\Managed DirectX and XNA Framework news
A couple of Managed DirectX projects I came across on codeproject.com
Xblog.org has a couple of beginning tutorials up. So far we have the obligatory "How to set up the device" and the beginnings of one on playing samples. They have promises of higher level tutorials such as terrain rendering. Of interest is the fact they are using #Develop as their IDE.
Looks like Steve is no newcomer to Managed DirectX. He's part of a team that wrote a Managed DirectX graphics engine as part of an entry to the 2004 imagine cup. I'm going to contact them and find out more details but the team has a website, a video here and a white paper for you to browse.
Steve Lanuit has converted the C++ HLSL Skinned Mesh sample to C# and Managed DirectX. He's made the source code available on his blog.
I often see questions on the newsgroups and forums about the best way to ensure that people have the correct runtimes including DirectX and the managed components. Well Microsoft has a new SDK called the "Microsoft Component Installer Software Development Kit (Spring 2005)" which handles all of this for you.
I've had a quick look through the user guide and it looks like you just include a 1.2Mb EXE as part of your packaging (Web or Media) and optionally the components you need (though it will download from the web if you don't) and it handles everything for you. Nice !
Drop me a line if you try this and let me know how it goes
Small change to the home page today. I realised that the home page was getting very large since it has all of the articles ever published on there. So from now on the home page will just show items from the past 30 days. The categories on the left will still show all items in those categories. I will soon be adding some controls so people can go back and find the old news.
Also, if there are any google experts out there I would love to know why I don't appear in google when you search for Managed DirectX (I've looked through the first 20 or so pages of results). I am on the 1st or 2nd page in all of the other major engines. My page rank is 5 which is higher than several of the other sites that show on page 1 and I'm now linked from MSDN so hopefully that helps but still I don't show. Any help is appreciated. I have heard that having a large home page doesn't help, hence today's update.
Jason has merged his blog and Managed World into a single site. He *used* to have lots and lots of managed DirectX stuff, general gaming stuff and other interesting little tid-bits, but until he moves the content you will have to read his old blog.
I'm not sure what happened to the series about the 2d scroller game, everyone should email him and encourage him to move those to the new site.
Jason's Interview with Tom Miller has also changed location.
Coding4Fun posted the second part of my Adding Textures article. However there are a couple of problems. Some of the links are not pointing correctly to the article. It can be found here. Also the code has been packaged into an MSI file which cannot cope with the () characters. So I've put a copy up on The ZBuffer until they fix it.
FredM has a post on Channel9 regarding some sample Managed DirectX code that generates and renders a nebula. Looks very nice. Code runs under VC# express 2005 and as an added bonus it renders to a panel on a winform which is an FAQ from the newsgroups.
Thanks Mykre
Part 2 of Derek's series is now live on Coding4Fun
The series:
Apologies for breaking my regular pace of updates. I've been putting together the next part of the texturing tutorial for Coding4Fun and there is only so much time I have spare between the paid job and the unpaid job. Normal service is now being resumed.
The first confirmed device to support Managed Direct3D is the Dell Axim x50v. See the announcement.
Any Dell readers out there who want to let me into the beta testing program? I already have the hardware so it won't cost you anything.
There is some speculation on my part. Though it looks like Dell will upgrade the entire x50 line I am guessing that only the x50v will support D3Dm since its the only one with the GPU (see Dell Comparison chart - scroll down to highlights). Here the spec on the chip that dell use. For those of you interested Tom's hardware has an article on that chip (it has its origins in the Sega Dreamcast - fascinating). The competition is the ATI Imageon 2300 and NVidia GoForce 4800/4500 competition. I'm not sure which handhelds have the competing chips in and will have WIndows Mobile 5.0 support so for now its just Dell to look forward to.
Its only been one day since the announcement and Casey over at Brains-n-brawn has screen shots of code samples (From Tom's book and Craig's wiki) and Nasa WorldWind running on Mobile Managed Direct 3D. This is way cool!
You may have seen Windows Mobile 5.0 was announced at MEDC yesterday. As we previously announced on The ZBuffer this release is of great interest because of the new DirectX APIs. Right now there doesn't appear to be a lot of information on what devices will support it and when but you can be sure we will announce it right here.
Some items of interest on MSDN:
Well its not Managed DirectX, but lots of people writing games in managed code want to keep all of the code in C# (Or VB.Net or your language of choice). So its great to read about a new game physics book from Apress that has source code in C#. The book text itself is in Java apparantly but the source, which is available online, is also in C# and C.
Physics for Game Programmers, Buy it at Amazon, Source Code (as always please consider buying the book if you find it useful, the authors put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this and a couple of $$ encourages them to write more).
Thanks David for the link.
For the most part I've avoided the personal posts but I've had a few beers so time for some blog credits. Tonight I spent some quality bar time with Steve (from Seattle) and Tom (visiting from England). So if you want some non DirectX blogs to read there are non finer.
I fixed up the VB.Net sample files so that they load correctly in VB.Net 2005 (Express included). Get them here.
