No matter whether we've got a low end or high end system, we all expect the realtime 3D revolution to continue until we achieve near parity with reality. The push forward is backed by many factors including pure hardware performance and brilliant advances in techniques for better approximating what we see. But there's another side to the equation beyond just hardware and developers: there is the graphics API.
Unlike CPUs, graphics hardware (GPUs) do not have a common instruction set upon which tools and software can be built. In order to get the power of the hardware out to the public, we need a common interface that works no matter what GPU is underneath. It's left to the graphics hardware designer to take the code generated by this application programming interface (API) and translate it into something that their chip can use. Because it's the developer's single point of contact, the graphics API is incredibly important. It defines how much flexibility programmers have in using hardware and shapes the world of high performance realtime 3D graphics.
Some of the key work done through the graphics API is taking descriptions of 3D objects in a 3D world, sending those objects and other resources to the hardware, and then telling the hardware what to do with them. There is sort of a step by step process that needs to be followed that we generally call a pipeline. Graphics API pipelines have stages where different work is done. Here's the general structure of a 3D graphics pipeline:
First vertex data (information about the position of the corners of shapes) is taken in and processed. Then those shapes can then be further manipulated and re-processed if needed. After this, 3D objects are broken down from 3D shapes by projecting them into 2D fragments called pixels (this step is called rasterization), and then these pixels are each processed by looking up texture information and using lighting techniques and so on. When pixels are finished processing, they are output and displayed on the screen. And that's the mile high overview of how 3D graphics work.
For the past dozen years (it seems longer doesn't it?), we've seen makers of 3D graphics hardware accelerate two very prominent APIs: OpenGL and DirectX.
We recently touched on advancements tangential to OpenGL in our OpenCL article, but today our focus will be on DirectX. Microsoft's DirectX graphics API is much more heavily used in game engines than OpenGL, in a large part because DirectX tends to move much more quickly and sets the bar for both the hardware and DirectX in terms of feature set and flexibility. That always makes upcoming versions of DirectX exciting to talk about: they define the future capabilities of hardware and expose improved tools to developers. Upcoming DirectX versions are glimpses into our graphical future. Currently we have a lot of DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 games available and in development, but DirectX 11 looms on the horizon.
As usual, Microsoft will be trying to time the release of their next DirectX revision with the release of compatible graphics hardware. As with last time, DirectX 11 will also be released with Windows 7. With the Windows 7 Beta already under way, we expect the OS to be done some time this year.
Microsoft has been rather aggressive with Windows 7 scheduling in light of the rejection of Vista, so it appears they are stepping up to the plate to get everything out sooner rather than later. There was a little more than 4 years between the release of DirectX 9 and DirectX 10. As it hit the streets with Vista in January of 2007, DirectX 10 has just turned 2 and we are already anticipating it's replacement in the very near future. As we will learn, this speedy transition should be very good for DirectX 11 adoption as DirectX 10 hasn't even become pervasive yet: many games are still DirectX 9 only.
But let's take a closer look at what we are talking about before we go any further.
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DerekWilson - Saturday, January 31, 2009 - link
These figures include "shipped" versions of Vista that people chose to downgrade to XP. It includes systems that came preinstalled, even the "vista capable" systems that people might have chosen to replace with another OS out of the box or after it didn't deliver what they expected.No Vista isn't as bad now as it was at first, but that first impression really does matter and significantly affected DirectX10 adoption, development efforts, perception, and all sorts of things that have a lasting impact on the entire industry.
Also, MS designed DX10 to be tied to the WDDM when they didn't need to in order to expose functionality for developers to use the new features of hardware. They didn't need to do this at all, and we could have had DX10 and DX11 on XP if MS hadn't wanted to push sales of Vista through needless requirements that tied future versions of DirectX to it.
michal1980 - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
Vista bigger problem was Image. It started a bit rocky, and by the time it was 'fixed' people allready wrote it off. M$ was/is smart enough to know a damaged brand, and instead of releasing Vista Sp2, they slapped a new name on it.I do have a bit of a chip on my should about win7, from what I read, i'd love to upgrade.
But good lord, I own 2 ultimate, and 3 home preimum licenses. I hope M$ has some nice deals for vista users, because i'm going to feel a bit ripped of having an OS with a 2 year life span.
frozentundra123456 - Sunday, February 1, 2009 - link
I agree that it is a ripoff to have an OS with such a short life span. Is the "planned obsolescence" in the worst form??LeStuka - Saturday, January 31, 2009 - link
I read somewhere that Vista Ultimate owners will get a free/reduced price upgrade.. Not sure how reputable that is (my memory is a bit hazy on it) but is defiantely worth some research.marsbound2024 - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
Let me start off by saying I was enthralled by this article. Very well detailed and well explained. There were a few occasions, however, where I wished for more explanation (or maybe my eyes skipped over an explanation you might have provided earlier in the article). I will admit, I am not as highly inclined on software as many people might be here. I am a great deal more interested in hardware usually, but when it comes to APIs such as DirectX and operating systems and their features such as Windows 7, then I am usually engrossed in those. What exactly are LODs and what is OOP constructs and what is HLSL? Now admittedly I can use Google to find all of this out, but it would be nice to have this consolidated into your article (if it was, but my eyes skimmed over that part, then I apologize; though I read your article pretty much word for word).There are a few grammatical errors such as instead of "that" you put "than" or maybe it was "then" and you said "a architectures" or something to that effect. This doesn't really matter but I thought I'd throw that out there.
I'd really like to know if the upcoming generation GPUs in June/July will make use of DirectX11? I suppose this depends on how quickly Microsoft can a good, full-featured SDK out there, perhaps. Also, albeit a bit off-topic, but any thoughts on when Windows 7 might be released to consumers? Are we still thinking later this year in time for the holiday season or the old Microsoft "by the first quarter of 2010" or whatever it was (i.e.: January possibly)?
DerekWilson - Saturday, January 31, 2009 - link
Sorry about leaving out some definitions there ... I went back and added in some explanation of what HLSL and OOP stand for and what LOD is.We suspect that the first round of hardware that comes out after Windows 7 is available will support DX11 ... We haven't had confirmation on that from either vendor yet, but that's our strong feeling at this point.
michal1980 - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
Author just seems to have a huge chip on his shoulder.good article, that quite frankly left a bad taste in my mouth because of the unexplained, and un-needed vista bashing
tommy2q - Saturday, January 31, 2009 - link
vista 64 bit has been great for me. it's faster than xp pro on my computer and more stable.DerekWilson - Friday, January 30, 2009 - link
I don't have a problem explaining myself, I just thought it was unnecessary -- I apologize.It's not that I have a chip on my shoulder, it is simply a fact that Vista had and has problems that caused issues with the uptake of DX10. It's not a personal problem, it's just information.
First, obviously an OS upgrade was required to get DX10. People were turned off to this idea because of initial problems that were resolved after a period of time. But much damage was done.
For the first year of it's life, many drivers and applications were unstable and buggy, especially sound and graphics and especially under 64-bit Vista. MultiGPU support had its own problems, but that's a whole other barrel of monkeys. When SP1 hit most of our problems were resolved.
Performance for many tasks are decreased under Vista, though, again, much of this has been fixed. But the problem is that uptake of Vista was damaged because of this, especially among hardcore gamers and especially because there weren't any DX10 only titles or Vista only titles that were compelling (and no, Lost Planet was not compelling). Also, in cases like Crysis, DX10 incurs a huge performance hit and many gamers prefer to run DX9 anyway for the higher performance.
OS X also made huge strides and is a terrific OS. For usability, people have started to realize they had a choice in large part because Vista failed at the beginning to deliver what it promised. And choice is good.
MS recognized that they had a problem and implemented and extended again and again downgrade options to Windows XP for customers who were unsatisfied with Vista. They have significantly invested in and sped up development on Windows 7 in order to deliver an option that will regain customer interest. They've also dumped tons of money into ad campaigns like mojave and seinfeld.
Vista is not a failure in terms of total sales or market penetration as compared to other pieces of software, but it absolutely is compared to other major milestone MS OS releases. They needed to deliver a WinXP and they delivered a WinME ...
The degree to which people hung on to XP and the problems with Vista have certainly caused a delay in a full transition to DX10 programming by game developers.
Vista failed to be truly viable vehicle for pushing forward graphics technology on the whole not because it totally sucks, is lame, or any one person doesn't like it. It failed on its merits because it didn't come out of the gate as strong as it needed to be.
Certainly many developers have done some cool things with DX10. Which is great. But building a platform where people like the Beta more than their current stable OS is a good start to getting people interested in dropping Vista for Windows 7 and inspiring hold outs to finally move from Windows XP to Windows 7.
I wasn't trying to "bash" vista. I feel like I was just calling it like it is.
archer75 - Saturday, January 31, 2009 - link
All of the "problems" with Vista you mentioned actually aren't even Microsoft's or Vista's fault. Drivers are applications are the responsibilities of 3rd parties. It is they who dropped the ball. Most companies grew up with XP and that is what people learned to write drivers and apps for. With the necessary change to the driver model in Vista these people had to learn a new way of writing drivers. A necessary change but it took time.Also everything that SP1 fixed, was fixed long before SP1. All of those updates were available on the knowledge base. All SP1 did was put them in one neat little package. People like myself had those updates long before SP1.
I also run x64 and have since beta. My system has had quality drivers on day 1 and I never had any stability issues either.
Obviously an OS upgrade was required for DX10. And why wouldn't it be? Do you give away all of your new features in your old products? What company does that? You put new features in new products. Apple does this. Hell, ilife 09 is leopard only. They force you to upgrade regularly.