Graphics in Windows 8

It seems to us, in the long post, ever posted on the Internet, Microsoft describes in detail the significant changes to the graphics subsystem of Windows 8 and DirectX 11.1. Briefly, the entire contents of the Windows 8 will be hardware accelerated, resulting in a text, 2D and 3D performance will take away from the settings in Windows 7. DirectX 11.1 has also undergone significant "major overhaul", which should lead to faster and more efficient operation of games and applications. As you can imagine, most changes graphs in Windows 8 is associated with hardware-accelerated application of style Metro. These applications are visually rich and their interfaces are built mainly of simple geometric shapes - lines, rectangles, rounded rectangles, ellipses. In Windows 8 text rendering speed, and simple forms will be massively increased in all directions: The title and caption text will be loaded to 336% faster than Windows 7, the line will be loaded to 184% faster; rectangles - to 438% faster, and more .

Displays JPEG, PNG and GIF image files will also be improved in Windows 8, mainly due to increased use of SIMD. In one of the provided demos of Windows 8 64 decodes and displays JPEG-files in 4.38 seconds, while Windows 7 performs this same task in 7.28 seconds. Obviously, faster rendering of images will affect almost all applications, Windows, and especially web browsers, graphics packages, for example, Photoshop.

Glancing at the changes made to DirectX 11.1, we note that Microsoft has improved the redraw parts of the screen, which is important, for example, on YouTube, where only the video segment should be constantly redrawn. By reducing excessive redrawing of text and other static elements that result in lower memory consumption and CPU cycles. Another novelty in the DirectX 11.1 - Direct2D effects, which provide easy access to the API «high quality», hardware-accelerated graphics effects, such as exposure adjustment, clarity, and even vibration correction lens and advanced curves. These effects are addressed directly to the applications that manipulate photographic images in the style of Metro (hello, Instagram!), But presumably future versions of graphics applications such as Photoshop and Gimp, will also be able to use these effects Direct2D.

Finally, in response to developers, Microsoft said that DirectX 11,1 debut with a new, simplified and unified API. Microsoft «hung" so many opportunities to DirectX since the release of DX9, that it became increasingly difficult to create code that would allow efficient use of all these possibilities. With DirectX 11.1, all of these functions are now combined into a single API.

In any case, the faster and more efficient rendering, will reduce the use of hardware resources and, therefore, lower power consumption. At this stage of the development of Windows 8, efficiency and battery life is probably the most discussed topic. And if the immutability of the start screen, Metro and gadgets on the desktop does not have enough evidence, it is literally "laser focus" on the effectiveness of knowingly makes clear the main task of Microsoft - to be competitive with Google and Apple in the mobile computing sector.

By the way, will not cause a big surprise if the Xbox 720 will also be optimized to use the DirectX API. And, of course, Windows Phone 8 - by virtue of common core with Windows 8. At least, it is very easy to be able to make game developers who work on all three platforms - it also gives credibility to the fact that the Xbox 720 will run Windows 8, or at least to do with the Windows 8 kernel.