Channel 9 - Entries tagged with C++ Microsoft http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/Dev/App_Themes/C9/images/feedimage.png Channel 9 - Entries tagged with C++ http://channel9.msdn.com/Tags/c++ Channel 9 keeps you up to date with the latest news and behind the scenes info from Microsoft that developers love to keep up with. From LINQ to SilverLight – Watch videos and hear about all the cool technologies coming and the people behind them. http://channel9.msdn.com/Tags/c++ en Sat, 18 May 2013 20:59:12 GMT Sat, 18 May 2013 20:59:12 GMT Rev9 258 11 25 DrumkitX - Bringing the X, as in DirectX, to your Windows Phone 8 Drumkit Today's Mobile Monday project is a simple project yet one that shows off a number of things. For one it show meshing C# and DirectX/C++. For another it shows off the DirectX Toolkit and finally who doesn't like to play a little (get it, little?) drums?

DrumkitX

A Windows Phone 8 port of the ​Drumkit XNA example using Direct3D and XAudio for fast graphics and low latency sample playback. This demo app lets you play percussion sounds by tapping the screen. You can record your beats, play them back later and also play drums on top of your latest recording.

This example has been implemented for various platforms; ​With Qt for Symbian, MeeGo Harmattan and ​JavaME for Series 40. The XNA version supporting Windows Phone 7.x can be found ​here.

image

Compatibility
  • Compatible with Windows Phone 8 phones
  • Tested with Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820
  • Developed with Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Phone 8

Here's a snip from the technical documentation

The basic structure of DrumkitX was generated with the ​Windows Phone XAML and Direct3D App wizard in Visual Studio. The following diagram is a high-level overview of the architecture:

image

DrumkitX is the managed component part of the solution. It is structured like a regular XAML app with pages and C# code-behind classes. In the XAML and Direct3D App template, the Direct3D content is rendered onto a DrawingSurface control that is laid out in regular XAML like any other interface element.

DrumkitXComp is the native C++ component that takes care of graphics and audio using Direct3D and XAudio2. It knows nothing of the managed component, it is only provided with a surface to draw onto.

The native component uses the ​DirectX Toolkit to simplify resource handling and drawing, specifically loading textures with DDSTextureLoader and drawing them with SpriteBatch.

image

...

And a snip from the solution;

image

Finally the app itself, which compiled and ran for me with no problems...

SNAGHTML3902df13

On the outside it's simple, but shows off a number of interesting things you can do...

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/DrumkitX-Bringing-the-X-as-in-DirectX-to-your-Windows-Phone-8-Drumkit Today's Mobile Monday project is a simple project yet one that shows off a number of things. For one it show meshing C# and DirectX/C++. For another it shows off the DirectX Toolkit and finally who doesn't like to play a little (get it, little?) drums? DrumkitXA Windows Phone 8 port of the ​Drumkit XNA example using Direct3D and XAudio for fast graphics and low latency sample playback. This demo app lets you play percussion sounds by tapping the screen. You can record your beats, play them back later and also play drums on top of your latest recording. This example has been implemented for various platforms; ​With Qt for Symbian, MeeGo Harmattan and ​JavaME for Series 40. The XNA version supporting Windows Phone 7.x can be found ​here. CompatibilityCompatible with Windows Phone 8 phones Tested with Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 Developed with Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Phone 8 Here's a snip from the technical documentation The basic structure of DrumkitX was generated with the ​Windows Phone XAML and Direct3D App wizard in Visual Studio. The following diagram is a high-level overview of the architecture: DrumkitX is the managed component part of the solution. It is structured like a regular XAML app with pages and C# code-behind classes. In the XAML and Direct3D App template, the Direct3D content is rendered onto a DrawingSurface control that is laid out in regular XAML like any other interface element. DrumkitXComp is the native C++ component that takes care of graphics and audio using Direct3D and XAudio2. It knows nothing of the managed component, it is only provided with a surface to draw onto. The native component uses the ​DirectX Toolkit to simplify resource handling and drawing, specifically loading textures with DDSTextureLoader and drawing them with SpriteBatch. ... And a snip from the solution; Finally the app itself, which compiled and ran for me with no problems... On the outside it's simple, but shows off a number http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/DrumkitX-Bringing-the-X-as-in-DirectX-to-your-Windows-Phone-8-Drumkit Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/DrumkitX-Bringing-the-X-as-in-DirectX-to-your-Windows-Phone-8-Drumkit Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/DrumkitX-Bringing-the-X-as-in-DirectX-to-your-Windows-Phone-8-Drumkit/RSS C++ Coding4Fun DirectX Developing an app with the Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit Writing your first app using DirectX can seem mysterious if you're new to graphics or game development. The Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit was created to help developers understand the basics of DirectX development with a complete Windows 8 application.

In this episode, Roberto Sonnino, a software developer on the Visual Studio team, walks through creating a dice rolling app with the Starter Kit, and shows that the same code can be recompiled for Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 devices.

The accompanying walkthrough is published on the Visual C++ team blog as a three part series:

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/VS-3D-Starter-Kit-Dice-Roller Writing your first app using DirectX can seem mysterious if you're new to graphics or game development. The Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit was created to help developers understand the basics of DirectX development with a complete Windows 8 application. In this episode, Roberto Sonnino, a software developer on the Visual Studio team, walks through creating a dice rolling app with the Starter Kit, and shows that the same code can be recompiled for Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 devices. The accompanying walkthrough is published on the Visual C++ team blog as a three part series: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 1659 http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/VS-3D-Starter-Kit-Dice-Roller Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:30:44 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/VS-3D-Starter-Kit-Dice-Roller Roberto Sonnino - MSFT Roberto Sonnino - MSFT 7 http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/VS-3D-Starter-Kit-Dice-Roller/rss C++ DirectX Games Graphics XAML Windows 8 Windows Phone 8 C++, three parts, 3D and the Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit Five months ago we highlighted the Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit, Getting started with C++/3D/WinStore Game Dev with the "Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit." Today we're going to highlight parts one and two of a three part series on developing a Windows 8 app with it...

Developing an app with the Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit, part 1 of 3

As we promised a few weeks ago, welcome to the first post in a series where we’ll explore a full end-to-end app developed with the Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit. During this series we’ll develop a 3D dice roller that allows you to roll a 6-sided die by tapping or clicking it. In the process of rolling a number, the die will jump and flip in the air. This app will also work on Windows 8’s snap view, so that users can still roll dice while working on other apps. Finally, we’ll show you how to make this app compatible with Windows RT devices and port it to Windows Phone.

This first post will cover the basics of creating the app to the point where we can render the die to the screen and apply a texture.  We’ll also review the Visual Studio Graphics tools, which are included in Visual Studio Professional or greater.  If you only have Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8, don’t worry, you’ll still be able to use this walkthrough.

The hardest part about learning Direct3D development is the need to learn many new concepts, such as coding HLSL shaders and how to convert meshes into runtime formats. There are many Visual Studio tools make this process much easier, letting you focus on your app logic instead of dealing with all those new concepts. And whenever you’re ready you can add more advanced features to your app without having to start over. Throughout this series, we’ve provided a number of links to additional documentation about DirectX features that we use, so you may want to follow these links to explore more about DirectX and graphics programming.

Let’s stop talking and start designing our app!

The demo app: a dice roller

Dice are used for a variety of board games and gambling. Making a simple dice roller app is an easy task in any programming language - a random number generator is only one line of code in many languages. But how can we make this app more interesting?

image

Starting with a clean slate

The first step to use the Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit is to download and open it. You can get the full Starter Kit from http://aka.ms/vs3dkit. We have also prepared a special version of the Starter Kit (Windows Store only) for this tutorial that starts with a completely blank screen with no 3D models, so we can explore how to create our own assets. You can get that version on CodePlex (direct download link on the tile below). This changeset also shows what has to be changed to remove all the content from the Starter Kit.

image

Note for Visual Studio Express users: You can download the assets used in this project by clicking the tile below. Just add them to your project at the appropriate points in the walkthrough below.

image

If you run this app, you’ll see the Starter Kit’s teapot splash screen, followed by an empty gray screen. Don’t worry, we’ll fill it up soon…

...

Developing an app with the Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit, part 2 of 3

...

Let it roll, baby, roll

In order to make anything move in a graphics application, the steps are always the same:

  1. Set some state (e.g. a Boolean flag) to indicate that an animation should be running. This is also a good time to save the starting position and time of the animation if needed.
  2. In the Update method (called on every frame before rendering), calculate the object’s position/rotation/scaling (in 3D speak, transforms) using the time between the beginning of the animation and the current frame time. You must also make sure that when the animation ends the state is correctly updated to stop the animation.
  3. In the Render method, make sure that the transforms are correctly applied to each object.

In our case we will add a new method called RollDie() that will set the state and save the starting time. We will use this method to calculate each die roll result, but for now let’s just execute an animation that rotates the die from 1 to 6.

To create this animation we will need a set of variables to keep track of the cube’s transforms, as well as the animation time. We will create one Boolean value to signal that animation is running, one float to store the animation time, and three vectors to store the initial, final and current rotations of the cube. These vectors should be of type XMFLOAT3, to store the Yaw, Pitch and Roll rotations (see figure below).

image

...

So this completes our app functionality. It’s definitely a more useful and interesting version of the classic random number generator. You can download this version on CodePlex (direct download link on the tile below).

image

We only have a few more steps to finish in order to make this app run on Windows RT and Windows Phone as well!  We’ll cover these steps in our third and last blog post. Stay tuned!

Keep an eye on the Visual C++ Team Blog for the final part...

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/C-three-parts-3D-and-the-Visual-Studio-3D-Starter-Kit Five months ago we highlighted the Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit, Getting started with C++/3D/WinStore Game Dev with the "Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit." Today we're going to highlight parts one and two of a three part series on developing a Windows 8 app with it... Developing an app with the Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit, part 1 of 3As we promised a few weeks ago, welcome to the first post in a series where we’ll explore a full end-to-end app developed with the Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit. During this series we’ll develop a 3D dice roller that allows you to roll a 6-sided die by tapping or clicking it. In the process of rolling a number, the die will jump and flip in the air. This app will also work on Windows 8’s snap view, so that users can still roll dice while working on other apps. Finally, we’ll show you how to make this app compatible with Windows RT devices and port it to Windows Phone. This first post will cover the basics of creating the app to the point where we can render the die to the screen and apply a texture.  We’ll also review the Visual Studio Graphics tools, which are included in Visual Studio Professional or greater.  If you only have Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8, don’t worry, you’ll still be able to use this walkthrough. The hardest part about learning Direct3D development is the need to learn many new concepts, such as coding HLSL shaders and how to convert meshes into runtime formats. There are many Visual Studio tools make this process much easier, letting you focus on your app logic instead of dealing with all those new concepts. And whenever you’re ready you can add more advanced features to your app without having to start over. Throughout this series, we’ve provided a number of links to additional documentation about DirectX features that we use, so you may want to follow these links to explore more about DirectX and graphics programming. Let’s stop talking and start designing our app! The demo app: http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/C-three-parts-3D-and-the-Visual-Studio-3D-Starter-Kit Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/C-three-parts-3D-and-the-Visual-Studio-3D-Starter-Kit Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 4 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/C-three-parts-3D-and-the-Visual-Studio-3D-Starter-Kit/RSS 3D C++ Coding4Fun Go directly to... dx.h, a modern C++ library for DirectX dev Today's project by Kenny Kerr is for the DirectX C++ crew out there. If you're C++ coding in the Direct2D, Direct3D, DXGI, DirectWrite, the Windows Imaging Component (WIC), and the Windows Animation Manager (WAM) space, this project is one you're going to want to check out. Now.

dx.h - A modern C++ library for DirectX programming

dx.h is a modern C++ library that aims to simplify DirectX-related development in C++.

It focuses on Direct2D but also includes support for Direct3D, DXGI, DirectWrite, the Windows Imaging Component (WIC), and the Windows Animation Manager (WAM).
dx.h is compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8 (both desktop and Windows Store projects), and Windows Phone 8. The Direct2D 1.0 subset should even work on Windows Vista.

For in-depth Direct2D training, please check out Direct2D Fundamentals. For a crash course in DirectX programming, and even more Direct2D training, check out Direct2D Fundamentals – Part 2.

dx.h was created by Kenny Kerr.

There's no carebear here, no doc's beyond the code, no diagrams, no Solutions, no help files, no compiled downloads, just code, code, code (and in the end, that's all you really need, right?)

Source

image

SNAGHTML6190e13

If you're a C++ DirectX'er you're probably not even gotten this far down the post have you? You're already check out the code, aren't you?  Smiley

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Go-directly-to-dxh-a-modern-C-library-for-DirectX-dev Today's project by Kenny Kerr is for the DirectX C++ crew out there. If you're C++ coding in the Direct2D, Direct3D, DXGI, DirectWrite, the Windows Imaging Component (WIC), and the Windows Animation Manager (WAM) space, this project is one you're going to want to check out. Now. dx.h - A modern C++ library for DirectX programmingdx.h is a modern C++ library that aims to simplify DirectX-related development in C++. It focuses on Direct2D but also includes support for Direct3D, DXGI, DirectWrite, the Windows Imaging Component (WIC), and the Windows Animation Manager (WAM).dx.h is compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8 (both desktop and Windows Store projects), and Windows Phone 8. The Direct2D 1.0 subset should even work on Windows Vista. For in-depth Direct2D training, please check out Direct2D Fundamentals. For a crash course in DirectX programming, and even more Direct2D training, check out Direct2D Fundamentals – Part 2. dx.h was created by Kenny Kerr. There's no carebear here, no doc's beyond the code, no diagrams, no Solutions, no help files, no compiled downloads, just code, code, code (and in the end, that's all you really need, right?) Source If you're a C++ DirectX'er you're probably not even gotten this far down the post have you? You're already check out the code, aren't you?  http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Go-directly-to-dxh-a-modern-C-library-for-DirectX-dev Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Go-directly-to-dxh-a-modern-C-library-for-DirectX-dev Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Go-directly-to-dxh-a-modern-C-library-for-DirectX-dev/RSS C++ Coding4Fun DirectX TWC9: Kinect for Windows SDK v1.7, SignalR eBook, Meteor and more This week on Channel 9, Dan and Clint discuss the week's top developer news, including;

Picks of the Week!

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/This+Week+On+Channel+9/TWC9-March-22-2013 This week on Channel 9, Dan and Clint discuss the week's top developer news, including; [00:26] The latest Kinect for Windows [v1.7] SDK is here [01:38] Windows Azure: New Hadoop service + HTML5/JS (CORS), PhoneGap, Mercurial and Dropbox support (Scott Guthrie), Getting Started with the Mobile Services HTML Client (Nick Harris) [02:43] SignalR eBook (campusMVP.Net, Jose M Aguilar) [Found via: The Morning Brew #1316] [03:34] Modeling Neuron Behavior in C# (James McCaffrey) [04:59] Aviary Launches Windows 8 SDK with 6 Partners [06:00] dx.h - A modern C++ library for DirectX programming (Kenny Kerrca) [06:52] An Introduction to Meteor (Stephen Walther) [07:54] From a side project to Windows 8 Store featured app - the Interference story (Sara Allison) Picks of the Week! Dan's Pick of the Week:[08:55] Treat Your Kids Like a Team of Agile Software Developers and Lower Your Family Stress (Whitson Gordon) Clint's Pick of the Week:[10:50] Kodu Challenge (Jennifer Ritzinger) 752 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/This+Week+On+Channel+9/TWC9-March-22-2013 Sat, 23 Mar 2013 23:40:14 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/This+Week+On+Channel+9/TWC9-March-22-2013 Clint Rutkas, Dan Fernandez, Greg Duncan Clint Rutkas, Dan Fernandez, Greg Duncan 4 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/This+Week+On+Channel+9/TWC9-March-22-2013/RSS ASP.NET C# C++ DirectX 11 Kinect Kodu Windows Azure Signal Kinect SDK GoingNative 15: VC++ turns 20, Ale turns 40, C9 turns 9 Visual C++ turned 20 this month! It certainly has come a long way. How did it begin? What were the goals way back when? Fortunately for us, one of the original team members VC++ team members, Jan Gray, set up a reunion of former and current employees who worked on the first visual IDE for C++ from Microsoft. During one of the related gatherings, Jan and fellow original VC++ alum, Rico Mariani, joined us for a casual chat about the early days of VC++. This conversation is full of goodness and a few surprises. Congratulations to the VC++ team and to all who shaped and continue to shape the product, from VC++ 1.0 to VC++11 - and that includes you, too! Smiley 

It's no coincidence that as VC++ turned 20, Ale turned 40, and Channel 9 turned 9. Or is it? What's the hidden meaning in the sequence 20 40 9? Certainly something special! Happy birthday to all!!! And a big thank you to all of you who use Visual C++.

[00:00] GoingNative(); //We filmed this episode on Ale's 40th, VC++'s 20th, and C9's 9th birthday!! Smiley
[02:26]  Rico Mariani and Jan Gray reminisce about the very early days of VC++
[46:11] ~GoingNative();

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-15-VC-turns-20-Ale-turns-40-C9-turns-9 Visual C++ turned 20 this month! It certainly has come a long way. How did it begin? What were the goals way back when? Fortunately for us, one of the original team members VC++ team members, Jan Gray, set up a reunion of former and current employees who worked on the first visual IDE for C++ from Microsoft. During one of the related gatherings, Jan and fellow original VC++ alum, Rico Mariani, joined us for a casual chat about the early days of VC++. This conversation is full of goodness and a few surprises. Congratulations to the VC++ team and to all who shaped and continue to shape the product, from VC++ 1.0 to VC++11 - and that includes you, too!  It's no coincidence that as VC++ turned 20, Ale turned 40, and Channel 9 turned 9. Or is it? What's the hidden meaning in the sequence 20 40 9? Certainly something special! Happy birthday to all!!! And a big thank you to all of you who use Visual C++. [00:00] GoingNative(); //We filmed this episode on Ale's 40th, VC++'s 20th, and C9's 9th birthday!! [02:26]  Rico Mariani and Jan Gray reminisce about the very early days of VC++[46:11] ~GoingNative(); 2856 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-15-VC-turns-20-Ale-turns-40-C9-turns-9 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:01:29 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-15-VC-turns-20-Ale-turns-40-C9-turns-9 Charles Charles 14 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-15-VC-turns-20-Ale-turns-40-C9-turns-9/RSS Ale Contenti C++ Channel 9 History Rico Mariani Visual C++ GoingNative 14: Image Processing, Image Watch, Exceptions You recently learned about Image Watch, a Visual Studio 2012 plug-in for visually debugging (watch window, locals, etc...) image processing code in C++. How does it work? What does the implementation look like (or how was it designed, how much modern C++ does it employ, how old is the code base, etc...). You can't talk about shared libraries in C++, ones that have been around for a while, without talking about exceptions. You either love them or hate them and the Image Watch developers have internal customers (devs inside Microsoft) that either love them or hate them... We geek out on that for a while, of course.

Overall, if you want to understand Image Watch more deeply and meet some great C++ developers who work at Microsoft doing very innovative things (in Microsoft Research, specifically) with C++, then this is for you! Rock and roll.

Big thanks to Wolf Kienzle and Matt Uyttendaele for riding tandem with the random with us.

Tune in!

[00:00] GoingNative(); // Charles and Eric Battalio construct the show
[02:54] Charles and Eric interview Image Watch developers Wolf Kienzle and Matt Uyttendaele
[43:09] ~GoingNative();// Charles and Eric destruct this instance (no exceptions, of course).

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-14-Image-Processing-Image-Watch-Exceptions You recently learned about Image Watch, a Visual Studio 2012 plug-in for visually debugging (watch window, locals, etc...) image processing code in C++. How does it work? What does the implementation look like (or how was it designed, how much modern C++ does it employ, how old is the code base, etc...). You can't talk about shared libraries in C++, ones that have been around for a while, without talking about exceptions. You either love them or hate them and the Image Watch developers have internal customers (devs inside Microsoft) that either love them or hate them... We geek out on that for a while, of course. Overall, if you want to understand Image Watch more deeply and meet some great C++ developers who work at Microsoft doing very innovative things (in Microsoft Research, specifically) with C++, then this is for you! Rock and roll.Big thanks to Wolf Kienzle and Matt Uyttendaele for riding tandem with the random with us.Tune in![00:00] GoingNative(); // Charles and Eric Battalio construct the show[02:54] Charles and Eric interview Image Watch developers Wolf Kienzle and Matt Uyttendaele[43:09] ~GoingNative();// Charles and Eric destruct this instance (no exceptions, of course). 2726 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-14-Image-Processing-Image-Watch-Exceptions Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:46:40 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-14-Image-Processing-Image-Watch-Exceptions Charles Charles 4 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-14-Image-Processing-Image-Watch-Exceptions/RSS C++ Debugging Microsoft Research Native Development C++11 Visual Studio 2012 Image Processing TWC9: IE10 for Win7, VS Guides, Image Watch, Tons of Training and more This week on Channel 9, Brian and Dan discuss the week's top developer news, including;

Picks of the Week!

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/This+Week+On+Channel+9/TWC9-March-1-2013 This week on Channel 9, Brian and Dan discuss the week's top developer news, including; [0:26] IE10 for Windows 7 Globally Available for Consumers and Businesses, RELEASED - Download Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 (Scott Hanselman) [2:00] Visual Studio 2012 Update Guide (Robert MacLean) [2:25] Visual Studio Extension Guide (Robert MacLean) [2:53] Introducing Image Watch - A VS 2012 Plug-In for C++ Image and Video Debugging (Wolf Kienzle), Image Debugging for Visual Studio (Rob Knies ), [Visual Studio Gallery] Image Watch [4:01] [Window Phone] Dev Center app [4:33] Windows Store App Example: Itinerary Hunter (Steven Hollidge) [5:05] LinqToWiki [Found Via LinqToWiki: A strongly typed library for accessing the Wikipedia API] [5:56] HTML5 forms introduction and new attributes (Richard Clark) [6:44] Service Bus Messaging Deep-Dive (Clemens Vasters) [7:33] Windows Store apps for Absolute Beginners with JavaScript (Bob Tabor, Dan Fernandez, Jaime Rodriguez, Golnaz) [8:26] Building Web Apps with ASP.NET Jump Start (Scott Hanselman, Jon Galloway, Damian Edwards) [9:11] Building Apps for Both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Jump Start (Ben Riga) [9:38] LearningLine, Get your free one month via: http://bit.ly/learningline-twc9 Picks of the Week! Brian's Pick of the Week:[10:43] Geeky company names (John D. Cook) Dan's Pick of the Week:[11:36] Microsoft Vision 766 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/This+Week+On+Channel+9/TWC9-March-1-2013 Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:37:16 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/This+Week+On+Channel+9/TWC9-March-1-2013 Brian Keller, Dan Fernandez, Greg Duncan Brian Keller, Dan Fernandez, Greg Duncan 4 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/This+Week+On+Channel+9/TWC9-March-1-2013/RSS .NET Service Bus ASP.NET C++ HTML5 JavaScript Visual Studio Windows Phone Introducing Image Watch - A VS 2012 Plug-In for C++ Image and Video Debugging Image Watch is a new Visual Studio 2012 plug-in for debugging C++ image and video processing applications, for example photo or augmented reality apps. Image Watch provides a watch window that can display in-memory bitmaps during debugging, so you no longer need to litter your code with "save-this-intermediate-image-to-a-file" statements when tracking down bugs. The initial release has built-in support for OpenCV image types and can be extended for viewing user-defined image types as well.

Here, Wolf Kienzle, Senior Research Developer, Interactive Visual Media group, Microsoft Research Redmond, explains and demos this excellent new tool for C++ developers building image, video or augmented reality apps. In effect, you can step into pixels. Excellent!

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Introducing-Image-Watch Image Watch is a new Visual Studio 2012 plug-in for debugging C++ image and video processing applications, for example photo or augmented reality apps. Image Watch provides a watch window that can display in-memory bitmaps during debugging, so you no longer need to litter your code with "save-this-intermediate-image-to-a-file" statements when tracking down bugs. The initial release has built-in support for OpenCV image types and can be extended for viewing user-defined image types as well. Here, Wolf Kienzle, Senior Research Developer, Interactive Visual Media group, Microsoft Research Redmond, explains and demos this excellent new tool for C++ developers building image, video or augmented reality apps. In effect, you can step into pixels. Excellent! 406 http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Introducing-Image-Watch Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:24:22 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Introducing-Image-Watch Charles Charles 16 http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Introducing-Image-Watch/rss C++ Microsoft Research Programming Visual Studio 2012 OpenCV Image Processing Torque once, twice, three... with the MIT Licensed Torque2D and Torque3D engines It's been a little bit since I've highlighted a game engine... so sounds like a good time to highlight a game engine! How about we look at an engine that's MIT licensed? How about one that's 2D and an other that's 3D?

Torque 3D Open Source 2.0 Launch

Back on September 20, 2012, we launched the MIT licensed version of Torque 3D on GitHub. This was based on the T3D 1.2 commercial version with some changes to accommodate the MIT license. Since that time we’ve had 800 people star and 300 people fork the open source repository

Now today, nearly three months following our open source launch, we present the first new release under this license: Torque 3D 2.0.

What’s New for 2.0

Torque 3D 2.0 has focused on three areas of development: the new Project Manager, Linux Dedicated Server, and improvement and bug fixing.

Project Manager
The commercial version of Torque 3D 1.2 included an application called the Toolbox. It was used to create custom projects based on the included T3D templates, among other things. Unfortunately, it was made with components that could not be open sourced, so the Toolbox had to be dropped.

In its place is the new Project Manager. The Project Manager has been built using the open source version of Qt to allow it to work across platforms, and currently fills the role of creating projects based on T3D’s templates.

image

You don’t need to use the Project Manager to create your own projects (the manual steps of creating a project from a template are included in T3D 2.0’s readme), but it sure can be a time saver. The Project Manager will continue to be updated and new features added over time.

Where to Find Torque 3D 2.0
As always you may find Torque 3D over on GitHub. Here is a list of all repositories:

With the release of Torque 3D 2.0 all changes in the development branch have been moved into the master branch. The development branch will now be used for changes related to the next release of Torque 3D. My T3D Open Source Launch blog has a section on Working with Torque 3D that describes how to get the source code, either through cloning the repository or using GitHub’s ZIP functionality.

In addition to GitHub we also have our own ZIP package that combines the Torque3D repository with the updated TorqueScript documentation, the Project Manager, and compiled versions of each of the templates. This package is ideal for those that do not wish to compile Torque 3D on their own, and is available here:

Complete Torque 3D 2.0 zip package

It’s here! The MIT licensed Torque 2D GitHub repo is ready!

The day you’ve all been waiting for has arrived. The MIT licensed version of Torque 2D is now available on GitHub. For those that just want to jump in and fork or download the engine, the link to the repository on GutHub is listed below. While it's cloning, keep reading to find out what makes Torque 2D a great choice for your game development?
Main repository with source code and twenty toys

If you just want to grab a precompiled version of the repository, you can download it here: Torque2D-2.0.zip. Note that this is not hooked up to the GitHub repository. This is just an export.

History of Open Source Torque 2D

Previously, Eric and I both posted blogs announcing our upcoming release of Torque 2D under the MIT license. If you haven’t already read through those, please head over to them now before continuing:
Torque 2D MIT Coming Soon
The Future of Torque 2D is Open Source!
Open Call: Join the Torque 2D Steering Committee

We are expecting that moving Torque 2D to a MIT license will greatly expand both the engine’s reach and our community. That means more developers to talk with, a larger audience for your tools and art packs, and more games, simulations and other products being created and released.

...

What is Torque 2D?

In simple terms, Torque 2D is an extremely powerful, flexible, and fast engine dedicated to 2D game development. The following is a breakdown of the core facts about the engine:

Currently supported platforms:
* Windows
* OS X
* iOS

Support for new platforms is surely on the way. In fact, YOU get to help us decide what we should work on, be it Linux, Android, editors, or just simple bug fixing.

Languages:
* Core: C++
* Windows: C++ and Windows API
* OS X: C++, Objective-C, and Cocoa API
* iOS: C++, Objective-C, and Cocoa touch API

Main Features:
* Box2D physics
* Simple and flexible sprite system
* Composite system capable of rendering thousands of images and animations with little performance impact
* Integrated asset system that manages all your asset loading and unloading in an optimized manner
* Flexible module system that makes rapid prototyping a snap and code reusability a simple matter
* TexturePacker Support
* TAML serialization format (like XAML and XML)
* Batched rendering
* Multiple collision shapes
* Built-in unit testing framework, cross platform
* Solid behavior system for packaging reusable game logic that can be applied to multiple sprites in different projects

In addition to the core engine languages, you can script all your game play via TorqueScript. This is a C-like syntax language that is very simple to learn and utilize for your projects. Additionally, persistent files such as particles, levels, GUIs, and more are stored as "TAML" (Torque Application Markup Language). If you have ever edited XML or XAML in the past, you should feel more than comfortable with TAML.

...

I was able to grab both engines, compile and run them with no problems at all. It was very smooth and easy...

I liked the Torque3D Project Manager feature. Made getting the starting structure for my own game really quick.

image

SNAGHTML15b50b67

The Torque2D project was also fun to play with.

image

The Torque2D Toys were fun to play with...

image

...there's nothing like a little deathball...

image

These two engines are ready, open and looking for you...

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Torque-once-twice-three-with-the-MIT-Licensed-Torque2D-and-Torque3D-engines It's been a little bit since I've highlighted a game engine... so sounds like a good time to highlight a game engine! How about we look at an engine that's MIT licensed? How about one that's 2D and an other that's 3D? Torque 3D Open Source 2.0 LaunchBack on September 20, 2012, we launched the MIT licensed version of Torque 3D on GitHub. This was based on the T3D 1.2 commercial version with some changes to accommodate the MIT license. Since that time we’ve had 800 people star and 300 people fork the open source repository Now today, nearly three months following our open source launch, we present the first new release under this license: Torque 3D 2.0. What’s New for 2.0Torque 3D 2.0 has focused on three areas of development: the new Project Manager, Linux Dedicated Server, and improvement and bug fixing. Project ManagerThe commercial version of Torque 3D 1.2 included an application called the Toolbox. It was used to create custom projects based on the included T3D templates, among other things. Unfortunately, it was made with components that could not be open sourced, so the Toolbox had to be dropped. In its place is the new Project Manager. The Project Manager has been built using the open source version of Qt to allow it to work across platforms, and currently fills the role of creating projects based on T3D’s templates. You don’t need to use the Project Manager to create your own projects (the manual steps of creating a project from a template are included in T3D 2.0’s readme), but it sure can be a time saver. The Project Manager will continue to be updated and new features added over time. Where to Find Torque 3D 2.0As always you may find Torque 3D over on GitHub. Here is a list of all repositories: Main repository: Torque3D Documentation: Torque3D-Documentation Project Manager: Torque3D-ProjectManager With the release of Torque 3D 2.0 all changes in the development branch have been moved into the master branch. The development branch will now be used for chang http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Torque-once-twice-three-with-the-MIT-Licensed-Torque2D-and-Torque3D-engines Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Torque-once-twice-three-with-the-MIT-Licensed-Torque2D-and-Torque3D-engines Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Torque-once-twice-three-with-the-MIT-Licensed-Torque2D-and-Torque3D-engines/RSS C++ Coding4Fun Game Development C++ and Beyond 2012: Herb Sutter - atomic&lt;&gt; Weapons, 2 of 2 Herb Sutter presents atomic<> Weapons, 2 of 2. This was filmed at C++ and Beyond 2012. As the title suggests, this is a two part series (given the depth of treatment and complexity of the subject matter).

STOP! => Watch part 1 first!

Download the slides.

Abstract:

This session in one word: Deep.

It's a session that includes topics I've publicly said for years is Stuff You Shouldn't Need To Know and I Just Won't Teach, but it's becoming achingly clear that people do need to know about it. Achingly, heartbreakingly clear, because some hardware incents you to pull out the big guns to achieve top performance, and C++ programmers just are so addicted to full performance that they'll reach for the big red levers with the flashing warning lights. Since we can't keep people from pulling the big red levers, we'd better document the A to Z of what the levers actually do, so that people don't SCRAM unless they really, really, really meant to.

Topics Covered:

  • The facts: The C++11 memory model and what it requires you to do to make sure your code is correct and stays correct. We'll include clear answers to several FAQs: "how do the compiler and hardware cooperate to remember how to respect these rules?", "what is a race condition?", and the ageless one-hand-clapping question "how is a race condition like a debugger?"
  • The tools: The deep interrelationships and fundamental tradeoffs among mutexes, atomics, and fences/barriers. I'll try to convince you why standalone memory barriers are bad, and why barriers should always be associated with a specific load or store.
  • The unspeakables: I'll grudgingly and reluctantly talk about the Thing I Said I'd Never Teach That Programmers Should Never Need To Now: relaxed atomics. Don't use them! If you can avoid it. But here's what you need to know, even though it would be nice if you didn't need to know it.
  • The rapidly-changing hardware reality: How locks and atomics map to hardware instructions on ARM and x86/x64, and throw in POWER and Itanium for good measure – and I'll cover how and why the answers are actually different last year and this year, and how they will likely be different again a few years from now. We'll cover how the latest CPU and GPU hardware memory models are rapidly evolving, and how this directly affects C++ programmers.
]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Cpp-and-Beyond-2012-Herb-Sutter-atomic-Weapons-2-of-2 Herb Sutter presents atomic&lt;&gt; Weapons, 2 of 2. This was filmed at C&#43;&#43; and Beyond 2012. As the title suggests, this is a two part series (given the depth of treatment and complexity of the subject matter). STOP! =&gt; Watch part 1 first! Download the slides. Abstract: This session in one word: Deep. It's a session that includes topics I've publicly said for years is Stuff You Shouldn't Need To Know and I Just Won't Teach, but it's becoming achingly clear that people do need to know about it. Achingly, heartbreakingly clear, because some hardware incents you to pull out the big guns to achieve top performance, and C&#43;&#43; programmers just are so addicted to full performance that they'll reach for the big red levers with the flashing warning lights. Since we can't keep people from pulling the big red levers, we'd better document the A to Z of what the levers actually do, so that people don't SCRAM unless they really, really, really meant to. Topics Covered: The facts: The C&#43;&#43;11 memory model and what it requires you to do to make sure your code is correct and stays correct. We'll include clear answers to several FAQs: &quot;how do the compiler and hardware cooperate to remember how to respect these rules?&quot;, &quot;what is a race condition?&quot;, and the ageless one-hand-clapping question &quot;how is a race condition like a debugger?&quot; The tools: The deep interrelationships and fundamental tradeoffs among mutexes, atomics, and fences/barriers. I'll try to convince you why standalone memory barriers are bad, and why barriers should always be associated with a specific load or store. The unspeakables: I'll grudgingly and reluctantly talk about the Thing I Said I'd Never Teach That Programmers Should Never Need To Now: relaxed atomics. Don't use them! If you can avoid it. But here's what you need to know, even though it would be nice if you didn't need to know it. The rapidly-changing hardware reality: How locks and atomics map to hardwar 5553 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Cpp-and-Beyond-2012-Herb-Sutter-atomic-Weapons-2-of-2 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:30:35 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Cpp-and-Beyond-2012-Herb-Sutter-atomic-Weapons-2-of-2 Charles Charles 15 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Cpp-and-Beyond-2012-Herb-Sutter-atomic-Weapons-2-of-2/RSS C++ Programming Memory Herb Sutter C++11 C++ and Beyond 2012 C++ and Beyond 2012: Herb Sutter - atomic&lt;&gt; Weapons, 1 of 2 Herb Sutter presents atomic<> Weapons, 1 of 2. This was filmed at C++ and Beyond 2012. As the title suggests, this is a two part series (given the depth of treatment and complexity of the subject matter).

Part 1 -> Optimizations, races, and the memory model; acquire and release ordering; mutexes vs. atomics vs. fences

Download the slides.

Abstract:

This session in one word: Deep.

It's a session that includes topics I've publicly said for years is Stuff You Shouldn't Need To Know and I Just Won't Teach, but it's becoming achingly clear that people do need to know about it. Achingly, heartbreakingly clear, because some hardware incents you to pull out the big guns to achieve top performance, and C++ programmers just are so addicted to full performance that they'll reach for the big red levers with the flashing warning lights. Since we can't keep people from pulling the big red levers, we'd better document the A to Z of what the levers actually do, so that people don't SCRAM unless they really, really, really meant to.

Topics Covered:

  • The facts: The C++11 memory model and what it requires you to do to make sure your code is correct and stays correct. We'll include clear answers to several FAQs: "how do the compiler and hardware cooperate to remember how to respect these rules?", "what is a race condition?", and the ageless one-hand-clapping question "how is a race condition like a debugger?"
  • The tools: The deep interrelationships and fundamental tradeoffs among mutexes, atomics, and fences/barriers. I'll try to convince you why standalone memory barriers are bad, and why barriers should always be associated with a specific load or store.
  • The unspeakables: I'll grudgingly and reluctantly talk about the Thing I Said I'd Never Teach That Programmers Should Never Need To Now: relaxed atomics. Don't use them! If you can avoid it. But here's what you need to know, even though it would be nice if you didn't need to know it.
  • The rapidly-changing hardware reality: How locks and atomics map to hardware instructions on ARM and x86/x64, and throw in POWER and Itanium for good measure – and I'll cover how and why the answers are actually different last year and this year, and how they will likely be different again a few years from now. We'll cover how the latest CPU and GPU hardware memory models are rapidly evolving, and how this directly affects C++ programmers.

Part 2 -> Restrictions on compilers and hardware (incl. common bugs); code generation and performance on x86/x64, IA64, POWER, ARM, and more; relaxed atomics; volatile

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Cpp-and-Beyond-2012-Herb-Sutter-atomic-Weapons-1-of-2 Herb Sutter presents atomic&lt;&gt; Weapons, 1 of 2. This was filmed at C&#43;&#43; and Beyond 2012. As the title suggests, this is a two part series (given the depth of treatment and complexity of the subject matter). Part&nbsp;1 -&gt;&nbsp;Optimizations, races, and the memory model; acquire and release ordering; mutexes vs. atomics vs. fences Download the slides. Abstract: This session in one word: Deep. It's a session that includes topics I've publicly said for years is Stuff You Shouldn't Need To Know and I Just Won't Teach, but it's becoming achingly clear that people do need to know about it. Achingly, heartbreakingly clear, because some hardware incents you to pull out the big guns to achieve top performance, and C&#43;&#43; programmers just are so addicted to full performance that they'll reach for the big red levers with the flashing warning lights. Since we can't keep people from pulling the big red levers, we'd better document the A to Z of what the levers actually do, so that people don't SCRAM unless they really, really, really meant to. Topics Covered: The facts: The C&#43;&#43;11 memory model and what it requires you to do to make sure your code is correct and stays correct. We'll include clear answers to several FAQs: &quot;how do the compiler and hardware cooperate to remember how to respect these rules?&quot;, &quot;what is a race condition?&quot;, and the ageless one-hand-clapping question &quot;how is a race condition like a debugger?&quot; The tools: The deep interrelationships and fundamental tradeoffs among mutexes, atomics, and fences/barriers. I'll try to convince you why standalone memory barriers are bad, and why barriers should always be associated with a specific load or store. The unspeakables: I'll grudgingly and reluctantly talk about the Thing I Said I'd Never Teach That Programmers Should Never Need To Now: relaxed atomics. Don't use them! If you can avoid it. But here's what you need to know, even though it would be nice if you did 4872 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Cpp-and-Beyond-2012-Herb-Sutter-atomic-Weapons-1-of-2 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:30:10 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Cpp-and-Beyond-2012-Herb-Sutter-atomic-Weapons-1-of-2 Charles Charles 11 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Cpp-and-Beyond-2012-Herb-Sutter-atomic-Weapons-1-of-2/RSS C++ Programming Memory Herb Sutter C++11 C++ and Beyond 2012 Fall Fury, the PDF! You've all see the recent Coding4Fun articles on the Fall Fury project, right?

What? No? (Well of course I know YOU have, but maybe there's a few other haven't...)

What is Fall Fury anyway?

FallFury is a 2D platformer in which the player controls a falling bear, trying to avoid obstacles, dodge missiles, and destroy monsters as the bear falls. The project incorporates several of the new Windows 8 APIs, including the accelerometer and touch as well as integrations with core OS capabilities such as settings and share charms. Additionally, the project leverages the most exacting addition to the Visual Studio development environment—hybrid application development with XAML, C++, and DirectX.

Here's the Table of Contents for the entire series;

There's videos, code explications, stuff to download, all there...

But 12 posts can be allot to click through, especially if you want something printable or readable offline. Wouldn't it be great if all this content were available in a single PDF?

Fall Fury, the PDF

image

That's right! All 12 posts in the series are now available in a nicely formatted 131 page PDF!

Download and get your Teddy's on! (Wait... that doesn't sound right... um... err... um...  Wink

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Fall-Fury-the-PDF You've all see the recent Coding4Fun articles on the Fall Fury project, right? What? No? (Well of course I know YOU have, but maybe there's a few other haven't...) What is Fall Fury anyway? FallFury is a 2D platformer in which the player controls a falling bear, trying to avoid obstacles, dodge missiles, and destroy monsters as the bear falls. The project incorporates several of the new Windows 8 APIs, including the accelerometer and touch as well as integrations with core OS capabilities such as settings and share charms. Additionally, the project leverages the most exacting addition to the Visual Studio development environment—hybrid application development with XAML, C&#43;&#43;, and DirectX. Here's the Table of Contents for the entire series; Fall Fury: Part 1 - Introduction Fall Fury: Part 2 - Shaders Fall Fury: Part 3 - Basic Rendering and Movement Fall Fury: Part 4 - XAML Interop Fall Fury: Part 5 - Creating Levels Fall Fury: Part 6 - Rendering Level Elements Fall Fury: Part 7 - Animations Fall Fury: Part 8 - Element Interaction Fall Fury: Part 9 - Particle System Fall Fury: Part 10 - Charms Fall Fury: Part 11 - Hardware Testing &amp; Debugging Fall Fury: Part 12 - Conclusions There's videos, code explications, stuff to download, all there... But 12 posts can be allot to click through, especially if you want something printable or readable offline. Wouldn't it be great if all this content were available in a single PDF? Fall Fury, the PDF That's right! All 12 posts in the series are now available in a nicely formatted 131 page PDF! Download and get your Teddy's on! (Wait... that doesn't sound right... um... err... um...&nbsp; http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Fall-Fury-the-PDF Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Fall-Fury-the-PDF Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 7 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Fall-Fury-the-PDF/RSS C++ Coding4Fun DirectX XAML Stephan T. Lavavej - Core C++, 8 of n In part 8, STL digs into the do-while loop, casts, one definition rule (ODR), and his variadic template array sorter. There is a lot of information in this episode, so get comfortable, tune in, and learn.

See part 1: Name Lookup
See part 2: Template Argument Deduction
See part 3: Overload Resolution
See part 4: Virtual Functions
See part 5: Explicit and Partial Specialization
See part 6: New C++11 features added to the Visual C++ 2012 compiler (CTP)
See part 7: Usual Arithmetic Conversions and Template Metaprogramming

 

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/C9-Lectures-Stephan-T-Lavavej-Core-C-/Stephan-T-Lavavej-Core-Cpp-8-of-n In part 8, STL digs into&nbsp;the do-while loop, casts, one definition rule (ODR), and his variadic template array sorter. There is a lot of information in this episode, so get comfortable, tune in, and learn. See part 1: Name Lookup See part 2: Template Argument Deduction See part 3: Overload Resolution See part 4: Virtual Functions See part 5: Explicit and Partial Specialization See part 6: New C&#43;&#43;11 features added to the Visual C&#43;&#43; 2012 compiler (CTP)See part 7: Usual Arithmetic Conversions and Template Metaprogramming &nbsp; 4157 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/C9-Lectures-Stephan-T-Lavavej-Core-C-/Stephan-T-Lavavej-Core-Cpp-8-of-n Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:23:54 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/C9-Lectures-Stephan-T-Lavavej-Core-C-/Stephan-T-Lavavej-Core-Cpp-8-of-n Charles, STL Charles, STL 54 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/C9-Lectures-Stephan-T-Lavavej-Core-C-/Stephan-T-Lavavej-Core-Cpp-8-of-n/RSS C++ C9 Lectures Programming Stephan T Lavavej C++11 Windows Store DirectX C++ Sample Today's Project by Michael B. McLaughlin is one that's got the Channel 9 team excited, having been picked as a Pick of the Week on This Week on Channel 9 and emailed to me as a "Hey, Greg can you..." by another Niner too.

Last June (wow, has it been that long?) we covered the DirectX Toolkit, DirectXTK - the DirectX Tool Kit (which can be found here, http://directxtk.codeplex.com/). Today's project uses the DirectXTK and shows you how to take it into the Windows App Store world...

Windows Store DirectX C++ Sample Base

I’ve been working on this on and off for over a year now (having essentially restarted entirely in the latter half of 2012). At last it is finished. I give you a Windows Store DirectX C++ Sample Base. It’s something you could build a game on top of. It’s something you could build a sample on top of. It passes WACK testing (or did until I reverted to the default icons anyway) and runs properly on my Surface RT as well as my other x64-based computers. It handles rotation. Lets you choose a fixed back buffer size. Includes an audio engine class, a Texture2D class, and a RenderTarget2D class. Makes use of DirectXTK. Lets you do fancy things like mixing XAML and DirectX while still using multisampling. Has a custom settings pane with premade volume controls, a privacy settings pane (you need to supply the appropriate privacy policy and any other controls you need, if any), and even an about settings pane. Shows you the basics of using XInput. Shows you the basics of doing async in C++ using the ConcRT PPL Tasks library. And it even includes Shawn Hargreaves’ cat and a Cornflower Blue background!

...The code is all very commented. Key things you’ll want to look at are App.xaml.cpp, DirectXPage.xaml.cpp, DirectXPage.xaml, and Game.cpp (which derives from DirectXBase, which you may also want to look at). Note that the descriptions of what functions do are all in the header (.H) files whereas the comments on how they do it tend to all be in the CPP files.

...You can grab the sample here: BaseWin8Direct3DApp.zip [GD: Click through to the original post and get the download link there... I didn't want to leach his traffic....]. You need to be running Windows 8 and Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8 or Visual Studio 2012 Professional or above. I hope to start creating samples using this as a base to build on very soon. I’d be thrilled if others did the same. I’ll also try to include some posts about developing for the Windows Store in general (helpful links, good blogs, etc.) and about using C++.

...

Not really up to speed on C++? Michael and SyncFusion have got your back with the free [Reg-ware] ebook, C++ Succinctly.

The code sample downloaded, compiled and ran for me the first time. It's a simple sample, but that's it's intent, a simple sample to get you up and running in the DirectX Windows 8 world...

screenshot_02032013_112417

Also Blog Standards requires all blogs to post at least one cat thing a year, so now we're good for 2013... Tongue Out

Anyway...

Here's a snap of Solution;

imageimage

As you can see, there's more here than meets the eye, putting more in place than you see in the sample app, helping you do much more than show a cat (not that there's anything wrong with that... Smiley

If you want to get started with DirectX in a Windows Store App, this sample looks like a great place to start...

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Windows-Store-DirectX-C-Sample Today's Project by Michael B. McLaughlin is one that's got the Channel 9 team excited, having been picked as a Pick of the Week on This Week on Channel 9 and emailed to me as a &quot;Hey, Greg can you...&quot; by another Niner too. Last June (wow, has it been that long?) we covered the DirectX Toolkit, DirectXTK - the DirectX Tool Kit (which can be found here, http://directxtk.codeplex.com/). Today's project uses the DirectXTK and shows you how to take it into the Windows App Store world... Windows Store DirectX C&#43;&#43; Sample BaseI’ve been working on this on and off for over a year now (having essentially restarted entirely in the latter half of 2012). At last it is finished. I give you a Windows Store DirectX C&#43;&#43; Sample Base. It’s something you could build a game on top of. It’s something you could build a sample on top of. It passes WACK testing (or did until I reverted to the default icons anyway) and runs properly on my Surface RT as well as my other x64-based computers. It handles rotation. Lets you choose a fixed back buffer size. Includes an audio engine class, a Texture2D class, and a RenderTarget2D class. Makes use of DirectXTK. Lets you do fancy things like mixing XAML and DirectX while still using multisampling. Has a custom settings pane with premade volume controls, a privacy settings pane (you need to supply the appropriate privacy policy and any other controls you need, if any), and even an about settings pane. Shows you the basics of using XInput. Shows you the basics of doing async in C&#43;&#43; using the ConcRT PPL Tasks library. And it even includes Shawn Hargreaves’ cat and a Cornflower Blue background! ...The code is all very commented. Key things you’ll want to look at are App.xaml.cpp, DirectXPage.xaml.cpp, DirectXPage.xaml, and Game.cpp (which derives from DirectXBase, which you may also want to look at). Note that the descriptions of what functions do are all in the header (.H) files whereas the comments on how they do it tend http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Windows-Store-DirectX-C-Sample Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:00:00 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Windows-Store-DirectX-C-Sample Greg Duncan Greg Duncan 1 http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/blog/Windows-Store-DirectX-C-Sample/RSS C++ Coding4Fun DirectX Windows Store App GoingNative 13: Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit, Meet Roberto Sonnino Welcome to 2013! We're excited to be back and we're sorry it's taken so long to get a new episode out the door.

The Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit provides basic support for consuming DirectX 3D runtime assets produced by the MSBUILD task. This includes loading, rendering, and working with assets (including animated meshes). Roberto Sonnino, a developer on the VC++ team, created this starter kit to provide C++ developers with little to no DirectX experience with a very sane entry point into the world of 3D programming with DirectX in Visual Studio. Roberto's Windows Store app sample also demonstrates using XAML to implement a simple 2D HUD over the 3D scene, and how to implement support for ARM devices and older graphics cards through the use of fallback shaders.

We've covered the 3D Starter Kit before on C9, so check out this video and this Coding4Fun article to get you started with the starter kit Smiley

Table of contents

[00:00] GoingNative(); //Ale and Charles talk about the status of the VC++ 2012 CTP and introduce the show's topic,  the 3D Starter kit written by our guest, C++ developer Roberto Sonnino.
[02:55] Ale and Charles interview Roberto Sonnino about his 3D Starter Kit.
[30:16] ~GoingNative();// Ale and Charles destruct the show.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-13-Visual-Studio-3D-Starter-Kit-Meet-Roberto-Sonnino Welcome to 2013! We're excited to be back and we're sorry it's taken so long to get a new episode out the door. The Visual Studio 3D Starter Kit provides basic support for consuming DirectX 3D runtime assets produced by the MSBUILD task. This includes loading, rendering, and working with&nbsp;assets (including animated meshes). Roberto Sonnino, a&nbsp;developer on the&nbsp;VC&#43;&#43; team,&nbsp;created this starter kit to provide C&#43;&#43; developers with little to no DirectX experience with a very sane entry point into the world of 3D programming with DirectX in Visual Studio. Roberto's Windows Store app sample also demonstrates using XAML to implement a simple 2D HUD over the 3D scene, and how to implement support for ARM devices and older graphics cards through the use of fallback shaders.We've covered the 3D Starter Kit before on C9, so check out this video and this Coding4Fun article to get you started with the starter kit Table of contents [00:00] GoingNative(); //Ale and Charles talk&nbsp;about the&nbsp;status of the VC&#43;&#43; 2012 CTP and introduce the show's topic,&nbsp; the 3D Starter kit written by our guest, C&#43;&#43; developer Roberto Sonnino.[02:55] Ale and Charles interview Roberto Sonnino about his 3D Starter Kit.[30:16] ~GoingNative();// Ale and Charles destruct the show. 1912 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-13-Visual-Studio-3D-Starter-Kit-Meet-Roberto-Sonnino Thu, 24 Jan 2013 19:41:54 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-13-Visual-Studio-3D-Starter-Kit-Meet-Roberto-Sonnino Charles Charles 5 http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/C9-GoingNative/GoingNative-13-Visual-Studio-3D-Starter-Kit-Meet-Roberto-Sonnino/RSS C++ DirectX Graphics Programming Windows 8 C++11 Windows Phone 8 Windows Store App Part 12 - Project Conclusion In this video, Den Delimarsky summarizes his experiences building FallFury, highlighting the lessons he learned as a software developer on the Coding4Fun team at Microsoft.

Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-12-Conclusions

For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-12-Project-Conclusion In this video, Den Delimarsky summarizes his experiences building FallFury, highlighting the lessons he learned as a software developer on the Coding4Fun team at Microsoft. Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-12-Conclusions For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com 1133 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-12-Project-Conclusion Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:59:14 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-12-Project-Conclusion Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-12-Project-Conclusion/RSS C# C++ DirectX Windows Store App Part 11 - Hardware Testing Because of the large Windows 8 user base, FallFury was tested on different hardware with different input layouts. This video covers the basic setup necessary for remote debugging and performance tuning when connected to a test device, such as the Microsoft Surface.

Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-11-Hardware-Testing--Debugging

For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-11-Hardware-Testing Because of the large Windows 8 user base, FallFury was tested on different hardware with different input layouts. This video covers the basic setup necessary for remote debugging and performance tuning when connected to a test device, such as the Microsoft Surface. Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-11-Hardware-Testing--Debugging For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com 707 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-11-Hardware-Testing Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:59:10 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-11-Hardware-Testing Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-11-Hardware-Testing/RSS C# C++ DirectX Windows Store App Part 10 - Charms Windows 8 offers a unified way to interact with other applications, as well as with the app's own settings, through charms. This video introduces you to the concept of Windows 8 charms and covers the implementation of a Settings and Share charm integration mechanism in FallFury.

Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-10-Charms

For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-10-Charms Windows 8 offers a unified way to interact with other applications, as well as with the app's own settings, through charms. This video introduces you to the concept of Windows 8 charms and covers the implementation of a Settings and Share charm integration mechanism in FallFury. Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-10-Charms For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com 984 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-10-Charms Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:58:52 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-10-Charms Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-10-Charms/RSS C# C++ DirectX Windows Store App Part 9 - Particle System This video covers the creation of a particle system that is able to generate a texture-based particle layout in different parts of the visible screen, with different geometric and displacement conditions.

Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-9-Particle-System

For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-9-Particle-System This video covers the creation of a particle system that is able to generate a texture-based particle layout in different parts of the visible screen, with different geometric and displacement conditions. Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-9-Particle-System For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com 1030 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-9-Particle-System Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:58:49 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-9-Particle-System Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-9-Particle-System/RSS C# C++ DirectX Windows Store App Part 8 - Element Interaction In FallFury, elements such as obstacle, buttons, and characters collide and react to each other's actions depending on specific game conditions. This video describes the basics of collision detection and object interaction in the game.

Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-8-Element-Interaction

For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-8-Element-Interaction In FallFury, elements such as obstacle, buttons, and characters collide and react to each other's actions depending on specific game conditions. This video describes the basics of collision detection and object interaction in the game. Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-8-Element-Interaction For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com 1114 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-8-Element-Interaction Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:58:45 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-8-Element-Interaction Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-8-Element-Interaction/RSS C# C++ DirectX Windows Store App Part 7 - Animations This video covers the creation of basic animations in FallFury with the help of the core game update loop and additional timers capable of switching object states.

Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-7-Animations

For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-7-Animations This video covers the creation of basic animations in FallFury with the help of the core game update loop and additional timers capable of switching object states. Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-7-Animations For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com 1964 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-7-Animations Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:58:40 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-7-Animations Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-7-Animations/RSS C# C++ DirectX Windows Store App Part 6 - Rendering Level Elements Levels rely on multiple elements aggregated directly from the associated XML file. In this video, Den explains how such elements are processed and rendered internally.

Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-6-Rendering-Level-Elements

For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-6-Rendering-Level-Elements Levels rely on multiple elements aggregated directly from the associated XML file. In this video, Den explains how such elements are processed and rendered internally. Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-6-Rendering-Level-Elements For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com 873 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-6-Rendering-Level-Elements Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:58:37 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-6-Rendering-Level-Elements Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-6-Rendering-Level-Elements/RSS C# C++ DirectX Windows Store App Part 5 - Creating Levels FallFury supports dynamic level creation and rendering and is not tied to the level content that is shipped with the default build. This video covers the level XML building process and in-game testing.

Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-5-Creating-Levels

For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-5-Creating-Levels FallFury supports dynamic level creation and rendering and is not tied to the level content that is shipped with the default build. This video covers the level XML building process and in-game testing. Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-5-Creating-Levels For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com 1693 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-5-Creating-Levels Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:58:33 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-5-Creating-Levels Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-5-Creating-Levels/RSS C# C++ DirectX Windows Store App Part 4 - XAML Interop In this video, Den Delimarsky shows how the DirectX and XAML hybrid applications available in Visual Studio 2012 were implemented in FallFury and discusses what should be considered when working on an app that leverages these capabilities.

Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-4-XAML-Interop

For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-4-XAML-Interop In this video, Den Delimarsky shows how the DirectX and XAML hybrid applications available in Visual Studio 2012 were implemented in FallFury and discusses what should be considered when working on an app that leverages these capabilities. Check out the article for this video at http://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Fall-Fury-Part-4-XAML-Interop For the source code, head over to http://fallfury.codeplex.com 1034 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-4-XAML-Interop Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:58:29 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-4-XAML-Interop Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky Clint Rutkas, Den Delimarsky 0 http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/FallFury/Part-4-XAML-Interop/RSS C# C++ DirectX Windows Store App