TESSELLATION IN GAMES SOFTWARE
TESSELLATION IN GAMES PC

The target component, of course, is the GPU, by far the most parallelised chip inside the PC and potentially the most powerful, if only its resources could be harnessed for general computing.Īt this point, you may sense a whiff of déjà vu in the air. The only really significant requirement is that the task lends itself to parallel processing. Known as Direct Compute, it effectively opens out DirectX, or perhaps more accurately the Direct3D pipeline, to almost any kind of computational task. With the arrival of version 11 comes perhaps the most significant expansion yet for DirectX and the first of three key developments delivered by DX11. Inevitably, as this remit has broadened, so has the scope of DirectX. Over time, the PC's remit has expanded to the point where today it has become arguably the most flexible and adaptable machine on the planet, equally adept at hardcore scientific number crunching as it is keeping the frag-happy teenagers entertained. Consequently, Microsoft works closely with the likes of Nvidia and AMD when developing the next version of DirectX.

TESSELLATION IN GAMES SOFTWARE

These days, it's most commonly associated with the latter, but graphics on the PC is actually only a subset of DirectX, known as Direct3D.Īnyway, along with providing a framework for software developers, DirectX sets the parameters for multimedia tasks on the PC in terms of the hardware definitions for various components, again most notably graphics and sound chips. Its job is essentially twofold.įirstly, it makes it easier for application developers to access the multimedia capabilities of various PC components, including sound and graphics hardware. In simple terms, it's a software layer known specifically in codemonkey jargon as an application programming interface, or API for short.

DirectX 11 cards that won't break the bankīefore we get down to business with details of DirectX 11, let's quickly remind ourselves of what exactly DirectX is and does.

It's ambitious stuff that's been a long time coming.īut with the arrival of Windows 7 and the Radeon HD 5800 series, along with the promise of a rapid uptake by game developers, there's plenty to get excited about.

Not only does it debut a major new rendering technology in tessellation, it also aims to bring general purpose processing on the GPU into the mainstream, all the while delivering a more widely compatible DirectX API than ever before. There's much more to DX11 than the usual tweaks to shader definitions or a spot of funky lighting technology. Certainly, some aspects of DX11 have far wider reaching implications than any previous DirectX API. There are many good reasons to expect that it will bring a big step forward in entertainment on the PC, at least since the concept of programmability appeared in DX8 and quite possibly ever.

Tessellation in games