| Microsoft DirectX 8.1 (C++) |
The StencilDepth sample uses stencil buffers to display the depth complexity of a scene. The depth complexity of a scene is defined as the average number of times each pixel is rendered.
Stencil buffers are a depth-buffer technique that can be updated as geometry is rendered, and used again as a mask for drawing more geometry. Common effects include mirrors, shadows (an advanced technique), dissolves, and so on.
Source: (SDK root)\Samples\Multimedia\Direct3D\StencilBuffer\StencilDepth
Executable: (SDK root)\Samples\Multimedia\Direct3D\Bin
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. |
Displaying depth complexity is a valuable tool to analyze the performance of a scene. Scenes with high amounts of overdraw can benefit from some scene optimization such as sorting the geometry in a front-to-back order.
Not all cards support all features for stencil-buffer techniques. Some hardware has no, or limited, stencil buffer-support. For more information on stencil buffers, refer to the Microsoft® DirectX® SDK documentation.
This sample uses common DirectX code that consists programming elements such as helper functions. This code is shared with other samples in the DirectX SDK. You can find the common headers and source code in (SDK root)\Samples\Multimedia\Common.