A set of Windows interfaces from Microsoft for programming graphics and sound. Windows developers program to the DirectX APIs, and the manufacturers of sound cards and display adapters write DirectX drivers to be included with their hardware. DirectX provides a high-level interface for accessing low-level functions "directly." It accesses the hardware abstraction layer in Windows (see HAL).
The first DirectX API was introduced in late 1995 to encourage game developers to move their software to Windows. Before DirectX, games for the PC were written in DOS in order to redraw the screen fast enough for real-time animation. To obtain the speed, gaming companies had to write drivers for a variety of display adapters, which was a development headache.
A Single Graphics Interface for Windows
DirectX provides the interface to access the frame buffer and advanced features of the display adapter, which are not provided in the standard Windows GDI graphics interface. When DirectX was introduced, display adapter vendors were quick to develop DirectX drivers that would expose low-level functions of their hardware to the application.
Emulate Graphics Functions in Software
Through the Hardware Emulation Layer (HEL), DirectX is capable of emulating graphics functions in software that are not built into the display adapter (video card). See graphics pipeline.
Which DirectX Version Is Running?
To determine which version of DirectX is installed in your PC, select Run from the Start menu, type in dxdiag and click OK. Look under System Information for the DirectX Version number. See DirectX 10, GDI, video accelerator and DirectSound.
The first DirectX API was introduced in late 1995 to encourage game developers to move their software to Windows. Before DirectX, games for the PC were written in DOS in order to redraw the screen fast enough for real-time animation. To obtain the speed, gaming companies had to write drivers for a variety of display adapters, which was a development headache.
A Single Graphics Interface for Windows
DirectX provides the interface to access the frame buffer and advanced features of the display adapter, which are not provided in the standard Windows GDI graphics interface. When DirectX was introduced, display adapter vendors were quick to develop DirectX drivers that would expose low-level functions of their hardware to the application.
Emulate Graphics Functions in Software
Through the Hardware Emulation Layer (HEL), DirectX is capable of emulating graphics functions in software that are not built into the display adapter (video card). See graphics pipeline.
Which DirectX Version Is Running?
To determine which version of DirectX is installed in your PC, select Run from the Start menu, type in dxdiag and click OK. Look under System Information for the DirectX Version number. See DirectX 10, GDI, video accelerator and DirectSound.
DirectX Interface Purpose DirectDraw 2D graphics Direct3D 3D graphics DirectSound audio DirectSound3D 3D audio (gaming) DirectPlay multi-player control (gaming) DirectInput input device control (gaming) DirectVoice players talk to each other (gaming) DirectShow audio, video, streaming media DirectVideo video (earlier API)
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Fraps 3.0.3 (Windows)
- Fraps is a generic tool for DirectX and OpenGL games. In its current form, it performs many tasks, including benchmarking (see how many frames per second you're getting in a corner of your screen; perform custom benchmarks and measure the frame rate between any two points; save statistics to disk...
- Software downloads 2009-11-22
- D3DGear 3.55 (Windows)
- D3DGear is an advanced DirectX & OpenGL utility. It automatically measures Windows 3D game/application frame rate, and display frame rate on screen. It helps you record 3D game into AVI movie while you are playing game, take multiple screenshots and conveniently save them. D3DGear also is a screenshot capture tool,...
- Software downloads 2009-11-22
- Google's Chrome OS: Will you give up desktop apps?
- I won't ntntI can'tI'm not online 24/7. I need local apps, as does everyone else. Say what you want. But network outages happen... Weather by forces of nature or human error, a network will eventually go down. It's only a matter of time. And knowing Google's past GMail outages, I...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-19
- Radeon HD 5970 - ATI's killer graphics card
- You know what else is impressive?The foot long length of the thing.Alsothe noise level from the leaf-blower coolers to keep this thing from burning your house down.Seriously though, down for getting one, but not till a 3rd party gives us one with some custom cooling options. Although I guess they...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-19
- Microsoft shares a few tidbits on IE9 and (lots) more on Silverlight 4
- Safari? What Safari ? :-)http://www.tgdaily.com/software-features/39495-safari-4-beta-first-browser-to-hit-100-score-in-acid3-testI know, Steve doesn't like Apple but you're supposed to be a journalist? ;-)Google chrome?IE like Microsoft is stumbling around in a new ecosystem in which spending thousands of dollars is not an option.Plus, it locks you into a insecure OS platform with...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-18
- ATI Radeon HD 5970 is world's fastest graphics card
- AMD has just announced today their newest graphics card, the ATI Radeon HD 5970, which they are touting as "the fastest card ever created." Get ready. AMD is proclaiming many firsts with this card. Besides being the fastest, it's the one of the first...
- Blog posts 2009-11-18
- GeForce GT 240 - NVIDIA's sub-$100 DirectX 10.1 graphics card
- Nvidia's work great with Linux distro'sNvidia's cards work great with Linux distro'syou can have compiz desktop and runany game you want.The optimization is amazing!;)Who said anything about loser OSes?This is about OSes that actually offer great gaming experiences to users, not OSes that really want to play where the big...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-17
- GeForce GT 240 - NVIDIA's sub-$100 DirectX 10.1 graphics card
- You can get a lot of power for under $100 when it comes to GPUs nowadays, but NVIDIA have just launched the GeForce GT 240 - decent performance, low power consumption and a decent price. by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
- Blog posts 2009-11-17
- Screenshot Magic 4.0 (Windows)
- Screenshot Magic allows you to make screenshot images from the following sources: Full Desktop, Active Window full or contents only and DirectX Fullscreen games. The user can transform the final image using the simple settings to re-size, flip horizontally or flip vertically. Screenshot Magic also features the ability to mask...
- Software downloads 2009-11-11
- Is Nvidia planning to add X86 compatibility to its chipsets?
- I hope soNVIDIA with x86-64 technology would be Next Big ThingTM, although I'd rather see a new architecture replace the aging x86. 64-bit is just a tack-on feature set of x86. I'd rather see something in line with IA64 from NVIDIA to shake up Intel. I'm sure...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-05
- Axbreeze 1.4 (Windows)
- Axbreeze is a programming library which can be used by beginners and nonprofessionals to develop 2.5D computer games with Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition and DirectX 10.1. Major features: Load images/music/sounds from resource/file/memory; play PCM, MS ADPCM, and xWMA sounds with XAudio2; animate fast sprites in 3D space; render to...
- Software downloads 2009-11-05
- 3DPaintBrush 2.0 (Windows)
- 3DPaintBrush is a real-time and easy-to-use visualization tool that enables you to create near photo-realistic images and videos from your 3D models. You can easily enhance an existing model by adding colors, textures, shaders, background, lighting and camera effects, background environments to create quick yet stunning images. Import 3D models...
- Software downloads 2009-11-04
- Is Microsoft a dinosaur to Google's mammal?
- Random comments...How odd the mixed metaphors sound... "built from the ground up to work in the cloud"...The dinosaurs were around for tens of millions of years, and we mammals can barely say the same. The crown of creation can be wrested from the head of the wearer by something unforeseen--like...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-02
- A visit to Microsoft's first store
- I missed an explanation as to why...I should shop there."Three rows of tables displayed hardware from Dell, HP, Sony and Lenovo."The big chains sell those already. Why would I go to a Windows store to buy Dells, HPs, Sonys and Lenovos, when there are several sources for those same computers...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-30
- n-Track Studio 6.0.6 build 2522 (Windows)
- n-Track Studio is a multitrack recording and editing software with support for realtime effects through DirectX plug-ins (Reverb, Multiband Compression, Chorus, Delay, Pitch Shift, Graphic and Parametric EQ with spectrum analyze effects are included), audio and MIDI tracks, 24 bit soundcards and more. A native 64 bit version is available...
- Software downloads 2009-10-29
- GameEx 10.25 (Windows)
- GameEx is a graphical DirectX based front-end for MAME, Zinc, Daphne, PC games, and all command line based game emulators, along with being a good Home Theatre PC solution HTPC. It has support for LCD/VFD displays, the MCE remote control, game pads, full mouse control, wide screen displays, volume control,...
- Software downloads 2009-10-28
- Windows 7 killer deals commence; 7 days of PC specials, $30 OS upgrade
- That Best Buy deal ain't bad at all......stop Geek Squad at the door take the merchandise pop in the Ubuntu CD's and I'm ready to go. Thanks Win 7 for the cheap hardware.Apple should be offering deals now, tooJust to steal some thunder from the Win 7 (vista 2.0) over-hype.Fanboi...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-22
- Best 'bang for the buck' graphics cards
- No Love for NVIDIA?I'm a little disappointed you only mention one GeForce card as if they can't compete with ATI. I'm sensing either sponsorship or bias, Adrian... but if it's genuinely based on performance, I'd love to see some benchmarking and justification for the claim.They just killed off......half the cards...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-16
- Ventuz 2008 Express R5.18 (Windows)
- Ventuz 2008 Express includes Design, Authoring, Animation and Compositing tools to create state of the art interactive 2D/3D real-time visualizations, installations and presentations. It is a high-end graphical user interface, intuitive to learn and enables creative people to take full advantage of DirectX without having to produce a single line...
- Software downloads 2009-10-14
- Cortona3D Viewer 6.0 (Windows)
- Cortona3D Viewer (ex. Cortona VRML Client) is a fast and highly interactive Web 3D viewer for viewing 3D models on the Web. Cortona3D Viewer works as a VRML plug-in for popular Internet browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox, Google Chrome and so on) and office applications (Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and...
- Software downloads 2009-10-09
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