What is DirectX? DirectX is built by Microsoft as a collection of API’s (Application Programming Interfaces) for the purpose of multimedia processing. Basically it’s a technology which is helpful in creating special visual and audio effects while playing games.

DirectX Architecture The Graphics Device Interface (GDI) is a Windows API and core OS component responsible for representing graphical objects and transmitting them to output devices such as monitors and printers.

DirectX Components DirectXGraphics DirectDraw - A software interface that provides direct access to display devices while maintaining compatibility with the GDI and for transferring video processing from a PC's CPU to the video adapter. Direct3D - An API for manipulating and displaying three- dimensional objects. Developed by Microsoft, Direct3D provides programmers with a way to develop 3-D programs that can use whatever graphics acceleration device is installed in the machine.

DirectX Components DirectInput - provides advanced input for games and processes input from joysticks as well as other related devices including the mouse, keyboard, and force-feedback game controllers. DirectPlay - supports game connections over a modem, the Internet, or LAN. DirectPlay simplifies access to communication services and provides a way for games to communicate with each other, independent of the protocol, or online service. 

DirectX Components DirectXAudio DirectSound - provides a link between programs and an audio adapter's sound mixing, sound playback, and sound capture capabilities. DirectSound provides multimedia software programs with low-latency mixing, hardware acceleration, and access to the sound device. DirectMusic - In combination with DirectSound, DirectMusic provides a complete solution for playing music and sound effects in games and other applications.

DirectX Components DirectShow An architecture for streaming media on a Windows platform. It provides high-quality capture and playback of multimedia streams. Screen Saver, Camera, etc. DirectSetup Extremely simple library of functions for installing DirectX on a machine. It also provides a way to check the version of DirectX that is present.

Version History DirectX 1.0 – Released in late 1995 DirectX 2.0-5.2 – Windows 95 to Windows 98 DirectX 6.0+ - Windows CE, introduced 2 new SDKs (DirectX SDK & DirectX Media SDK) DirectX 7+ - Windows Me, Media SDK merged into DirectX API, DirectX Media deprecated DirectX 8+ - Windows XP & Xbox, DirectDraw & Direct3D merged into DirectX Graphics API DirectSound and DirectMusic merged into DirectX Audio API DirectX 9+ - Windows XP SP2 & Xbox 360; High Level Shader Language (HLSL) • DirectX 10+ - Windows Vista – biggest ever update, no backwards compatibility DirectX 11+ - Windows 7, Win 8, Win 8 RT, Win 8.1

DirectX 12 Goal – Achieve “console – level efficiency” Integration across all Microsoft devices – phones, tablets, laptops, desktops & Xbox Lower level of hardware abstraction  improved multithread scaling & CPU utilization 50-70% improvement in CPU utilization & performance Support for over 70% currently existing video hardware Visual richness through a significant decrease in API-related CPU overhead Synchronization across all Windows platforms

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