Real-Time Rendering
Real-Time Rendering by Akenine-Möller, Haines and Hoffmanby Akenine-Möller, Haines and Hoffman
Ranked 3 of 4 computer graphics books by recommenders
Dense, widely recommended textbook on real-time graphics that rewards careful reading. One critic notes it has no full source code examples, so beginners may find it hard to follow.
Dense, widely recommended textbook on real-time graphics that rewards careful reading. One critic notes it has no full source code examples, so beginners may find it hard to follow.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 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
Praised as the top resource
“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” “I would argue that Realtime Rendering 4th edition is the better book.”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Graphics Programming Resources” “the absolutely best resource is the book Real-Time Rendering”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “How do functions like alloca allocate memory from the stack?” Covers a wide range of topics
“I learned while skimming through the various chapters in the book how little I knew and how much there was to explore”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “Everything is free now, so why not a floating orb in my IDE” “realtimhrendering books has chapters on it”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL” Dense, thorough reference material
“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” “It's really good and dense.”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “Max Payne – two decades later – Graphics Critique”
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 Pharr, Jakob and Humphreys | 7 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Computer Graphics from Scratchby Gabriel Gambetta | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Real-Time Renderingby Akenine-Möller, Haines and HoffmanThis page | 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.
“I learned while skimming through the various chapters in the book how little I knew and how much there was to explore”
“the absolutely best resource is the book Real-Time Rendering”
“Most importantly it doesn't have any examples with full source code, so it's not a friendly book to follow for beginners.”
“realtimhrendering books has chapters on it”
“The textbooks Real Time Rendering and Physically Based Rendering are far more deserving of such claims.”
“I would argue that Realtime Rendering 4th edition is the better book.”
“It's really good and dense.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.