Exclusivity to Windows Vista
DirectX10 is exclusive to Windows Vista and is not slated to be supported by any other platform. This will ensure that the next-gen games will be available on Windows Vista before any other platform.
The new display driver or graphics model in Windows Vista, WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model), is the main reason for DirectX10’s exclusivity to the operating system. It may come as a surprise to know that the graphics driver model hasn’t changed much since Windows NT4 – WDDM is the first major revamp of the system and is designed for scaling high-capability graphics.
DirectX10 depends on these improvements in the graphics model and so, it leverages the virtualization and architectural improvements of WDDM, in both the APIs as well as the underlying infrastructure.
Gamer Benefits
DirectX10 offers a wide variety of benefits to gamers. Let’s dive into the details now:
- Greater detail, realistic shadows
Picture 1: DirectX9 (Halo: Combat Evolved)
You can see the difference for yourself when we compare Picture 1, a screenshot taken from ‘Halo: Combat evolved’, a PC game which was among the best of its class at release to Picture 2, an image from ‘Crysis’, a PC game which is slated to release soon. Halo uses DirectX9.0b to support its graphics while Crysis makes use of DirectX10.
DX10 adds a new level of realism to games by making characters more life-like. You can see the incredible detail in the screenshot above. The facial expressions, pockmarks on the face, the handle-bar moustache and the glazed looking eyes all add to the realism.
In DirectX10, the next generation in graphics has arrived.
- Greater detail, realistic shadows
Picture 3: DirectX9
Picture 4: DirectX10
DirectX9 ‘simulates’ detail with techniques like normal mapping while DirectX10 actually increases the amount of detail in game characters and materials. Shown above are two fish, the first, in Picture 3, is rendered using DirectX9 while the second, super-cool looking fella in Picture 4 is rendered in DirectX10. Observe the spikes with respect to the white background (on the silhouette edges), you see that the bumps on the DX10 fish are a lot more pronounced than the ones on the DX9 fish.
DirectX10 also offers more realistic looking shadows. Showcased below, in Picture 5 is a character with its shadow’s volume accentuated. The green light shows just how the shadow is created (depending on the light source) and how the shadow is featured on the ground. On DirectX9, the shadow volume is generated on the CPU, reducing performance for every new shadowed character on-screen whereas in DirectX10, the shadow volume can be generated and rendered entirely on the more-capable GPU.
Picture 5: Shadow Volume (Realistic Shadows)
- Dynamic in-game scenarios
Picture 8 Picture 9
Picture 10
- Motion blurring
Picture 12 Picture 13
For technical details on the above benefits, please visit: http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/
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