Effects

Microsoft?Direct3D?provides features for creating complex and visually realistic 3-D scenes. Effects, for example, are a collection of rendering techniques that can be used by a variety of hardware devices. An effect file helps you write an application that takes full advantage of the rendering capabilities of the hardware on which the application runs.

Effects contain one or more techniques, and each technique contains one or more passes. Because effect files are text-based, they can be changed without recompiling the source application. This enables you to program games that make optimum use of video card functionality. Effect files also make it easy to upgrade an existing game to run on newer video cards as additional features are developed.

For more information about effect files, see Effect Reference.

Assembly Language Effects

Examples creating assembly language effects are shown in these two sections.

• Create an Effect
• Multiple Techniques
• Getting and Setting Effect Values
• Assembly Language Effects

Here is an example from the Microsoft DirectX?Meltdown 2001 conference, Programmable Shader Workshop.

• Exercise 1 - 1a. Fixed Function Diffuse Lighting and 1b. Vertex Shader Diffuse Lighting.

High Level Language Effects

Effects can also be created using a high-level language. If you want to write shaders in a C-like language, see High-Level Shader Language.

• High-Level Language Effects