About this Book

The book "Practical WPF Graphics Programming - Advanced .NET Graphics Development with the Windows Presentation Foundation " is available now. You can order the eBook version of this book from this Web Site. The paperback version can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers worldwide. Click here to order the book now.

This book follows the same style of my previous book "Practical C# Charts and Graphics". I emphasize the practicality of WPF to your real-world graphics applications and try to explain WPF graphics concepts based on code examples. This in-depth book on graphics programming in the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) contains over 120 ready-to-run code examples, which provide you with everything you need to add advanced graphics to your applications. From basic 2D shapes to complex interactive 3D models, this book uses code examples to clearly explain every step involved in building a variety of WPF graphics applications. You will learn how to use WPF to create impressive graphic effects and high-fidelity user interfaces.

This book contains:

• An overview of WPF graphics capabilities and the mathematical basics of computer graphics.
• Step-by-step procedures for creating a variety of 2D and 3D custom geometries and shapes with complete ready-to-run XAML and C# code for each application.
• Powerful 2D chart applications and user controls that can be directly used in your WPF applications or can be easily modified to create your own sophisticated chart packages.
• Detailed procedures on how to create various 3D surfaces in WPF using rectangular meshes.
• An introduction to building physics-based models games and fractals.
• Advanced color, lighting, and shading effects for 3D graphics objects.
• Instructions on adding direct interaction, such as animation, transformations, hit-testing, and mouse events, to graphics models.

Table of Contents

Introduction
   Overview
   What this Book includes
   Is This Book for You
   What Do You Need to Use This Book
   How This Book Is Organized
   Using Code Examples
   Customer Support

Chapter 1: Overview of WPF Programming
   New Features in WPF
   XAML Basics
      Why is XAML Needed?
      Creating XAML Files
      Code-Behind Files
   Your First WPF Program
      Properties in XAML
      Event Handlers in Code-Behind Files
   Code-Only Example
   XAML-Only Example

Chapter 2: WPF Graphics Basics in 2D
   2D Coordinate Systems in WPF
      Default Coordinates
      Custom Coordinates
      Custom Coordinates for 2D Charts
         2D Viewport
         Zooming and Panning
   Basic 2D Graphics Shapes
      Lines
      Rectangles and Ellipses
      Polylines
      Polygons
Chapter 3: 2D Transformations
   Basics of Matrices and Transforms
      Vectors and Points
      Scaling
      Reflection
      Rotation
      Translation
   Homogeneous Coordinates
      Translation in Homogeneous Coordinates
      Scaling in Homegeneous Coordinates
      Rotation in Homegeneous Coordinates
      Combining Transforms
   Vector and Matrix in WPF
      Vector Structure
      Matrix Structure
      Matrix Operations
      Matrix Transforms
      Creating Perpendicular Lines
   Object Transforms in WPF
      MatrixTransform Class
      ScaleTransform Class
      TranslateTransform Class
      RotateTransform Class
      SkewTransform Class
      Combining Transforms in WPF

Chapter 4: Geometry and 2D Drawing
   Path and Geometry Classes
      Line, Rectangle, and Ellipse Geometries
      GeometryGroup Class
      CombinedGeometry Class
      PathGeometry Class
         Lines and Polylines
         Arcs
         Bezier Curves
      Geometry and Mini-Language
   Interactive 2D Drawing
      Mouse Events
      Creating and Combining Shapes
      Dragging and Moving Shapes
      Hit Testing
   Custom Shapes
      Star Shape
      Arrowline
      Testing Custom Shapes

Chapter 5: Colors and Brushes
   Colors
      System Colors
      Color Picker
   Brushes
      SolidColorBrush
      LinearGradientBrush
      Custom Colormap Brush
      RadialGradientBrush
      Custom Radial Colormap Brush
      ImageBrush
      DrawingBrush
      VisualBrush
      Bitmap Effects
      Opacit Masks
   Brush Transforms
      LinearGradientBrush Transform
      RadialGradientBrush Transform
      ImageBrush Transform
      Drawing and Visual Brush Transform

Chapter 6: Animation
   WPF Animation Basics
      Property-Based Animation
      A Simple Animation in Code
   Animation and Storyboard
      Storyboard and Even Trigger
      Storyboard Animation in Code
      Animation and Timing Behavior
         Duration
         RepeatBehavior
         AutoReverse
         BeginTime
         Speed Controls
      Interactive Control
   Animation and Transform
      Animating Translation
      Rolling Balls
      Combining Transform Animation
   Path Animation
   Frame-Based Animation
      Key-Frame Animation
      Spline Key-Frame Animation
   Custom Animation
      Custom Animation Class
      Per-Frame Animation
      Animation Using Timer

Chapter 7: Physics and Games in WPF
   Ordinary Differiential Equations
      Fourth-Order Runge-Kutta Method
      Higher-Order ODEs
      ODE Solver
   Pendulum
      Equation of Motion
      Pendulum Simulator
   Couple-Spring System
      Equations of Motion
      Coupled-Spring Simulator
   Projectiles
      Aerodynamic Drag Force
      Projectile Equations of Motion
      Golf Game
   Collission
      Bouncing Ball Physics
      Bouncing Ball Simulator
   Fractals
      Binary Tree
      Snowflake
      Mandelbrot Set
      Julia Set

Chapter 8: Charts in WPF
   Simple Line Charts
      Creating Simple Line Chart
      How It Works?
   Line Charts with Data Collection
      Chart Style
      Data Collection
      Data Series
      Creating Charts
   Gridlines and Labels
      XAML Layout
      ChartStyleGridlines Class
      Testing Project
   Legend
      Legend Class
      Testing Project
   Chart User Control
      Creating Chart Control
         Defining Dependency Propeties
         Chart Style for Chart Control
         Data Collection and Data Series
      Using Chart Control
         Creating Simple Chart
         Creating Multiple Charts

Chapter 9: 3D Transformations
   3D Matrices and Vectors in WPF
      3D Points and Wectors
      Matrix3D Structure
      Matrix3D Operations
      Matrix3D Transforms
      Rotation and Quaternion
   Projections
      Orthographic Projections
         Multi-View Projections
         Axonometric Projections
      Perspective Projections
         One-Point Perspective Projections
         Two-Point Perspective Projections
         Three-Point Perspective Projections
         Perspective Projection Matrix
   Views and Projections in WPF
      View Transform
      Perspective Projecion
         View Frustum
         Perspective Transform Matrix
         Implementing Perspective Transforms
         Testing Perspectice Projections
      Orthographic Projecion
         Orthographic Transform Matrix
         Implementing Orthographic Transforms
         Testing Orthograohic projections
   Object Transformsin WPF
      ScaleTransform3D class
      TranslateTransform3D class
      Rotate Transform3D class
      MatrixTransform3D class
      Combining Transforms

Chapter 10: WPF Graphics Basics in 3D
   3D Graphics Basics
      Viewpoint3D
      3D Objects in WPF
      Geometry and Mesh
      GeometryModel3D and Surfaces
      Illuminating the Scene
      3Camera Positions
      Simple Triangle in 3D
   Basic 3D Shapes
      Coordinate Axes and Wireframe
      Creating Cube
      Creating Sphere
      Creating Cylinder
      Creating Cone
      Creating Torus

Chapter 11: Custom 3D Geometries
   Cube Geometry
      CubeGeometry Class
      Testing CubeGeometry
   Ellipsoid Geometry
      EllipsoidGeometry Class
      Testing EllipsoidGeometry
   Cylindrical Geometry
      CylinderGeometry Class
      Testing CylinderGeometry
   Cone Geometry
      ConeGeometry Class
      Testing ConeGeometry
   Torus Geometry
      TorusGeometry Class
      Testing TorusGeometry
   Icosahedron Geometry
      IcosahedronGeometry Class
      Testing IcosahedronGeometry
   Dodecahedron Geometry
      DodecahedronGeometry Class
      Testing DodecahedronGeometry
   Soccer Ball Geometry
      SoccerGeometry Class
      Testing SoccerGeometry

Chapter 12: Custom 3D Shapes
   Deriving from UIElement3D
   Cube Shape
      Cube Shape Class
      Testing Cube Shape
   Ellipsoid Shape
      Ellipsoid Shape Class
      Testing Ellipsoid Shape
   Cylinder Shape
      Cylinder Shape Class
      Testing Cylinder Shape
   Cone Shape
      Cone Shape Class
      Testing Cone Shape
   Torus Shape
      Torus Shape Class
      Testing Torus Shape
   Icosahedron Shape
      Icosahedron Shape Class
      Testing Icosahedron Shape
   Dodecahedron Shape
      Dodecahedron Shape Class
      Testing Dodecahedron Shape
   Soccer Shape
      Soccer Shape Class
      Testing Soccer Shape
   Combining Shape
      Combining Shape Class
      Testing Combining Shape

Chapter 13: 3D Surfaces
   Simple Surfaces
      Rectangular Meshes
      SimpleSurface Class
      Creating Simple Surfaces
   Parametric Surfaces
      ParametricSurface Class
      Creating Parametric Surfaces
         Helicoid Surface
         Sphere Surface
         Torus Surface
         Quadric Surface
   Extruded Surfaces
      ExtrudedSurface Class
      Creating Extruded Surfaces
   Surfaces of Revolution
      RotatedSurface Class
      Creating Surfaces of Revolution
   Surface Shading
      SurfaceShading Class
      Creating Shaded Surfaces

Chapter 14: 3D Model Manipulation
   Lighting and Shading
      Light Sources
      Testing Light Sources
      Shading
   Materials
      Diffuse Materials
      Specular and Emissive Materials
   Texture Mapping
      Using LinearGradientBrush
      Using RadialGradientBrush
      Uisng Image and Tile Brushes
   2D Elements on 3D Surfaces
      Viewport2DVisual3D Class
      Using Viewport2DVisual3D
   Interacting with 3D Models
      Hit-Testing for 3D Geometries
      Hit-Testing for 3D Shapes
      Rotating 3D Models with Mouse

Index

Introduction

The Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a next generation graphics platform that is part of .NET 3.0 and .NET 3.5. It allows you to build advanced user interfaces that incorporate documents, media, 2D and 3D graphics, animations, and web-like characteristics. Practical WPF Graphics Programming provides all the tools you need to develop professional graphics applications using WPF and C# based on the .NET framework. I hope this book would be useful for WPF and C# programmers of all skill levels.

The book is written with the intention of providing you with a complete and comprehensive explanation of the WPF graphics capability, and pays special attention to the code implementation details, which will be useful when you create your own real-world WPF graphics Applications. It includes over 120 code examples, which cover a broad array of topics on WPF graphics programming. The book shows you how to create a variety of graphics, ranging from simple 2D shapes to complex 3D surfaces and interactive 3D models. You can learn from this book how to create a full range of 2D and 3D graphics applications and how to implement custom 3D geometries and shapes that can be reused in your WPF projects.

What this Book Includes

This book and its sample code listings provide you with:

• A complete, in-depth instruction on practical WPF graphics programming. After reading this book and running the example programs, you will be able to add various sophisticated graphics to your WPF applications.
• Over 120 ready-to-run example programs that allow you to explore the graphics techniques described in the book. These examples can be used to better understand how graphics algorithms work. You can modify the code examples or add new features to them to form the basis of your own projects. Some of the example code listings provided in this book are already sophisticated graphics packages that can be used directly in your own real-world WPF applications.
• Many classes in the sample code listings that you will find useful in your WPF graphics programming. These classes contain matrix manipulation, coordinate transformation, color maps, chart controls, and the other useful utility classes. You can extract these classes and plug them into your own applications.

Is this Book for You?

You do not have to be an experienced WPF developer or an expert to use this book. I designed this book to be useful to people of all levels of WPF programming experience. In fact, I believe that if you have some experience with the programming language C#, Windows Forms, HTML, and the .NET framework, you will be able to sit down in front of your computer, start up Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5, follow the examples provided in this book, and quickly become familiar with WPF graphics programming. For those of you who are already experienced WPF developers, I believe this book has much to offer as well. There is a great deal of information in this book about graphics programming not available in other WPF tutorial and reference books. In addition, most of the example programs in this book can be used directly in your own real-world application development. This book will provide you with a level of detail, explanation, instruction, and sample program code that will enable you to do just about anything WPF graphics-related.

The majority of the example programs in this book can be used routinely by WPF developers and technical professionals. Throughout the book, I will emphasize the usefulness of WPF graphics programming to real-world applications. If you follow the instructions presented in this book closely, you will be able to easily develop various practical WPF graphics applications, from 2D graphics and charts to a sophisticated 3D model libraries. At the same time, I will not spend too much time discussing programming style, execution speed, and code optimization, because there is a plethora of books out there that already deal with such topics. Most of the example programs you will find in this book omit error handlings. This makes the code easier to understand by focusing only on the key concepts and practical applications.

How this Book Is Organized

This book is organized into fourteen chapters, each of which covers a different topic about WPF graphics programming. The following summaries of each chapter should give you an overview of the book?s content:

Chapter 1, Overview of WPF Programming.
This chapter introduces the basics of WPF and reviews some of the general aspects of WPF programming, including XAML files used to define user interfaces.

Chapter 2, WPF Graphics Basics in 2D.
This chapter reviews some fundamental concepts of the 2D graphics and the 2D drawing model in WPF. It introduces coordinate systems and basic 2D shapes.

Chapter 3, 2D Transformations.
This chapter covers the mathematical basics for 2D graphics programming. 2D vectors, matrices, and transformations in the homogeneous coordinate system, including translation, scaling, reflection, and rotation, are discussed. These 2D matrices and transformations allow WPF applications to perform a wide variety of graphical operations on graphics objects in a simple and consistent manner.

Chapter 4, Geometry and 2D Drawing.
This chapter introduces WPF?s Geometry classes and demonstrates why you need them to create complex 2D graphics objects. It also shows you how to create interactive 2D drawing programs and custom shapes.

Chapter 5, Colors and Brushes.
This chapter covers the color system and brushes that WPF uses to paint graphics objects. It introduces a variety of brushes and their transformations. You?ll learn how to create exotic visual effects using different brushes, including the gradient, tile, and image brushes.

Chapter 6, Animation.
This chapter describes WPF animation facilities, which allow most of the properties and transformations of the graphics objects (such as position, size, translation, rotation, etc.) to be animated. It also describes how to create a custom animation class that can be used in physics-based animation.

Chapter 7, Physics and Games in WPF.
This chapter covers topics related to real-world WPF applications. You?ll learn how to create and simulate physics models by solving ordinary differential equations with the Runge-Kutta method, and how to incorporate physics models into real-world games in WPF. This chapter discusses several physics models and games, including a pendulum, a coupled spring system, a golf ball (projectiles), ball collision, and fractals.

Chapter 8, Charts in WPF.
This chapter contains instructions on creating 2D line charts in WPF. It introduces basic chart elements including the chart canvas, text canvas, axes, title, labels, ticks, and legend. From this chapter, you?ll also learn how to put a 2D chart application into a custom user control and how to reuse this control in your WPF applications.

Chapter 9, 3D Transformations.
This chapter extends the concepts described in Chapter 3 into the third dimension. It explains how to define 3D graphics objects and how to translate, scale, reflect, and rotate these 3D objects. It also describes transformation matrices that represent projection and transformations, which allow you to view 3D graphics objects on a 2D screen. You?ll also learn how WPF defines 3D vectors, matrices, and projections.

Chapter 10, WPF Graphics Basics in 3D.
This chapter explores the basics of 3D models in WPF. It introduces Viewport3D, the 3D geometry and the mesh model, lighting, camera, etc. You?ll also learn how to create basic 3D shapes directly in WPF.

Chapter 11, Custom 3D Geometries.
This chapter explains how to create custom geometries for various 3D shapes. These custom geometry classes can be used as resources in XAML files, and these resources can be used in your markup with a data binding.

Chapter 12, Custom 3D Shapes.
This chapter shows how to implement custom 3D shape classes. Unlike custom 3D geometry classes, which can only be used as shareable resources, these custom 3D shape classes can be used directly in your XAML files in the same way as the 2D shapes, such as the Line, Rectangle, and Ellipse. You can use these custom 3D shape classes to create a powerful 3D model library.

Chapter 13, 3D Surfaces.
This chapter explains how to create various 3D surfaces, from simple surfaces to complex surfaces, using rectangular meshes and different techniques, including parametric, extrusion, and revolution approaches. It also describes how to add lighting and shading effects to these surfaces.

Chapter 14, 3D Model Manipulation.
This chapter covers broad array of topics on manipulating 3D models in WPF. It describes how to create various 3D special effects using different materials, different light sources, and texture maps. It also explains how to place interactive 2D elements on 3D surfaces and how to rotate 3D graphics objects with the mouse using the virtual trackball method.