Early computer-generated 3-D images, although generally advanced for their time, tended to have a shiny plastic look. They lacked the types of markings — such as scuffs, cracks, fingerprints, and smudges — that give 3-D objects realistic visual complexity. In recent years, textures have gained popularity among developers as a tool for enhancing the realism of computer-generated 3-D images.

In its everyday use, the word texturerefers to an object's smoothness or roughness. In computer graphics, however, a texture is a bitmap of pixel colors that give an object the appearance of texture.

Because Microsoft® Direct3D® Mobile textures are bitmaps, any bitmap can be applied to a Direct3D Mobile primitive. For instance, applications can create and manipulate objects that appear to have a wood grain pattern in them. Grass, dirt, and rocks can be applied to a set of 3-D primitives that form a hill. The result is a realistic-looking hillside. You can also use texturing to create effects such as signs along a roadside, rock strata in a cliff, or the appearance of marble on a floor.

In addition, Direct3D Mobile supports more advanced texturing techniques such as texture blending — with or without transparency. For more information, see Texture Blending.

If your device (see Device Types), it can use 8-, 16-, 24-, or 32-bit textures.

The following topics provide additional information about textures.

• Basic Texturing Concepts
  
  
• Texture Addressing Modes
  
  
• Texture Dirty Regions
  
  
• Texture Coordinates
  
  
• Texture Resources
  
  
• Texture Filtering
  
  
• Texture Wrapping
  
  
• Texture Blending
  
  
• Compressed Texture Resources
  
  
• Automatic Texture Management
  
  
• Hardware Considerations for Texturing
  
  

See Also