CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- I A FOUNDATION IN 3D -- 1 GETTING STARTED WITH DIRECTX 9.0 AND D3DX -- 2 FUNDAMENTAL 3D OBJECTS -- 3 THE HIGH- LEVEL SHADER LANGUAGE -- 4 GAIA ENGINE OVERVIEW -- II INTRODUCTION TO TERRAIN SYSTEMS -- 5 WORLD MANAGEMENT -- 6 BASIC TERRAIN GEOMETRY -- 7 THE ROAM TERRAIN SYSTEM -- 8 TILED GEOMETRY TECHNIQUES -- 9 TEXTURING TECHNIQUES -- III EXTENDING THE ENGINE -- 10 BIG SKY COUNTRY -- 11 RENDERING OUTDOOR SCENES -- 12 THE 3D GARDENER -- 13 OCEAN WATER -- A GAIA UTILITY CLASSES -- B FLOATING- POINT TRICKS -- C PROGRAMMING REFERENCE SHEETS -- D RECOMMENDED READING -- E ABOUT THE CD- ROM -- INDEX.