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Learning DirectX

Started by dinotrack Apr 8, 2002 at 5:44 PM 12 replies 600+ views

Original Post

Apr 8, 2002 at 5:44 PM

I''ve been going through the NeXe and Drunken Hyena DirectX tutorials, and I am getting a decent understanding of the code. However, I find it difficult to actually learn this way, and I usually end up just copy and pasting their code into my projects. I think learning from a book might be the way to go. I was considering either Special Effects Game Programming with DirectX 8.0, or Programming Role-Playing Games with DirectX. From what I understand, both of these books provide a good introduction to DirectX. One thing that concerns me though, I do not want to rely on using the author''s library/wrappers, I want to learn enough to write my own. Which of these books, or others, would you recommend? Do you have any other tips/suggestions for learning DirectX?

Muzlack

Apr 8, 2002 at 8:25 PM

Well, I liked Windows Game Programming for Dummies. But, I didn''t entirely rely on that code. I also looked at Teach yourself DirectX 7 in 24 hours and I quickly constructed a very in-depth and easy to use sprite engine. But, then again, it looks like you are interested in dx8, which doesn''t do directdraw stuff, but I liked this book.

dinotrack

Author

dinotrack

Apr 9, 2002 at 8:59 AM

Thanks for the help (except for that last AP). I will probably get the Special Effects book first, and possibly the Role Playing one after that if I feel I need it. Yes, I''m only interested in DX 8, so I wouldn''t really be interested in those other books.

PiXeLatiOn

Apr 9, 2002 at 1:40 PM

Anonymous i don''t undestand why ogl dudes think dx won''t survive! DirectX is being developed by microsoft.Microsoft gave lots of money to develop it and will continue untill directX dominates.The dx team is working close with all hardware leading industries.It is well known that the new nVIDIA graphic cards support more features in DirectX than OpenGl.Also, u think linux will survive against windows? haha! Don''t forget that most people out there aren''t developers.All n00bs need a good enviroment (buttons,scrollbars) and all these nice things that windows enviroment offers.If there is going to be a change in the OS this will come from Microsoft.

~The fastest polygons are those you don''''t draw...~

russian-bear

Apr 9, 2002 at 3:48 PM

''Pixelation'' i totaly agree with you!
But what does that has to do with hes question....? Ehhhh.....nevermind.....

And i far as i no, Linux people who say Windows sucks dont realy no what they are talking about and they mostly refer to win3.1 !

IndirectX

Apr 9, 2002 at 4:03 PM

A good way of learning how to use the code is to modify it slightly or not-so-slightly and see how it behaves. For instance, let''s say you have a tutorial that puts a textured cube on screen. Now try to use only one half of the texture to cover the cube. Or, make it so that the whole texture covers only one quarter of the sides. Try using different textures for different parts, or even one texture for the upper half and another for the lower half of the cube. Try different render and texture stage states and see how they affect the cube. Through making these small changes, you might gain the insight into how the code produces what you see on screen.

russian-bear

Apr 9, 2002 at 5:08 PM

Yea ofcaurse you can do what IndirectX'' say but its much simplier if you by a good book on D3D like ''The Zen of D3D'' its a verry good beginners book.

DrunkenHyena

Apr 9, 2002 at 6:43 PM

G''day!

The Zen of D3D will teach you a ton of bad habits. Avoid it. The D3D intro in Special Effects Game Programming With DirectX by Mason McCuskey is a lot better. Jim Adam''s book (RPG Programming, sorry don''t have the book handy for the exact title) also has a very good intro to D3D.

Stay Casual,

Ken
Drunken Hyena

russian-bear

Apr 10, 2002 at 4:37 AM

What bad habits?
Please can you tell me those... i kinda rely on that book...

gerbrost

Apr 10, 2002 at 7:30 AM

Hi!
I am also learning D3d and can also recommend the special effects programming book.
But i think the best lesson i learned on my way is to have a goal in mind when learning. You need a project that you are working on. Develop an idea what your program should be able to do (i did a viewer for ms3d files) and start working.
Read books or work through the tutorials, try to modify them and then try to incorporate the knowledge of theese tutorials into your project.
When you dont do something it is like you said: you do copy and paste and dont remember what you did some days before.
I wish you a lot of success!

darkpunk

Apr 10, 2002 at 11:01 PM

Teaching Yourself DirectX7, will also teach you pretty bad habits since it doesnt teach you how to seperate code and everything gets stuck in your main windows functions. Not good for neat and readible code. It does however explain things nicely and gets you running direct x programs right away which is a great confidence builder. It just is not great for the long run advanced projects.

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