Overview of Direct3D 11

책 정보 : 실용 Direct3D 11 렌더링 & 계산 (Jason Zink, Matt Pettineo, Jack Hoxley 저 | 류광 역)

Direct3D Framework

Direct3D 11

• Native API (Application Programming Interface), used to render an image by controlling and linking the computer's video hardware.
• Native code : written in the "native" machine language of the computer that is running on and is executed directly by the processor.

 

Graphic Architecture

• Application
  • Mainly interacts with Direct3D in the uppermost position.
  • Control how data is presented to an output.
  • Provide high-level contents. (image, text, animation, etc...)
• Direct 3D runtime module
  • Convert high-level contents to the form which user mode driver can translate.
  • Generate the command for GPU with user mode driver.
• DXGI (Microsoft DirectX Graphics Infrastructure)
  • Handle low-level communication with the kernel mode driver.
  • Manage available hardware resources.
• Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM)
  • Virtualize video resources so that all applications can share them.

Layout of DXGI (Microsoft DirectX Graphics Infrastructure)

 

Resource

Types of the Resource

• Texture : Classified in dimensions.
• Buffer : Classified as content or purpose.

 

Where to use Resources

• C/C++ : Generate resources and connect or detach them to the right place on the pipeline.
• HLSL : Manipulate or consume the contents of resources.

 

Resource View

• Objects required to bind resources to pipelines.
• Types of resource view
  • Render Target View, RTV
  • Depth Stencil View, DSV
  • Shader Resource View, SRV
  • Unordered Access View, UAV

 

Direct3D Interface

Device

• Used to create and link resources.
• Supply of various resources to be used in the application program.
• Provide several methods for resource generation.
• Provide several methods for diagnosis and debugging.
• Feature level encapsulation : executable in hardware consisting of previous versions of features

 

Device Context

• Used to bind a device-generated resource or object to a pipeline.
• Control the execution of rendering pipelines and calculating pipelines.
• Two types of context support for multithread rendering
  1. Immediate Context
     • An interface for direct interaction with all components of the pipeline.
     • Only one immediate context is available in one application.
     • Must be used as the top priority for GPU on the main rendering thread.
  2. Deferred Context
     • Provide a mechanism to safely record commands sent by secondary threads.
     • Create a command list object and play it on the main thread later.

 

Direct3D Basics

Interfacing with Direct3D

• Component Object Model, COM
  • Standards and servicves at the binary level that allow software components made in different languages to be shared and intergrated with other software.
  • The interface does not change.
  • Independent on programming langauge.
  • External program can access to methods of COM components, not COM data (security assurance)
• Reference Counting
  • Manage the lifetime of COM objects.
  • Return a reference to the object when Direct3D creates a COM object.
  • Both application and Direct3D 11 can share objects with multiple references.
  • After using up the object, the method to release must be called.
• Interface Query
  • IUnknown::QueryInterface()
  • A query method providing the additional interfaces that an object is implementing.
  • Parameter : UUID (universal unique identifier), Pointer
    1. UUID : the identifier of the interface.
    2. Pointer : appropriate reference when an object implements the corresponding interface, which increase the reference counter of the object.
  • An interface for debug or a DXGI interface from a device.
• HRESULT
  • Success (S_OK) or failure (E_FAIL) as a return value of the method call.

// The example of HRESULT
HRESULT hr = m_pDevice->CreateBlendState(&Config, &pState);
if (FAILED(hr))
{
    Log::Get().Write(L"Failed to create blend state!");
    return(-1);
}

 

Application Requirements

• Swap Chain
  
  • A set of frame buffers sequentially connecting a front buffer and back buffers on which rendering is performed.
  • Frame buffer : a buffer that temporarily stores image information to appear on the screen.
  • Front buffer : the frame buffer that is currently being displayed on the screen.
  • Back buffer : the frame buffer where rendering occurs. (render target)

The image of explaining the Swap Chain

• Presentation
  • Transferring the contents of back buffer to front buffer.
  • Types of presentation
    1. Flipping
       • A hardware method of swapping the front buffer and back buffer.
       • Fast because only the memory address is changed.
    2. Blit
       • Copy the back buffer to the front buffer.
       • Used for advanced technologies using post processing.
• Initialize the application : create a Win32 window to display the results of rendering operation.
• Device and device context creation : create a swap chain object and the device

HRESULT D3D11CreateDeviceAndSwapChain(
	IDXGIAdapter *pAdapter, 
	D3D_DRIVER_TYPE DriverType, 
	HMODULE Software,
	UNIT Flags,
	const D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL *pFeatureLevels,
	UINT FeatureLevels,
	UINT SDKVersion,
	const DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC *pSwapChainDesc,
	IDXGISwapChain **ppSwapChain,
	ID3D11Device **ppDevice,
	D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL *pFeatureLevel,
	ID3D11DeviceContext **ppImmediateContext
);

• Resource creation
  • Create resources, shader objects, and state objects to be used in rendering operation.
  • All Direct3D resources should be created at the initialization.
  • All pipeline components should be created in advance.
• Application loop
  • Message processing : occurs in the specified callback function when creating the application window.
  • Update : change the status of the application.
  • Rendering
    1. Bind render target view and depth-stencil view to the pipeline.
    2. Empty resource view for rendering path. (clear)
    3. Perform practically rendering.
• Display the results in the window : display the contents of the buffer containing the rendering result in the client area of the window.
• The process of terminating the application : release the objects or resources created by the application program

A lifecycle of applications