Death of DirectX: an epic interview with Tim Sweeney

jmke · 15th September 2008, 14:21

I think DirectX 9 was the last graphics API that really mattered. DirectX 9 was a revolution: completely programmable shaders of unlimited length with full floating-point precision support. Compared with the fixed-function, 8-bit pipeline it replaced, it was revolutionary. Everything since has been incremental, and kind of backward-looking.

So, DirectX 10 takes DirectX 9 and adds some weird fixed-function components on top of it, which fit in a very particular place in the pipeline, and are hard to use. I'm not saying that it's entirely unwarranted, but I think that DirectX 9 was the last game-changing step in the graphics APIs, and the next non-incremental step will be the move back to programming languages.

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paed...-interview.ars

15th September 2008, 14:21	#1
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,021	Death of DirectX: an epic interview with Tim Sweeney I think DirectX 9 was the last graphics API that really mattered. DirectX 9 was a revolution: completely programmable shaders of unlimited length with full floating-point precision support. Compared with the fixed-function, 8-bit pipeline it replaced, it was revolutionary. Everything since has been incremental, and kind of backward-looking. So, DirectX 10 takes DirectX 9 and adds some weird fixed-function components on top of it, which fit in a very particular place in the pipeline, and are hard to use. I'm not saying that it's entirely unwarranted, but I think that DirectX 9 was the last game-changing step in the graphics APIs, and the next non-incremental step will be the move back to programming languages. http://arstechnica.com/articles/paed...-interview.ars __________________

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Tim Sweeney and Andrew Richards debate the future of graphics hardware	jmke	WebNews	0	14th June 2010 20:48
Tim Sweeney: GPGPU Software Uneconomical to Develop, GPUs Set to Disappear	jmke	WebNews	1	14th August 2009 14:50
What's next for DirectX? A DirectX 11 overview	Massman	WebNews	0	1st September 2008 10:36
Game Engine Tech Interview: Tim Sweeney	jmke	WebNews	0	27th August 2006 15:27
Tim Sweeney Talks PhysX & UT2007	jmke	WebNews	6	12th May 2006 16:23
Epic Games Mark Rein Interview	jmke	WebNews	0	22nd March 2006 11:30
John Carmack and Tim Sweeney Q&A	jmke	WebNews	0	1st February 2006 17:43
Talking nasty with Tim Sweeney (Unreal Engine Games)	jmke	WebNews	0	14th December 2004 15:57
DirectX 9.0C	187(V)URD@	General Madness - System Building Advice	0	27th July 2004 12:15
BU Interviews: Tim Sweeney on UE3	jmke	WebNews	0	18th May 2004 14:42