Text3D Sample

The Text3D sample shows how to draw 2D text in a 3D scene. This is useful for displaying statistics or game menus, for example.

Path

Source: (SDK root)\Samples\C++\Direct3D\Text3D
Executable: (SDK root)\Samples\C++\Direct3D\Bin\x86 or x64\Text3D.exe

User's Guide

The following table lists the keys that are implemented. You can use menu commands for the same controls.

Key Action
ENTER Starts and stops the scene.
SPACEBAR Advances the scene by a small increment.
F2 Prompts the user to select a new rendering device or display mode.
ALT+ENTER Toggles between full-screen and windowed modes.
ESC Exits the application.

Programming Notes

This sample uses ID3DXFont to display 2D text in a 3D scene. The source code for the class is of most interest to this sample. The class uses Microsoft Windows Graphics Device Interface (GDI) to load a font and output each letter to a bitmap. That bitmap, in turn, is used to create a texture.

When the DrawText function is called, a vertex buffer is filled with polygons that are textured using the font texture created as mentioned above. The polygons may be drawn as a 2D overlay which may be useful for printing statistics.