what can you do with direct X

[CyberX]

i am new to the concept of making things look good cuz most of my things never worked so someone explain to me what can i do with dx

[danday1974]

Man DX is the dogs.

First of all u need to learn something boring. Basically setting up the hardware after that though its straight into the action.

To simplify matters u usualy draw loads of trinagles to make shapes (e.g. 2 triangles makes a square) These traingles have 3 coords (x,y and z). YOu then stick a bitmap (texture) on the traingles. Doing this you can make a wall for example (if the bitmap was a pic of some bricks).

You then tell DX where to look at and where to look from. These values can be changed to view things from diff angles.

You can also spin stuff, move stuff and scale stuff (make it bigger or smaller).

You can makes lights with ease (if u exclude normals - dont let these put u off).

You can also make 3D objects using 3D applications and import them into your game / graphical app. Again this is easy. Doing this u can use more complex shapes as opposed to flat shapes.

This is the basics, there so more to learn if u wanna get good but just knowing this u could do a hell of a lot.

Gl wiv it

Dan

PS I learnt all the above in about 2 weeks solid work to give u a rough guide.

[Zaei]

You also have to remember that DX does Audio, Multimedia (video and such), Networking, and Input, as well.

Z.

[danday1974]

O yeah forgot abut that stuff. Still gotta learn that .

[CyberX]

were can i find htings to learn it any good books? or anythign free cuz i am broke

[danday1974]

im learning from www.directx4vb.com

[CyberX]

anyhting easier cuz that dosent explain alot BUT it really looks cool i wanna learn DX

[danday1974]

Honest wherever u go it will be scary to start with.

E.g. the first line of code

Dim DX as DirectX8

What does that mean?

I could explain but Ill put u off more. The best thing to do is just start playing with the code on the site. Change a few values here and there to see what they do. Believe me if u do the first section time and time again (code it yourself by copying him) you will be doing it in your sleep after a while, then you will start to understand it. U have to be committed tho, its no good wanting to be good at DX8 if u dont want to sweat a bit

Good luck and work hard at it

Dan

PS It does help a lot if u understand what an object is and what a function is (a function especially). Search the web if u dont know.

[CyberX]

i jsut learned objects becuase before i never needed them now i needed to use something with refrence so i am prety aware now and i know functions too and i do want to learn it so maybe if i rewrite the project around 30 times ill get the idea

[danday1974]

Cool well if u know objects and functions then u'll find it easy enough. Heres that first line of code again.

Dim DX as DirectX8

This will declare the object DirectX8 (pretty much the same as u declare a variable)

Then u create it

Set DX = new directX8

Then u have access to all the functions belonging to the object.

The same goes for all the other objects u create. All u need to know now is what the functions do (thats the time consuming bit).

GL man u'll get it in no time.

[CyberCarsten]

If you are in to C++, Windows Game Programming for Dummies is a brilliant book, that describes everything from the bottom.

[CyberX]

i used to be but for some reason c++ lost me