Steve Cunningham, California State University Stanislaus, U.S.A.
Andrew Hanson, Indiana University, Bloomington, U.S.A.
Description
Introduced 160 years ago as an attempt to generalize complex numbers to higher dimensions, quaternions are now recognized as one of the
most important concepts in modern computer graphics. They offer a powerful way to represent rotations and compared to rotation matrices
they use less memory, compose faster, and are naturally suited for efficient interpolation of rotations. Despite this, many practitioners
have avoided quaternions because of the mathematics used to understand them, hoping that some day a more intuitive description will be
available.
The wait is over. Andrew Hanson's new book is a fresh perspective on quaternions. The first part of the book focuses on
visualizing quaternions to provide the intuition necessary to use them, and includes many illustrative examples to motivate why they
are important—a beautiful introduction to those wanting to explore quaternions unencumbered by their mathematical aspects. The second
part covers the all-important advanced applications, including quaternion curves, surfaces, and volumes. Finally, for those wanting the
full story of the mathematics behind quaternions, there is a gentle introduction to their four-dimensional nature and to Clifford Algebras,
the all-encompassing framework for vectors and quaternions.
Included in series
The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology
Audience:
Programmers and developers in computer graphics and the game industry, scientists and engineers working in aerospace and scientific visualization,
students of game development and computer graphics, and those interested in quaternions but who have limited math background.
