The following sections describe some of the technical concepts you need to understand before you write programs that incorporate 3-D graphics. This is not a discussion of broad architectural details, nor is it an in-depth analysis of specific Direct3D components. (For information about these topics, see Direct3D Immediate-Mode Architecture and Direct3D Immediate-Mode Essentials.)
If you are already experienced in producing 3-D graphics, simply scan the following sections for information that is unique to Direct3D.
Information in this section is divided into the following groups: