DirectX Graphics Programming

Welcome to the comprehensive guide for DirectX graphics programming. This section covers everything you need to know to create stunning 2D and 3D graphics applications on Windows.

Core Concepts

DirectX is a collection of APIs for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. The core of graphics programming in DirectX is handled by Direct3D.

Direct3D Pipeline: Understand the stages of the Direct3D rendering pipeline, from vertex data to the final pixel on the screen.
Shaders: Learn about vertex, pixel, and compute shaders and how to program them using HLSL (High-Level Shading Language).
Resources: Explore different types of resources like textures, vertex buffers, index buffers, and constant buffers.
DirectX Math Library: Master the vector, matrix, and quaternion operations essential for 3D graphics.

Getting Started with Direct3D 12

Direct3D 12 offers lower-level access to the GPU, enabling more efficient performance and control. This is the recommended API for modern graphics development.

Setting up Direct3D 12
Basic Rendering Loop
Writing Your First Shader

Setting up Direct3D 12

Before you can render anything, you need to initialize Direct3D 12. This involves creating an adapter, a device, a command queue, and swap chain.


// Example initialization snippet (simplified)
ComPtr<ID3D12Device> pd3dDevice;
// ... create device ...

ComPtr<IDXGISwapChain3> pSwapChain;
// ... create swap chain ...

ComPtr<ID3D12CommandQueue> pCommandQueue;
// ... create command queue ...

Basic Rendering Loop

The rendering loop is the heart of any graphics application. It involves recording commands, submitting them to the GPU, and presenting the rendered frame.

Begin a frame.
Record commands into a command list.
Execute the command list.
Present the rendered frame.

Writing Your First Shader

Shaders are programs that run on the GPU. HLSL is used to write shaders for Direct3D.

Vertex Shader


// Vertex shader output structure
struct VS_OUTPUT {
    float4 Pos : SV_POSITION;
    float4 Color : COLOR0;
};

// Vertex shader input structure
struct VS_INPUT {
    float4 Pos : POSITION;
    float4 Color : COLOR;
};

VS_OUTPUT main(VS_INPUT input) {
    VS_OUTPUT output;
    output.Pos = float4(input.Pos.x, input.Pos.y, 0.0f, 1.0f); // Simple pass-through
    output.Color = input.Color;
    return output;
}

Pixel Shader


// Pixel shader input structure (matches VS_OUTPUT)
struct PS_INPUT {
    float4 Pos : SV_POSITION;
    float4 Color : COLOR0;
};

// Pixel shader output (single color value)
float4 main(PS_INPUT input) : SV_TARGET {
    return input.Color; // Output the interpolated color
}

MSDN Documentation