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How do I become a graphics programmer?

gpuopen.com

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Re: How do I become a graphics programmer?

#61

Post by virtualritz »

charcircuit wrote: post #13
Buttons840 wrote: post #12

I'd recommend the Pikuma course Graphics From Scratch[0]. The first thing you do is write a set_pixel function utilizing SDL and the rest of the course is all your code, every matrix operation, every vertex transformation, every triangle rasterization. You calculate what every individual pixel should be colored. [0]: https://pikuma.com/courses/learn-3d-computer-graphics-progra...

>No GPU, no OpenGL, no DirectX! This is the opposite of what you would hope to see for learning graphics programming.

>> No GPU, no OpenGL, no DirectX!

> This is the opposite of what you would hope to see for learning graphics programming.

It is exactly what you would hope to see.

And I would dare say I'm a graphics programmer, mostly self taught.

When I started, as a teenager, in the late 80's, there were no GPUs. So I learned everything from first principles. I recall implementing Bresenham in x86 assembly for my CGA card. And then, as a follow up, rasterizing a triangle. You really had to understand stuff end-to-end then as the hardware was so slow. I.e. even C was too slow for that stuff.

And today, still, the best offline renderers, that produce the images you see on the big screen, are CPU-only. 100% custom code, no 3rd party API dependency.[1]

If you write stuff for CAD/CAM/CAE/VFX, there is a big chance you do not think about the constraints of a GPU and less so of one of the APIs used to program it. Except for previewing stuff.

I would suggest to anyone learning graphics programming (or anything else for that matter) to do so from first principles.

GPUs are specialized hardware for realtime applications. That is very specific. I don't say don't learn that. But I suggest to not start with it.

[1] One of my best friends is the lead developer of the 3Delight renderer.

Re: How do I become a graphics programmer?

#62

Post by voldacar »

lopkeny12ko wrote: post #17
voldacar wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vac bans got reversed.

I fail to see how that excuses sloppy engineering.

I agree with that, I was just correcting you. It's crazy that they deliberately altered the code of a running program like that, especially one which is going to have an anti-cheat system.

Re: How do I become a graphics programmer?

#63

Post by spookie »

delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #20
slabity wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Vulkan basically isn't relevant anymore unless you are doing Android. Why do you say this?

I'm not the parent commenter, but I'd like to explain their logic, which has at least a modicum of reason to it. About 99% of desktop video games (by far the largest clients of graphics APIs) target Windows, and therefore target either Direct3D 11 or Direct3D 12. This includes free-to-use game engines including CryEngine, Unity, Unreal, and Ren'Py. Almost all the famous, proprietary, high-performance game engines (id…

> Almost all the famous, proprietary, high-performance game engines (id Tech, Frostbite, Slipspace, REDEngine, Source) target D3D exclusively.

You've said it there, hence my reply

Re: How do I become a graphics programmer?

#64

Post by SuboptimalEng »

You can start learning graphics by writing shaders on Shadertoy. It’s where tons of graphics programmers get their start.

Shameless self promotion, I’ve made 10+ tutorials going over topics like: how to write shaders in VS Code, SDFs, ray marching, noise functions, fractional brownian motion, etc.

https://github.com/suboptimaleng/shader-tutorials

I’m certainly standing on the shoulders of giants like Inigo Quilez, The Art of Code, SimonDev and Acerola.

Re: How do I become a graphics programmer?

#65

Post by TillE »

charcircuit wrote: post #31
lopkeny12ko wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fail to see how that excuses sloppy engineering.

It wasn't sloppy engineering unless you are saying AMD should have used a VAC bypass

Injecting code into third-party DLLs is as sloppy as it gets. It's an awful hack.

Re: How do I become a graphics programmer?

#67

Post by ChuckMcM »

lackbeard wrote: post #50
ChuckMcM wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this comment perfectly captures the difference between programming and coding. Programming comes from a place of first principles, the goal being to understand what is needed completely so that a solution that meets many parallel constraints can be constructed. Coding comes from a place of completing a task, the goal being to get from the requirement to the operating task in as short a time as possible so…

Good comment, and, basically, I fully agree, except, I really dislike your attempt to appropriate the words "programming" and "coding" here. Like, can you just explain what you mean without trying to redefine terms that have broadly accepted definitions distinct from how you're trying to use them here? (Sorry, this probably sounds more critical than I'm intending...)

No worries, got to use something as the holder of the definition. FWIW I read a similar essay that discussed cooks and chefs and came away seeing the many parallels with programming and coding.

Re: How do I become a graphics programmer?

#69

Post by dkjaudyeqooe »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #23
charcircuit wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>No GPU, no OpenGL, no DirectX! This is the opposite of what you would hope to see for learning graphics programming.

I feel like this comment perfectly captures the difference between programming and coding. Programming comes from a place of first principles, the goal being to understand what is needed completely so that a solution that meets many parallel constraints can be constructed. Coding comes from a place of completing a task, the goal being to get from the requirement to the operating task in as short a time as possible so…

There is a lot to be said for understanding things from first principles, but not everyone wants to go that low. Not everyone is that nerdy or maybe hasn't the time or motivation.

The other issue is that not everyone learns well from the bottom up. I believe that top down is a much better way of learning anything, and lets you progressively get closer to first principles while not discouraging learners with a steep difficulty curve. But unfortunately is an approach that is seldom facilitated by anyone.

Re: How do I become a graphics programmer?

#70

Post by caslon »

lackbeard wrote: post #50
ChuckMcM wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this comment perfectly captures the difference between programming and coding. Programming comes from a place of first principles, the goal being to understand what is needed completely so that a solution that meets many parallel constraints can be constructed. Coding comes from a place of completing a task, the goal being to get from the requirement to the operating task in as short a time as possible so…

Good comment, and, basically, I fully agree, except, I really dislike your attempt to appropriate the words "programming" and "coding" here. Like, can you just explain what you mean without trying to redefine terms that have broadly accepted definitions distinct from how you're trying to use them here? (Sorry, this probably sounds more critical than I'm intending...)

Programming requires creative thinking. Coding, historically, was a lower-paid, unskilled position.

You may think this is redefinition. It's not. This is how both terms originated. A "coder" did the unskilled gruntwork of implementation for business projects, while a programmer was holistic.

> I find it bizarre that people now use the term "coding" to mean programming. For decades, we used the word "coding" for the work of low-level staff in a business programming team. The designer would write a detailed flow chart, then the "coders" would write code to implement the flow chart. This is quite different from what we did and do in the hacker community -- with us, one person designs the program and writes its code as a single activity. When I developed GNU programs, that was programming, but it was definitely not coding.

> Since I don't think the recent fad for "coding" is an improvement, I have decided not to adopt it. I don't use the term "coding", unless I am talking about a business programming team which has coders.

https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html

In this case, it is you, and the wider cottage industry of business "coders" who are doing the appropriation. It's not your fault. The bootcamp or Super Cool Totally Serious College you likely learned from probably used the term "coder" alongside words like "rockstar!" You were given a bad definition, and never knew any better at all. ChuckMcM's comment, on the other hand, is correct. Using the word "literally" to mean "figuratively," while colloquial, is still less correct than figuratively.

The phrase "code monkey" is not a compliment, and didn't come from nowhere. It came directly from these pre-existing definitions.

Programming requires logic. If you are coding, the thinking's already been done for you. You are just doing unskilled labor akin to data entry to get the computer to actually follow the instructions.

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