Too much to draw! Can I do this in DirectX?

[Artanis]

I'm writing a game file editor that draws a graphical representation of the file to a screen, so the user can see what he's doing, instead of guessing. I have to redraw this everytime something is changed. This will entail ~75,000 draw commands when everything is being drawn. It runs fine on my P4, but tends to lock slower computers for an unreasonable amount of time.

 

 

Is it possible to have DirectX draw things without using sprites? Can I tell it to draw circles, lines and text?

 

 

Here's what I have now. I haven't modified it for stuff I learned about when I found this place yesterday, like paint events.

   Public Sub DrawGalaxy()
       Dim i, j As Integer
       Dim pF As PointF
       Dim rF As RectangleF
       Dim Draw As System.Drawing.Graphics
       Dim SystemFill As New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(System.Drawing.Color.Black)
       Dim SystemOutline As New System.Drawing.Pen(System.Drawing.Color.White, 1)

       pnlMap.Refresh()
       Draw = pnlMap.CreateGraphics()

       If Prefs.HighQuality = True Then
           Draw.SmoothingMode = Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighQuality
       Else
           Draw.SmoothingMode = Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighSpeed
       End If

       'draw nebulae above or below grid?
       'draw grid here

       'draw hyperlinks
       If Prefs.Hyperlinks.Draw = True Then
           Dim Hyper As New System.Drawing.Pen(Prefs.Hyperlinks.drawColor, 1)
           Dim SelColor As System.Drawing.Color = Color.FromArgb(128, Prefs.SelectedLinks.drawColor)
           Dim Sel As New System.Drawing.Pen(SelColor, 5)

           For i = 0 To Systems.Length - 1
               If Systems(i).bDraw = True Then
                   For j = 0 To 15
                       If Systems(i).Hyperlink(j) <> -1 Then
                           If Systems(Systems(i).Hyperlink(j) - 128).bDraw = True Then
                               Dim Start, Dest As PointF

                               Start = Transform_Point(Systems(i).Position, pnlMap)
                               Dest = Transform_Point(Systems(Systems(i).Hyperlink(j) - 128).Position, pnlMap)

                               Draw.DrawLine(Hyper, Start, Dest)

                               If lstSystems.SelectedIndex <> -1 Then
                                   If Get_Index(lstSystems.SelectedItem) = i Then
                                       Draw.DrawLine(Sel, Start, Dest)
                                   End If
                               End If
                           End If
                       End If
                   Next
               End If
           Next
       End If
       'Draw Wormholes
       'Draw Hypergates
       'Draw Systems
       For i = 0 To Systems.Length - 1
           If Systems(i).bDraw = True Then
               'convert absolute position to account for zoom and
               'translation and container coordinates (0,0 doesn't want to be the top, left)
               pF = Transform_Point(Systems(i).Position, pnlMap)
               pF.X -= Prefs.GetSystSize / 2
               pF.Y -= Prefs.GetSystSize / 2
               'create rectangle bounds for ellipse
               rF = New RectangleF(pF, Prefs.SystSize)
               'draw
               Draw.FillEllipse(SystemFill, rF)
               Draw.DrawEllipse(SystemOutline, rF)
           End If
       Next i
       'Draw labels
       If Prefs.SystemLabel.Draw = True Then
           Dim Text As New System.Drawing.SolidBrush(Prefs.SystemLabel.drawColor)
           For i = 0 To Systems.Length - 1
               If Systems(i).bDraw = True Then
                   pF = Transform_Point(Systems(i).Position, pnlMap)
                   pF.X += Prefs.GetSystSize
                   pF.Y += Prefs.GetSystSize
                   Draw.DrawString("(" & Systems(i).ID & ") " & Systems(i).Name, _
                                   Prefs.MapFont, _
                                   Text, _
                                   pF)
               End If
           Next
       End If
   End Sub

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Edited November 20, 2004 by Artanis

[ThePentiumGuy]

Lines - I'm pretty sure you can do that in DirectX, althoug Don't quote me.

Circles - damn. beats me... look into Direct3D.SPrite (or is it DirectX.Sprite), it might have someothing

Text - for sure. I posted a text class somewhere on the forum.

 

Look into www.vbprogramming.8k.com (my site) or my tutorials on the Tutor's Corner on this.

[Artanis]

Lines - I'm pretty sure you can do that in DirectX, althoug Don't quote me.

Circles - damn. beats me... look into Direct3D.SPrite (or is it DirectX.Sprite), it might have someothing

Text - for sure. I posted a text class somewhere on the forum.

 

Look into www.vbprogramming.8k.com (my site) or my tutorials on the Tutor's Corner on this.

The reference files say there's a line funtion, but for some reason the place it's supposed to be, D3DX, is not there.

 

I think I found your clsText.

    Public Class clsText

       Dim TheFont As Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Font = Nothing

       Dim rect As New Rectangle(0, 0, 0, 0)

       Dim x As Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.font

       Dim y As Microsoft.DirectX.Vector3

       Dim s As Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Sprite

       Public Sub New(ByVal d3ddev As Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Device, Optional ByVal fontname As String = "Courier", _
       Optional ByVal Size As Integer = 10)

           TheFont = New Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Font(d3ddev, New System.Drawing.Font(fontname, Size))

           s = New Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Sprite(d3ddev)

       End Sub

       Public Sub Drawtext(ByVal text As String, ByVal cColor As System.Drawing.Color)

           s.Begin(Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.SpriteFlags.AlphaBlend)
           TheFont.DrawText(s, text, 0, 0, cColor)
           s.End()
       End Sub
   End Class

The Direct3D.Sprite, .Font, and .SpriteFlags are errored as not being members of Direct3D/not defined in .Net, yet msdn shows them in Direct3D here.

 

I'm so confused. These things are supposed to be there, but they aren't. :confused:

Edited November 20, 2004 by Artanis

[ThePentiumGuy]

You have an older version of DirectX (oh btw, for D3Dx, did you remember to add it's reference?). Look at the Intro tutorial for more info, you have to manually add the references if you have .net 2002.

 

Manually add the references from: C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Managed DirectX\v9.02.2904

 

You actually don't need the sprite, the sprite is required in DX 9.0c. So delete any word that says sprite, and you might have to change the TheFont.DrawText arguments a bit.

 

-The Pentium Guy

[Artanis]

I don't think my DirectX is older. I just installed it Friday, said Oct 04 update.

 

It needed a reference to Direct3DX, which is close enough to D3DX for me. I have a feeling a bunch of things were renamed.

 

Just tested clsText, now looking into lines and circles.

Edited November 20, 2004 by Artanis

[Knight Chat X]

Looks more like the bare GDI+ library, which is probably why it doesn't show up in DirectX references.

 

To answer the question, yes you can draw lines, circles, and other things in DirectX, it's a little more complicated though, try seeing some of the tutorials in the SDK, paticularly the Vertices Triangle Example, you may also do some searching on how to draw basic primitive shapes online, Microsoft provides some information related to this in the MSDN library for DirectX.

 

The DrawPrimitive method is what you'd use more than likely, create 2 points for both ends of a line and draw the line between both points.

 

Here's DrawPrimitive:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp?url=/archive/en-us/dx81_vb/directx_vb/graphics/reference/vb/d3d/classes/direct3ddevice8/drawprimitive.asp

 

And you can see here you there is a line list as an option:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp?url=/archive/en-us/dx81_vb/directx_vb/graphics/reference/vb/d3d/classes/direct3ddevice8/drawprimitive.asp

 

:D

[Artanis]

The DrawPrimitive method is what you'd use more than likely' date=' create 2 points for both ends of a line and draw the line between both points.[/quote'] I think I'm doing something wrong, cause I'm not getting errors, but I'm not getting a line when I run it either. I attatched the project sans exe (I've been modifying ThePentiumGuy's tutorial to get this to work, rather than clutter my project.)

 

Here's DrawPrimitive:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp?url=/archive/en-us/dx81_vb/directx_vb/graphics/reference/vb/d3d/classes/direct3ddevice8/drawprimitive.asp

 

And you can see here you there is a line list as an option:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp?url=/archive/en-us/dx81_vb/directx_vb/graphics/reference/vb/d3d/classes/direct3ddevice8/drawprimitive.asp

 

:D

Are those two urls supposed to be identical?

DirectXTest.zip

[ThePentiumGuy]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp?url=/archive/en-us/directx9_m/directx/ref/ns/microsoft.directx.direct3d/e/primitivetype/primitivetype.asp

<-- For DX9, although they're the same.

 

Well dude, are you in vs2003 or vs2002? Tell me the version number to your DLL's (when you go to Add|Reference, it'll say it). If you have 9.<something>.0<something> then it's A, if you have 9.<something>.2902 or 2904 then it's C.

 

Oh yeah! KnightChat... yeah i totally forgot about that (that you can use TriangleStrip/List...etc) To make a circle, it would have to be really complicated (LOTS of vertices). Why don't you simply have a bitmap as a circle and scale it as needed?

[Artanis]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp?url=/archive/en-us/directx9_m/directx/ref/ns/microsoft.directx.direct3d/e/primitivetype/primitivetype.asp

<-- For DX9, although they're the same.

 

Well dude, are you in vs2003 or vs2002? Tell me the version number to your DLL's (when you go to Add|Reference, it'll say it). If you have 9.<something>.0<something> then it's A, if you have 9.<something>.2902 or 2904 then it's C.

 

Oh yeah! KnightChat... yeah i totally forgot about that (that you can use TriangleStrip/List...etc) To make a circle, it would have to be really complicated (LOTS of vertices). Why don't you simply have a bitmap as a circle and scale it as needed?

vs2003, windows2000

 

Are you sure it's supposed to start with a 9? I had the october update (1.02.3900.0), uninstalled it and installed the Summer update to check, 1.02.2902. The folders they were in started with 9s (v9.02.3900.0 and v9.02.2904, repsectively.)

 

I'll just use GDI+ to draw a circle on a transparent bitmap at runtime, since the size can be set by the user, and use it as a texture. Scaling something like that would look horrible.

[ThePentiumGuy]

oh, whoops, I guess it starts with a 1 :P.

Sorry man, I can't help you there.. I gotta get the october update :D i din't know they had one!

[Artanis]

oh, whoops, I guess it starts with a 1 :P.

Sorry man, I can't help you there.. I gotta get the october update :D i din't know they had one!

Alright. I thought I was doing something wrong and getting v1 of DirectX SDK or something. :eek:

I'm gonna go reinstall the october update now.

 

And DirectX isn't what I'd expect someone to notice being updated.'

 

Anyway. Still pretty sure I'm doing something wrong trying to draw lines.

[Joe Mamma]

ummm. . .

 

why not forget the directx.

 

draw to a bitmap then copy the composed bitmap onto the graphic????

[ThePentiumGuy]

Oh, well to draw lines.. first take a look at my drawintg sprites tutorial. This time use a linelist to draw 2 points to make a line...

[ThePentiumGuy]

I think jay1b's right. DirectX is overkill for your project :D. See if you can find a way to optimzie with GDI+

 

here's what I do:

Override OnPaint (and put nothing in the sub) - trust me it helps

Me.SetStyle(controlstyles.allpaintinginWMpaint Or controlstyles.UserPaint Or controlstyles.DoubleBuffer,true)

[Artanis]

I think jay1b's right. DirectX is overkill for your project :D. See if you can find a way to optimzie with GDI+

 

here's what I do:

Override OnPaint (and put nothing in the sub) - trust me it helps

Me.SetStyle(controlstyles.allpaintinginWMpaint Or controlstyles.UserPaint Or controlstyles.DoubleBuffer,true)

 

Done and Done.

I'll look for ways to optimize GDI+, then.

Thanks for your help.