Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Direct3D 10 Overview

I started working on a Direct3D 10 overview that only covers one page. Here is the latest version.


Please note that this overview has nothing to do with the way the hardware works. It is just a diagram that shows the data flow and the usage of the Direct3D 10 API to stream the data through several logical stages that might be represented in hardware by one unit. If you are interested in the actual hardware design, I would recommend reading

A Closer Look at GPUs

at

5 comments:

  1. sebhDecember 29, 2009 at 3:56 AM

    Wouahou! Sweet! :)

    Some random thoughts:
    - What about early-depth-test when PS do not write to depth buffer? I think you didn't write about it for the sake of clarity.
    - To my optinion, there is one arrow coming out from output merger which can write to (the back buffer OR render targets) AND with optional write to stencil/depth buffers. Actually, I think that some sort of logical operator should be added.

    REM: this is based on my OpenGL knowledge transposed to DX10. thank you for your diagram, It will help me to learn DX10. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. ArayaDecember 29, 2009 at 12:19 PM

    What do the little yellow dots stand for ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wolfgang EngelDecember 29, 2009 at 2:20 PM

    sebh: I will add your comments.
    Araya: the dots are supposed to be footnotes to all the textures on the left. This should manifest the fact that you need a shader view for each texture.
    Updated version is soon available.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousDecember 30, 2009 at 2:27 PM

    Hmm, why not a DX11 diagram instead? Wont fit on one page? :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wolfgang EngelDecember 30, 2009 at 3:15 PM

    I wanted to start with the DX10 version because DX11 is a superset. I hope to have the DX11 version up in the next two days. So far it takes two pages because the DirectCompute interface uses a second page.

    ReplyDelete