NVidia Register Combiners

Has anyone found any good references for using NVidias Register Combiners. I downloaded and read the documentation from nvidia’s site, and I pretty much understand how the register combiners work and how to access the functions and configure the combiners, but Im not quite sure how to put it to practical use.

I downloaded the demos fromt their site and am attempting to understand the code, but I dont find them to be the most intuitive learning material. And a lot of it I have trouble understanding (ex: what are 1/2 angle vectors,…). I guess it would help to have an understanding of bump mapping and such. If anyone knows any good references that show how to use them from a more “tutorial-like” perspective, I would appreciate it.

Figures I would find an answer myself. NVidia’s site seems to have been down all evening. Luckilly I did a download of most all of their tech-demos and articles once upon a time. Re-Looking through my extensive collection, I came across a paper (apparently I missed it before I posted) from GDC 2000 titled “A Practical and Robust Bump-mapping technique for Today’s GPUs”. Seems to be a great paper, as I have been reading over for the last few hours. Covers tons of bumpmapping theory. It also has a great explanation of the Register Combiners (from what I read so far). At the end (I glanced through) it seems to have a lot of useful code samples, stuff for computing 1/2 angle vectors, normal maps, and several examples of using the register combiners for various lighting techniques. Really good reference overall (Im still reading, but feeling very positive about it).

Aside from finding this, I would still be interested if anyone else knows any other good references that might cover something slightly different.