Foreword

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In my favorite episode of the TV show "The Simpsons," Homer gets the job of doing the voice for a cartoon character on "The Itchy and Scratchy Show." At his first recording session, in his classic clueless manner, Homer asks whether this episode is being done live. The producer's sarcastic reply is, "No, Homer. Very few cartoons are broadcast live—it's a terrible strain on the animators' wrists." Indeed, it would be impossible for humans, but personal computers are now up to the task of generating "live" 3D animation. Real-time rendered scenes indistinguishable from photographs are not quite within reach yet, but thousands of textured polygons per frame at 60 frames per second can create a very believable world. Almost all computer systems sold today contain chips—some even more complex than the main microprocessor—dedicated to the acceleration of 3D rendering. From year to year, the graphics processors being introduced are increasing in power at a phenomenal rate. The result is that the graphics for computer games can be more dazzling than ever before.

Microsoft's Direct3D team has the challenging job of delivering an API to software developers that lets them take full advantage of this technology. Given the incredible rate of innovation by the graphics companies, this process of keeping up with the state of the art is a continuous one. Making the API easy to use—yet totally flexible and lightning fast—has always been the key goal. With each version, Direct3D gets more efficient and powerful. Sometimes adding a feature (such as automatic texture management) simply makes life easier for the programmer. Other features (such as stencil buffers) require additional understanding and code from the programmer, but the result is more freedom to create realistic, immersive game worlds.

In this book, Peter Kovach provides an excellent introduction to the Direct3D API that will help you learn how to use 3D graphics technology like a pro. He also shows how to use the related DirectX APIs for input and networking to write a complete game. Making a game that's fun to play is still up to you, but with a solid understanding of the power of Direct3D, you'll be well on your way.

Michael Anderson

DirectX SDK Team