Ab3d.DXEngine release candidate (RC4) information and roadmap

Ab3d.DXEngine is currently in release candidate (RC4) version (assembly version 0.9).

The release candidate version is fully functional but will stop working at the end of December 2015 (new versions will be published frequently so do not forget to update)!

I am planning to release the Ab3d.DXEngine in October 2015.

The current version should be feature complete and there are no bigger API changes planned.

On of the goals of the release candidate version is to test the DXEngine on as many computers as possible. To help achieve this goal, this version also conatins the "Ab3d.DXEngine.SystemCheck.exe" application. This applications tests DXEngine on various graphics cards and rendering setting and collects the data in a report txt file that is written to the Desktop. Please run this application on as many different computers as possible. The application have all the required dlls packed inside it so you only need to copy the exe file to another computer to run it. After collecting the reports, please send then to the support@ab4d.com. The report does not include any personal information; also I will handle the reports as confidential and will not shader them with any third parties. Note that DXEngine requires .Net 4.0 so you can leave some older computers in the closet (the system check will not work there).

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Roadmap

Version 1.0 (October 2015):

• Bug fixes
• Improve documentation
• Improve samples
• Add diagnostics tools
• Improved support for using custom shaders
• Test Ab3d.DXEngine on more computers

Version 2.0 (Q2 2016; some features might be released before 2.0 - in 1.x versions):

• Add Shadow rendering
• Add Depth of field
• Add Screen space ambient occlusion
• Add bump map support, environmental map support
• Improve batching of objects to render static (Frozen) models with different colors with one draw call
• Add Pro version with ability to create 3D scene without WPF 3D objects (add DXSceneView, DXVisual3D, DXModel3D, ...)
• Add support for runtime shader compilation and DirectX effects files

Future plans:

• Add hardware accelerated polyline (now only disconnected lines are hardware accelerated)
• Multithreaded initialization
• Multithreaded rendering
• Create standard 3D objects (box, sphere, etc.) directly in DXEngine without Ab3d.PowerToys library
• Support for Universal apps (Windowns 8 & 10 apps)

To learn how to begin using the DXEngine jump to the QuickStart section.