DirectX Graphics Documentation

Windows API Reference

Direct3D 11 Graphics API Overview

Direct3D 11 is a robust and flexible graphics API designed for Windows. It provides a powerful set of features for developing high-performance 2D and 3D graphics applications, from games to scientific visualizations.

Key Features of Direct3D 11:

  • Hardware Feature Levels: Supports a range of hardware capabilities, allowing applications to scale from older hardware to the latest GPUs.
  • Unified Shader Model: A consistent shader programming model across different stages of the graphics pipeline, simplifying development.
  • Dynamic Shader Compilation: Shaders can be compiled at runtime, enabling dynamic effects and optimizations.
  • Multithreading Support: Designed for efficient multithreaded command submission, improving CPU utilization and performance.
  • Tessellation: Hardware-accelerated tessellation stages allow for dynamic geometric detail enhancement.
  • Compute Shaders: Enables general-purpose computation on the GPU, extending its use beyond traditional graphics rendering.
  • Improved Resource Management: Enhanced control over GPU resources like textures, buffers, and samplers.

Core Concepts:

Understanding the following core concepts is crucial for working with Direct3D 11:

  • Device and Device Context: The ID3D11Device object represents the graphics adapter and is used to create resources. The ID3D11DeviceContext is used to issue rendering commands and set pipeline states.
  • Swap Chain: Manages the presentation of rendered frames to the screen, often involving double or triple buffering.
  • Render Target and Depth-Stencil Views: Resources that can be rendered into, typically representing the back buffer and depth buffer.
  • Shaders: Programs that run on the GPU, such as Vertex Shaders, Pixel Shaders, Geometry Shaders, Hull Shaders, Domain Shaders, and Compute Shaders.
  • Input Assembler: Responsible for reading vertex data from input buffers and preparing it for the graphics pipeline.
  • Rasterizer: Processes primitives (triangles, lines, points) and determines which pixels on the screen they cover.
  • Output Merger: Blends output from the pixel shader with the current contents of the render target and depth-stencil buffer.

Getting Started:

To begin with Direct3D 11:

  1. Initialize Direct3D: Create the ID3D11Device and ID3D11DeviceContext objects, typically using D3D11CreateDevice or related functions.
  2. Create Swap Chain: Set up the swap chain for presenting frames to the window.
  3. Create Resources: Define and create vertex buffers, index buffers, constant buffers, textures, and shaders.
  4. Set Pipeline State: Configure the graphics pipeline by setting input layout, shaders, render targets, and other states.
  5. Render: Issue draw calls to render geometry to the back buffer.
  6. Present: Use the swap chain to display the rendered frame.

Further Reading: