Physically Based Rendering
Physically Based Rendering by Pharr, Jakob and Humphreysby Matt Pharr and Greg Humphreys and Wenzel Jakob
The most recommended of 4 computer graphics books
Recommended as the standard reference on physically based rendering, and freely available online. Critics note it mainly covers offline ray and path tracing.
Recommended as the standard reference on physically based rendering, and freely available online. Critics note it mainly covers offline ray and path tracing.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Standard reference often called the bible
“The textbooks Real Time Rendering and Physically Based Rendering are far more deserving of such claims.”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL” “which is effectively the bible, and has been for years”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: I wrote a C++ ray tracer from scratch without AI”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Mainly covers offline ray and path tracing
“The PBR book is much better in this regard, but it mainly focuses on offline ray tracing / path tracing”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”
Other computer graphics books people recommend
The three most recommended other computer graphics books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physically Based Renderingby Matt Pharr and Greg Humphreys and Wenzel JakobThis page | 7 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Computer Graphics from Scratchby Gabriel Gambetta | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Real-Time Renderingby Tomas Akenine-Möller and Eric Haines and Naty Hoffman | 5 | 1 | 83% | 5 | — | — |
| Computer Graphics: Principles and Practiceby Foley and van Dam | 4 | 2 | 67% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the best resource is "Physically Based Rendering: From Theory to Implementation", which is freely available online”
“The PBR book is much better in this regard, but it mainly focuses on offline ray tracing / path tracing”
“The textbooks Real Time Rendering and Physically Based Rendering are far more deserving of such claims.”
“which is effectively the bible, and has been for years”
“Some others along the same lines:”
“In addition to the other suggestions, see also”
“Perhaps the most prominent example of literate programming missed by the author”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.