Tag: DirectX 10
November 12, 2008 by
Jason
With Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801 out of Redmond, it was only natural that DirectX 11 would follow. And this is precisely what happened. Having served Milestone 3 Build of the next iteration of the Windows client, Microsoft is also moving forward with the graphics technology included by default with the operating system. The transition from Vista to Windows 7 is synonymous with the evolution from DirectX 10.1 (in Vista SP1) to DirectX 11. At this point in time, the first taste of the next version of the DirectX suite of multimedia application programming interfaces (APIs), namely DirectX 11, is available for download via the November 2008 DirectX Software Development Kit.
“Included in the November 2008 DirectX SDK is a technical preview of Direct3D 11 and associated components and tools. Direct3D 11 is an update to Direct3D 10.1 enabling new hardware features as well as improving the breadth of configurations supported by Direct3D. As such, Direct3D 11 enables developers to create applications and games that work on Direct3D 10, Direct3D 10.1, and Direct3D 11 hardware when it becomes available. With the addition of WARP and Direct3D 10 Level 9, Direct3D 10.1 and Direct3D 11 have the ability to target fast software rasterization and Direct3D 9 hardware,” Microsoft revealed. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7, windows vista | 2 Comments »
August 2008 has been synonymous with three separate releases of DirectX for a variety of Windows operating systems. The DirectX refreshes are tailored to Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1, but also to Windows Server 2003.
Microsoft made available for download updated versions of the DirectX Software Development Kit, the DirectX End-User Runtimes, as well as the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer. The first two releases have been re-published on the Microsoft Download Center on August 18, 2008, while the last one is available in the same form as when it went live on August 8.
DirectX End-User Runtimes (August 2008) “provides the DirectX end-user multi-languaged redistributable that developers can include with their product. The redistributable license agreement covers the terms under which developers may use the Redistributable. This package is localized into Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, and English. [...] The DirectX redist installation includes all the latest and previous released DirectX runtime. This includes the bi-monthly D3DX, XInput, and Managed DirectX components,” Microsoft informed. Read More»
Posted in Windows XP, windows vista | No Comments »
1. DirectX 10. Without a doubt, Vista’s support for DirectX 10 is the primary reason why gaming in the Windows environment will transcend gamers’ wildest dreams and far exceed the visual quality of even the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. “When DX10 games come out, the end result will be a significant increase in visual fidelity,” said Microsoft’s Donahue.
This means a marked increase in the number of objects and/or characters on the screen at a time, as well as dramatic impact on the level of background detail trees, water, stars in outdoor and indoor environments. It also means, for example, that characters’ clothing and fur will flap in the wind. Based on the early gameplay screenshots released for DX10 games such as Crysis, the impact of this new version of DirectX is quite clear even at a glance. (See the comparative scenes from Age of Conan: The Hyborian Adventures below.)
This increase in graphical quality is the result of a number of enhancements in DirectX 10 code, operations and resulting capabilities. As an example, a brand-new shader model (Version 4.0) in DX10 allows for more detailed and nuanced 3-D graphics. Read More»
Posted in windows vista | No Comments »
Microsoft has already indicated through the voice of Anantha Kancherla, manager of Windows desktop and graphics technologies, that DirectX 11 would be at the vanguard of the upcoming general purpose graphics processing (GPGPU) revolution. However, the real details have only been shared with developers and not the general public. From the recent Microsoft GameFest 2008 conference, details related to the evolution of DirectX 11 managed to slip through, but of course not through the company’s official channels, which are keeping mum in relation to the next generation of its graphics technology. Ignacio Castaño, NVIDIA Technology Developer, indicated that end users are in for a treat via the Tessellation of Displaced Subdivision Surfaces in DX11 presentation.
The Tessellation enhancements cooking for DirectX 11 will enable developers to offer what Castaño referred to as “unprecedented visuals”, namely “highly detailed characters and realistic animation”. But of course there is more to it, in the line of performing “expensive computations at lower frequency: realistic animation: blend shapes, morph targets, etc. and physics, collision detection, soft body dynamics, etc.”. DirectX 11 will ensure that the users will benefit from an increased level of detail while fewer resources will be consumed because of compression features. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
January 08, 2008 by
Jason As you undoubtedly know by now, Windows Vista brought to the table DirectX 10. Microsoft failed to make DirectX 10 available for Windows XP, arguing that it would have to introduce extensive changes to the core of the operating system, in order to accommodate the new graphics technology. In this context, Vista became the vessel for DirectX 10, because despite various promises from third-parties to artificially backport DirectX 10 for Windows XP, the latest Windows client remains the sole way to access the superset of DirectX 9.x.
Microsoft touted a healthy increase in gaming and multimedia quality with DirectX 10 as an integer part of Vista’s architecture, but with the vast majority of users still running Windows XP, digital content is largely focused on Vista’s predecessor. The Redmond company was in fact
criticized by both content producers and end users for its decision to make DirectX 10 Vista exclusive, but the barrage of fire failed to deter Microsoft from its tracks. Moreover, in the first quarter of this year, Windows Vista SP1 will deliver DirectX 10.1. Read More»
Posted in Software, windows vista | 3 Comments »
