Qestion about Toms DX7test.dll

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Userlibs/Qestion about Toms DX7test.dll

jfk EO-11110 (Posted 2006) [#1]

Hi. I wonder if the dx7test.dll can be used to access the depthbuffer? Or is there any other way?

Tom (Posted 2006) [#2]

Hi, As far as I recall, the only way to access the depth buffer is via stencil operations (in DX 7 at least). Is there something in particular you're trying to do?

jfk EO-11110 (Posted 2006) [#3]

Thanks for the answer. I'm trying to do some kind of fast ray tracing. Based on the depth buffer I'd be able to emulate CameraPick in a much faster way (tho without pickedNx etc.). Individially colored triangles will then be used to determine the visibility of each 3D Coordinate from the lights viewpoint. Currently I am using Fog to emulate a depth buffer. It works but it's limited to 256 greyscales and gives me rounding errors.

Steven Noyce (Posted 2006) [#4]

Everyone always mensions the "stencil buffer", "stencil shadows", and "stencil operations". What is the stencil buffer? How can I access it? What are the advantages of using it?

jfk EO-11110 (Posted 2006) [#5]

www.wikipedia.co.uk has a pretty good description

John Blackledge (Posted 2006) [#6]

Where can I find the dx7test.dll ?

Dreamora (Posted 2006) [#7]

Search for Render2Texture or DXTC :)

jfk EO-11110 (Posted 2006) [#8]

there are several versions btw. One was used in the stencil shadows demo with that beethoven mesh.

John Blackledge (Posted 2006) [#9]

Still can't find it does anyoe have a link? Oh, and is it true that it only works on nVidia?

DJWoodgate (Posted 2006) [#10]

http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=41012.

Picklesworth (Posted 2006) [#11]

Latest version works perfectly on my ATI Radeon 9600 Pro :)

Tom (Posted 2006) [#12]

There were some problems with ATI cards, this was when calling the DX function DeviceClear(), it didn't work right on ATIs if I recall correctly. I even asked Mark and he showed me his DX code and it was identical. <shrug>