Components of DirectX Foundation

DirectX Foundation is made up of the following components:

• Direct3D provides a high-level Retained Mode interface that allows applications to easily implement a complete 3-D graphical system, and a low-level Immediate Mode interface that lets applications take complete control over the rendering pipeline. For more information about Immediate Mode, see About Direct3D Immediate Mode. For more information about Retained Mode, which is not part of DirectX Foundation, see Direct3D Retained Mode.
• Direct3D now includes a Direct3DX Utility Library that is a helper layer to simplify common tasks encountered by 3-D graphics developers. See About the Direct3DX Utility Library.
• DirectDraw accelerates hardware and software animation techniques by providing direct access to bitmaps in off-screen display memory, as well as extremely fast access to the blitting and buffer-flipping capabilities of the hardware. For more information, see About DirectDraw.
• DirectInput provides support for every kind of input and force-feedback device. For more information, see About DirectInput.
• DirectMusic works with message-based data and provides a complete system for playing music and DLS-based sound effects with run-time composition and variation. For more information about this component of DirectX, see About DirectMusic.
• DirectPlay makes connecting games over a modem link or network easy. For more information, see About DirectPlay.
• DirectSetup provides a one-call installation procedure for DirectX. For more information, see About DirectSetup.
• DirectSound enables playback of wave sounds and includes support for hardware and software mixing, 3-D positioning, and sound capture. For more information, see About DirectSound.