Send E-Mail

Free C# DirectX Control

Download C# DirectX Control and Source Code (version 10)
See copyright notice at the bottom of this page.

This is a managed DirectX control I wrote as a base to make C# DirectX applications easier to write.  Just create a form, plop down the control, write a draw function, and voila - you're in business. 

The Direct3d class sets up the DirectX device, and is responsible for maintaining and drawing all of the visible Direct3d controls.  It can resize itself to fit the form or it can go to full screen mode.  Use the DxLoaded event to create your AutoMesh's, AutoTexture's, and AutoVertexBuffer's.  Use the DxRender3d event to draw your scene.  Changing from windowed to full screen mode is as simple as setting the DxFullScreen property to true.

The AutoMesh, AutoTexture, AutoVertexBuffer, and AutoIndexBuffer classes manage the DirectX objects so that you don't have to recreate them when the device is lost and restored.

Report bugs, and fixes to me (see my e-mail address on the left).

NOTE: Compile the project before viewing the form in the designer.  Otherwise the designer can't display the form with the DirectX control, and gives you an error. 

Classes:

Direct3d: The main direct3d control.  You can have multiple direct3d controls on multiple forms.

AutoMesh: Wrapper for a mesh object.  This class saves and restores mesh data when the device is lost or restored.

AutoTexture: Wrapper for a texture object.  This class saves and restores texture data when the device is lost or restored.

AutoVertexBuffer: Wrapper for a vertex buffer object.  This class saves and restores vertex data when the device is lost or restored.

AutoIndexBuffer: Wrapper for an index buffer object.  This class saves and restores index buffer data when the device is lost or restored.

Color32: Light weight wrapper for storing colors.  Quick conversion to/from int and System.Drawing.Color.  Has support for software alpha blending (see Fade function).

VertexTypeXXXX: VertexType helper classes (struct's) as follows:
    VertexTypeP: Position only
    VertexTypePC: Position, color (diffuse)
    VertexTypePT: Position, texture
    VertexTypePCT: Position, color, texture
    VertexTypePN: Position, Normal
    VertexTypePNC: Position, Normal, Color
    VertexTypePNT: Position, Normal, Texture
    VertexTypePNCT: Position, Normal, Color, Texture (not yet tested)

Events and Properties of Direct3d:

DxAutoResize: When true, the control auto resizes to fill the whole form. Setting this back to false leaves the control the size of the whole form.  NOTE: This should only be set to true when the form is the main window of a game, and there are no other controls on the form.  (ie. don't do what I did in the example).  Otherwise other controls on the form could cause problems. 

DxFullScreen: Get/Set full screen mode. In full screen mode, the form that this control is on is expanded to the full screen, and the Direct3d control is also expanded. The menu is removed. When returning to windowed mode, the form, control, and menu is restored. You shouldn't have more than one control set to full screen at any given time. WARNING: Any forms owned by the parent form of this control are unlinked (ChildForm.Owner = null) when switched to full screen mode. This is done to prevent a child form from blocking the user input since the form wouldn't normally be visible.

DxSimulateFullScreen: When true, full screen mode is simulated in a window that is expanded to fit the whole screen. This allows dialogs to be displayed on top of the Direct3D device. This property is automatically set to true if the video card runs out of video memory when the DxBackBuffer count is 1.  Changing this property does not automatically recreate the device.  Call DxForceDeviceUpdate() to force the setting to take effect.  WARNING: Any forms owned by the parent form of this control are unlinked (ChildForm.Owner = null) when switched to full screen mode. This is done to prevent a child form from blocking the user input since the form wouldn't normally be visible.

Dx: Returns the DirectX device. Do not store this, as it can change. The DirectX device is NULL until the control is loaded, and is NULL if there was an error.

DxLoaded: Occurs once after DirectX has been initialized for the first time.  Setup AutoMesh's, AutoTexture's, and AutoVertexBuffer's in this event.

DxRestore: Occurs when a new DirectX device has been initialized. We don't have control over when this may happen.  You can restore your DirectX objects here, but you don't need to do anything with AutoMesh's, AutoTexture's, or AutoVertexBuffer's.

DxLost: This event is called whenever DirectX decides to toss our surfaces.  You don't need to use this event if you always use the Auto classes.

DxResizing: Occurs when the surface is resized.

DxRenderPre: Occurs before 3d rendering. When this event is used, you must manually clear the screen (use dx.Clear).

DxRender3d: Occurs when it is time to render 3d objects. Place all 3d drawing code in this event.

DxRender2d: Occurs after Render3d, to draw 2d graphics over the 3d scene.  Provides a System.Drawing.Graphics for drawing over the scene using GDI.  There is a speed penalty when using this event.

DxMouseRay: Returns a ray that represents the last mouse position in world coordinates.  This can be used along with Geometry.SphereBoundProbe to see if the mouse is hovering over an object.

Helper Functions:

AutoMesh.LoadFromXFile: Loads a mesh (and any textures it refers to) from an X file.  The textures are assumed to be in the same directory as the X file.  NOTE: The AutoMesh assumes it owns the textures, so AutoMesh.Dispose() calls AutoTexture.Dispose() on all of the subtextures.  Aside from that, AutoMesh and AutoTexture are independent entities.

AutoMesh.Draw: Draw all subsets of the mesh with the mesh texture.  Optionally use the material included with the mesh (loaded from the X file).

AutoMesh.BoundingBox: Returns the bounding box of the given mesh, and caches the result for quick response on subsequent calls.

AutoMesh.BoundingSphere: Returns the bounding sphere of the given mesh, and caches the result for quick response on subsequent calls.

AutoMesh.BoundingSphereMin: Returns the smaller of the bounding box or bounding sphere, and caches the result for quick response on subsequent calls.  For some reason, DirectX doesn't always return the smallest (or even a small) bounding sphere.  This function comes closer, even though it's not perfect.

AutoMesh.GetVertices: Returns an array<Vector3> of all the vertices in the mesh, and caches the result for quick response on subsequent calls.  This can be useful for hit detection.

AutoMesh.Clone: Clone a mesh and all the textures it uses, optionally changing the format.

AutoTexture.Clone: Clone a texture, optionally changing the format.

About Main() and the "Render Loop":

You can use the default Main() function generated by Visual C# Express.  Upon initialization, the DirectX control sets up a thread which sends your application a message whenever a new frame needs to be rendered.  The frame is presented by this thread.  Your windows application thread is never blocked by DirectX.

Loader Lock Exception:

If you are creating your project from scratch, you might get a Loader Lock exception when debugging in the IDE.  The workaround is to disable the LoaderLock exception from the Debug... Exceptions.. Managed Debugging Assistants menu.  WARNING: See my next comment below!

Versions:

Version 10, Feb 3, 2007: 1) Better handling of the OutOfVideoMemoryException.  The control now detects this situation and tries to reduce video memory usage, first by using a BackBufferCount of one, and then by simulating the full screen mode in windowed mode.   2) The DxFullScreen property now switches screen modes immediately provided it is not changed from the the render function and the control has been initialized.  3) Added DxSimulateFullScreen property which allows you to mix full screen mode with other forms and windows.  4) The control detects if it is running inside the Visual Studio designer, and won't run.  This prevents the control from crashing the visual studio designer. 5) Added a short delay at startup (debug mode only) to prevent visual studio from hanging when debugging.  6) Other misc. changes.

Version 9, 6-16-2006: Replaced debug DLL with retail DLL.  Ooops!

Version 8, 5-30-2006: Multi-Threaded for completely non-blocking UI thread.  Synchronizes to monitor refresh (VSYNC) in windowed mode.  Upgraded to April 2006 DirectX SDK.  Fixed hibernation/logout bug.  Fixed (very rare) DirectX setup bug.

Version 7, 11-19-2005: Fixed bug when user shrinks window too much with DxAutoResize set to true.  In full screen mode the control always grabs the focus to prevent other "invisible" controls from steeling it.  Removed debug code because Visual C# Express can debug exceptions correctly.  NOTE: Former versions of this control used a modified Main() function which did not call SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault.

Version 6a, 11-13-2005: Control upgraded for non beta version of .NET 2.0 and latest release of DirectX SDK (October 2005).

Version 5, 10-23-2005: When switching from full screen mode to a maximized window, the form size now accounts for the windows task bar and screen flicker is reduced.

Version 4, 10-19-2005: Added support for mesh subsets with different textures.  Added AutoMesh.LoadFromXFile.  Added mesh viewer to sample code.  Changed ComputeBoundingBox and ComputeBoundingSphere to BoundingBox and BoundingSphere.  Added BoundingSphereMin function.

Version 3, 09-13-2005: Added Color32 class.  Added alpha to sample.

Version 2, 09-05-2005: Added AutoVertexBuffer and AutoTexture example code.

Version 1, 09-04-2005: Initial version.
 

Copyright Notice:

Some portions of this control are copyright by Microsoft.  All other parts are released with the following copyright notice:

Copyright (C) 2005 by Jeremy Spiller. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE  IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.