<s5>Æliens</s5> -- slide(s)

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Stacks and stacks of books on DirectX

Microsoft DirectX is an advanced suite of multimedia application programming interfaces (APIs) built into Microsoft Windows; operating systems. DirectX provides a standard development platform for Windows-based PCs by enabling software developers to access specialized hardware features without having to write hardware-specific code. This technology was first introduced in 1995 and is a recognized standard for multimedia application development on the Windows platform.

DirectX 9 components

Direct3D -- for graphics, both 2D and 3D
DirectInput -- supporting a variety of input devices
DirectPlay -- for multiplayer networked games
DirectSound -- for high performance audio
DirectMusic -- to manipulate (non-linear) musical tracks
DirectShow -- for capture and playback of multimedia (video) streams

Direct3D tutorials

tutorial 1: creating a device
tutorial 2: rendering vertices
tutorial 3: using matrices
tutorial 4: creating and using lights
tutorial 5: using texture maps
tutorial 6: using meshes


  class  drumpad {
  public:
      drumpad()
      ~drumpad();
      bool    initialize( DWORD dwNumElements, HWND hwnd );
      bool    load( DWORD dwID, const TCHAR* tcszFilename );
      bool    play( DWORD dwID );
  protected:
      void    CleanUp();
      CSoundManager* m_lpSoundManager;
      CSound **      m_lpSamples;
  };


  bool drumpad::play( DWORD id ) {
      m_lpSamples[id] -> Stop();
      m_lpSamples[id] -> Reset();
      m_lpSamples[id] -> Play( 0, 0 );
      return true;
  }

multimedia challenges

volume -- multimedia streams contain large amounts of data, which must be processed very quickly.
synchronization -- audio and video must be synchronized so that it starts and stops at the same time, and plays at the same rate.
delivery -- data can come from many sources, including local files, computer networks, television broadcasts, and video cameras.
formats -- data comes in a variety of formats, such as Audio-Video Interleaved (AVI), Advanced Streaming Format (ASF), Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), and Digital Video (DV).
devices -- the programmer does not know in advance what hardware devices will be present on the end-user's system.

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DepthCube, see example(s) -- 3D vision

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3D vision	Perspectra	DepthCube

platform-dependence -- both hardware and OS
programming language -- C/C++, Java, .NET languages
functionality -- graphics, streaming media
deployment -- PC/PDA, local or networked, web deployment

Software will be the single most important force in digital entertainment over the next decade.

Æliens

2009

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