direct3D

Direct3D is Microsoft’s 3D graphics API within the DirectX collection, used to render three-dimensional graphics in games and multimedia applications on Windows and Xbox. It provides a GPU-accelerated pipeline with a high-level interface for programmable shading, resource management, and rendering state, enabling developers to create complex visual effects and high-performance graphics.

Direct3D originated in 1996 as part of DirectX and has evolved through several major generations. Direct3D 9 introduced substantial support for the programmable pipeline and shader models, while Direct3D 10 ushered in a unified shader model and a new runtime with a simplified driver model. Direct3D 11 added features such as tessellation, multi-threaded command submission, and compute shaders. Direct3D 12 introduced a low-level API with explicit resource management, command queues, and greater parallelism, designed to extract maximum performance from modern GPUs. The API family also includes DirectX Raytracing (DXR), which brings real-time ray tracing to Direct3D 12.

Shading in Direct3D is driven by the High-Level Shading Language (HLSL), with shaders compiled to bytecode and executed on the GPU. The API interacts with Windows’ graphics stack and drivers, and it supports multiple feature levels to maintain compatibility across a range of hardware. Direct3D is primarily used on Windows and Xbox platforms, and modern iterations emphasize lower overhead and explicit control to achieve high-fidelity rendering in demanding applications.

Today, Direct3D remains the principal 3D rendering API for Windows-based games and simulations, with Direct3D 12 providing a low-level, high-performance pathway that enables advanced techniques and scalable rendering for modern hardware.