About Direct3D Immediate Mode

Direct3D is designed to enable world-class game and interactive three-dimensional (3-D) graphics on a computer running Microsoft® Windows®. It provides device-dependent access to 3-D video-display hardware in a device-independent manner. Direct3D is a drawing interface for 3-D hardware.

Direct3D has two modes: Immediate Mode and Retained Mode. Retained Mode is a high-level 3-D API for programmers who require rapid development or who want the help of the Retained Mode built-in support for hierarchies and animation.

Direct3D Immediate Mode is a low-level 3-D API that is ideal for developers who need to port games and other high-performance multimedia applications to the Windows operating system. Immediate Mode is a device-independent way for applications to communicate with accelerator hardware at a low level. Direct3D Retained Mode is built on top of Immediate Mode.

These are some of the advanced features of Direct3D:

• Switchable depth buffering (using z-buffers or w-buffers)
• Flat and Gouraud shading
• Multiple light sources and types
• Full material and texture support, including mipmapping
• Robust software emulation drivers
• Transformation and clipping
• Hardware independence
• Full support on Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 2000
• Support for the Intel MMX architecture

Developers who use Immediate Mode instead of Retained Mode are typically experienced in high-performance programming issues and may also be experienced in 3-D graphics. Your best source of information about Immediate Mode is the sample code included with this SDK; it illustrates how to put Direct3D Immediate Mode to work in real-world applications.