Microsoft’s 3D Revolution

Microsoft’s 3D Revolution for the Layman – Making Applications and the Web look Great with WPF

There are several technologies which work in concert behind the scenes to provide the eye catching enhancements to Microsoft based application and Web site interfaces.

On the desktop, the Windows Presentation Foundation (a library of programming code and a functional software subsystem) provides developers with a host of new tools for developing more consistent and functionally better appointed and attractive interfaces.

New powers of 3D presentation in Website and application user interfaces are provided by a marriage of three core technologies. 3D graphics on Vista rely on a system called Direct 3D, which has been a long time staple of the 3D graphics world on the Microsoft Windows PC, and is familiar to developers and PC gamesters alike. Vista brings Direct 3D into close contact with the new WPF, facilitating the use of powerful 3D presentation functions in user interfaces.

New levels of interconnection between Vista’s new WPF and Direct 3D make for far more powerful and interesting desktop application interfaces enhanced with 3D controls and other 3D elements. In developer speak, the name of the WPF code library that allows these improvement is called the “System.Windows.Media.Media3D namespace”

Whatever developers call it – it makes for a vastly more pleasing user experience.

Increased integration and interoperability has been introduced also between the .NET Framework 3.0 – which is the system which Microsoft savvy developers use to build interactive websites and portals – and the Windows Presentation Foundation. This allows the development of 3D based browser application for X box and the Web.

3D in the browser under the new .NET Framework and the WPF relies heavily on the new interface development model which combines a ‘markup language’ called XAML with more ‘traditional’ programming techniques. XAML makes the task of manipulating the features provided by the WPF for interfaces easier and more streamlined, and results in consistency across applications.

As the capabilities of the underlying presentation technologies for the Web grow in sophistication, Web development agencies with strong software development and manufacturing skills are likely to be in demand for larger more sophisticated Web implementations

References and Further Reading

Technical

Introducing the WPF
WPF 3D How-to