Publisher's Synopsis
Unlock the Full Power of Your GPU with DirectX 12
Modern GPUs are capable of over 10 trillion floating-point operations per second. That's more computing power than NASA had during the entire Apollo program-combined. Yet most software barely taps into that potential. That's where DirectX 12 steps in.
This isn't your grandfather's graphics API. DirectX 12 puts you in control of a silicon supercomputer-with no safety net. The conveniences of DX11 are gone. In their place: unprecedented speed and complexity. Memory missteps can crash your entire system. Misplace a barrier and your GPU happily renders corrupted output. But when you get it right, the performance gains are extraordinary.
Why This Book ExistsMost resources fall into two categories: basic tutorials that stop short of real-world utility, or specification-heavy docs that read like hardware contracts. This book cuts through both. You'll get the how and the why-because even drawing a single triangle requires hundreds of lines of code.
You'll begin with the fundamentals, but quickly explore the areas most books avoid:
Structuring your engine for multi-threaded command list recording
Transitioning from rasterization to ray tracing
Managing pipeline state objects like a pro
Navigating GPU memory heaps (there are three, and yes-it matters)
Making the most of compute pipelines
A full GPU-driven rendering implementation
A compute-powered system for large-scale particle simulation
A material and lighting system using DXIL shader linking
A working real-time ray tracing pipeline
More importantly, you'll learn how to think in DirectX 12 terms. Once you do, even Vulkan will start to make sense.
A Few WarningsDirectX 12 has no training wheels. Your first programs will crash-spectacularly.
Memory management is your job now. Barriers matter, and mistakes are visible.
Your debugger isn't optional. It's a survival tool.
Whether you're transitioning from DX11/OpenGL or entering graphics programming for the first time, this book is your deep-end dive. Stick with it, and you'll gain skills that usually take years to develop.
Let's get your GPU sweating.