available on github. We expect that the printed version of the book will be out in Summer 2021. https://www.pbrt.org/

Why the dead-tree? Can we not try monetization of your book straight on the web instead, right here on your website? As developers we should lead the change away from pulp to electronic screens… Edit: I mean, I'd be happy to pay the author (note, not donate*) for this corpus online.

Should we? I spend my life staring at electronic screens, it’s nice to not do so for reading round, or sit outside and do so.

Maybe it’s an age thing, I used to have a lot more tolerance for this before my 30’s. Kindles are fine, but for leisure/fiction reading, or anything technical - it’s nice to be able to flip back/forth.

Re: Physically Based Rendering Book

#7

Post by panzagl »

misnome wrote: post #6
marvindanig wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the dead-tree? Can we not try monetization of your book straight on the web instead, right here on your website? As developers we should lead the change away from pulp to electronic screens… Edit: I mean, I'd be happy to pay the author (note, not donate*) for this corpus online.

Should we? I spend my life staring at electronic screens, it’s nice to not do so for reading round, or sit outside and do so. Maybe it’s an age thing, I used to have a lot more tolerance for this before my 30’s. Kindles are fine, but for leisure/fiction reading, or anything technical - it’s nice to be able to flip back/forth.

Every time someone posts a book on here someone shows up to bitch about the format and modernization- you should see the crap the 'Game Programming Patterns' guy gets.

Re: Physically Based Rendering Book

#8

Post by elteto »

Something not immediately clear to me is how to use the book. I see it uses a literate programming format, and it seems very well done. But I don’t see (in the first couple of chapters anyway) any code to show intermediate results. Am I supposed to work through the whole book before getting something that I can see? I’m sure I’m missing something.

Re: Physically Based Rendering Book

#9

Post by marvindanig »

misnome wrote: post #6
marvindanig wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the dead-tree? Can we not try monetization of your book straight on the web instead, right here on your website? As developers we should lead the change away from pulp to electronic screens… Edit: I mean, I'd be happy to pay the author (note, not donate*) for this corpus online.

Should we? I spend my life staring at electronic screens, it’s nice to not do so for reading round, or sit outside and do so. Maybe it’s an age thing, I used to have a lot more tolerance for this before my 30’s. Kindles are fine, but for leisure/fiction reading, or anything technical - it’s nice to be able to flip back/forth.

I agree with you on Kindles; they're certainly worse than having books on the open web, even if it were to be paid content.

I also agree with you that page turning experience is _the_ native control of a book and that it adds to the saccadic perception of moving forward with time.

B.t.w, I made this demo for exactly the reasons you mentioned, and I'm an older developer too!:

https://bubblin.io/book/a-florida-sketch-book-by-bradford-to...

> Should we? I spend my life staring

We probably should reduce felling trees for content that's read just once and then it goes outdated. I know a lot pulp-cultivation ambassadors say that it is a renewable resource, but in practicality pulp farming is not entirely renewable.

Cultivation takes place where an old forest once stood and was razed to the ground; and that loss of natural habitat is incalculable in costs–and to what end? A lifeless object on our bookshelf (which too is another dead tree) to show off with more outdated technical content?

Post reply on HN