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FSX Direct2D Gauges

C

cheangjc

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singapore
Hi,

I recently began experimenting with using Direct2D for my gauge drawing, this is what I have achieved so far (Ignore the diagonal cutting line which displaces the image, its a ATI thing):

ECAMD2D.png


However, the drawing is not as good as I expected it to be, its crisp but not as smooth (Anti-Alias issues) as I hope it to be.

Anyone who uses this drawing method have any tips on how to improve the image/rendering quality? There is mention of MSAA on the Direct2D SDK, but it requires interop with Direct X 10/11 which I have little knowledge of now. Any help appreciated :)
 
I haven't used D2D for a while now (switched to D3D10/11 but unfortunately due to company regulations I am forbidden from sharing the details on that for a while yet).

Did you try calling SetAntialiasMode(D2D1_ANTIALIAS_MODE_PER_PRIMITIVE); (its a method in your render target object) right after binding it to your DC?
 
Hi,

Yes, I did use that antialias mode after binding DC and before BeginDraw.
 
http://xboxforums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/61448.aspx

I think you should only have to do it once after setting the render target though.

Looked up the MSAA part though and IMO I think it would end up being more trouble than it is worth. I would sooner go with D3D10/11 only instead of trying to mix D2D and D3D.
 
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I just tried the same exact code in P3Dv2, and the results is 10 folds better:

better.png


I do not know the reason for this, but the graphics are what I expect now.... Maybe mixing DX9 and D3D is not that good idea.

Although, I guess I will have to pick up D3D11 and learn the hooking basics soon if I want something much more advanced.
 
There aren't really any problems with using D2D/D3D10/11 in FSX gauges because the results always get drawn to a device independent bitmap totally outside of the graphics engine. That bitmap is then blitted to the textures in the graphics engine.

I think the reason why it looks so much better in P3D v2 is because they are probably performing their own anti aliasing on the texture once it gets in to the graphics engine while FSX does not. Chances are if you looked at the raw bitmap before it got into the sim you would still see the same unsmoothed lines.

Looks good though. If I may ask, which airbus addon is that?
 
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Makes Sense. I think FSX does that too, maybe one of my settings, not sure.

Anyways, now I am working on a way to store geometry once for each instance of the gauge, so that there is no need to Create Path Geometry every frame as it can get pretty costly.
 
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Looks good. Glad I could help out there. Just watch out for memory consumption. It might be a good idea to release some of those geometries when they aren't being used.
 
Naruto-kun said:
There aren't really any problems with using D2D/D3D10/11 in FSX gauges because the results always get drawn to a device independent bitmap totally outside of the graphics engine. That bitmap is then blitted to the textures in the graphics engine.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Nice thing that.

I wonder if it were possible to render to a texture, not just a gauge. Especially in case of scenery (as is apparently possible in P3D2)
 
If your scenery has a texture with a $ in the name and the name matches that of the $ texture in your aircraft then what you see in the pit will appear in the scenery. Unfortunately, this will only work if the aircraft you are flying has a texture with that $ name....From what I can tell P3D is not panel dependent though.
 
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