Problems

I am having some technical problems and can't make posts for a few days. When I am able to I will make a couple posts.

Tutorial seven coming soon

I have finished writing the code for the next tutorial but the actual tutorial is taking a little longer. It should be up soon though. I have gone back to writing a long and short version for this one. Mostly so those who are new to these tutorials can learn from the start. There is a lot to cover in this tutorial, that is why it is taking so long. To let you know what this one is about, it is about drawing a square in 3D and rotate it around the Z axis. It will demonstrate setting up a simple camera and other concepts necessary for rendering a 3D scene.

So stay tuned and the tutorials should be up shortly.

Managed DirectX Tutorial 6

I have finished today's tutorial. In this tutorial I show how to draw a triangle using Managed DirectX. It isn't exactly in 3D yet but I believe you have to start somewhere. There are two ways that you can do this tutorail. You can download the template and type in the additions to the template or you can download the project and just read the tutorial.

There is only one version of the tutorial because everything that I have added is new and deserves explaination. This is where you can find the tutorial.

Managed DirectX Tutorial 6

Direct3D Template

I have finished making the first draft of the template I mentioned yesterday. So instead of starting from scratch each time you will be able to use the template. After you have downloaded the template there is one thing that you have to do. You need to copy it to the following directory:

My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\Project Templates

This is where Visual Studio looks for templates by default. If you have changed the location where Visual Studio looks for template then you will need to put the .zip file in that directory. I will try and have the next tutorial up soon so come back later.

You can find the template here:

Direct3D Template

Sorry about the icon. I will never claim to be an artist. :)

Good news (for me any way)

I was unable to write my tutorial today because I got my laptop back from the shop. The hard drive had to be replaced so I had to spend the evening trying to restore everything. What is going to happen now is I will be starting another blog, one about using Visual C# Express 2008 and XNA Game Studio 3.0. I said in my first post that I was going to do XNA 2.0 but I think that it might be a good idea to use the most current software available. When I manage to get things up and running I will post a link here to the new blog. I will try to post a Starter Kit for the Managed DirectX tutorials that you will be able to download to create the projects that I will be writing so you can just add the new code. I will keep updating the Starter Kit to include the new features that will be added to the projects. I will still be posting the projects if you perfer to just download those and look at the code instead of typing it in.

My next tutorial

I'm sitting here trying to decide what to do next. I know so far these tutorials have not done a lot of drawing. So far all they have done is create blank screens. The question in my mind is what type of drawing should I do. There is 3D and 2D. Both have their merits. There are a lot of 3D games out on the market and I believe they are the most popular. Still 2D games also have their audience as well. I want to write a tutorial that will appeal to the broadest audience possible. What I am thinking is doing an alternating format. 3D one day and then 2D another. 2D is an important aspect that should be considered when making games. A lot of games require text to written to the screen, especially my favorite, role-playing games.

Both systems also have their difficulties. That is why I started out just setting up Direct3D in the first 5 tutorials. Now I will start writing tutorials that render scenes and try to build incrementally on them. Like I mentioned yesterday I will try and write two different tutorials. One for those who haven't done the previous tutorials and one that will start off where the last one had left off.

So stay tuned for the first 3D tutorial. It should be posted soon, maybe even today.

Managed DirectX Tutorial 5

Good news, I found the time to write the tutorial today. Today's tutorial shows how to make a pop-up window in your program using Managed DirectX. I have also written two versions of the tutorial. The first I call the Full Version. In it I describe everything that I am doing for those of you who have not gone through the other tutorials. In the short version I go over things more quickly and try to only explain the things that are different in this tutorial.

This is the full version: Tutorial 5 Full Version

And this is the short version: Tutorial 5 Short Version

And this is the link to the project: DirectX Tutorial 5