1. 3D programming in Delphi
Introduction to
3D programming in Delphi

2. ykot@afterwarp.io http://afterwarp.io Yuriy Kotsarenko R&D Consulting
Developer of Asphyre / Platform eXtended Library:

3. Agenda Why 3D? The basics of 3D programming
Using Direct3D and OpenGL directly
Using FireMonkey
Other libraries
Advanced 3D concepts
The future

4. Natural spatial representation
So why going 3D?
Natural spatial representation
Model industrial processes accurately
Visualize and manipulate real world data
Visual realism
Easier to interpret for human eye
Professionally looking
GPGPU
Harness the power of GPU for general-purpose work!

5. The basics of 3D programming
3D vectors: X, Y and Z
3D matrices (4x4 array)
Translation
Rotation
Scaling
A combination of above…
3D vector multiplied by matrix
Applying transformation
3D matrix multiplied by another matrix
Combining multiple transformations
Order is important!

6. The basics of 3D programming
World matrix
Place object in 3D world.
Scale, move, rotate, etc.
View matrix
How do we see the world?
Eye position, direction and orientation.
Projection matrix
How the world is displayed.
Field of view, aspect ratio, dimensions…

7. The basics of 3D programming
V(2)
Indices
Vertices
I(0) = 2
I(1) = 0
I(2) = 1
V(1)
V(0)

8. “Write games, not engines” Prefer framework rather than an engine
3D: What library to use?
“Write games, not engines”
Prefer framework rather than an engine
Remember KISS and YAGNI principles!
Avoid unnecessary complexity
Avoid unnecessary features
Too many options to choose from are not necessarily a good thing.
Choose none! :)

9. Using Direct3D in Delphi
Direct3D is a de-facto Windows standard!
Excellent driver and hardware support.
Good documentation on MSDN web site.
Delphi Tokyo 10.2 comes with latest DirectX headers.
Delphi RTL provides all necessary 3D vector types and functions.
Tutorial application on GitHub:

10. Using Direct3D in Delphi
Application Window
D3D Swap Chain
D3D Device
D3D Context
DXGI Factory
D3D Shaders
D3D Buffers
D3D Views

11. Using Direct3D Directly
Let’s open Direct3DTutorial project!

12. Using OpenGL in Delphi Ne-He Tutorials: Delphi OpenGL community:
Delphi OpenGL community:
(site in German)
Embarcadero blogs:
Many others (several pages on Google)

13. Let’s see some existing examples!
Using OpenGL Directly
Let’s see some existing examples!

14. OpenGL: what to watch for
Mixing Legacy (GL2) and Core (GL3+) features
Many online examples have legacy or hybrid code.
Difficult to know if certain function, enumeration or a specific value is deprecated or not.
Hard to predict efficient code-path.
Limited support on OS X (only 4.1 out of 4.6)
No Compute Shaders :(
Windows drivers issues
Nvidia (excellent), AMD (good) and Intel (mediocre).

15. OpenGL: considerations
Fun learning experience
Large community and collection of online materials.
Get things done in few lines of code
Legacy features? Use them! :)
Currently all vendors support them fully and well.
Beginner friendly: code is very short and elegant.
Try things before getting into “serious stuff”.
Avoid using in a production environment
Instead focus on Vulkan, Metal and/or Direct3D APIs.

16. Let’s try some basic example!
Using FireMonkey
Let’s try some basic example!

17. Using FireMonkey FireMonkey 3D design characteristics
Wrapping Direct3D and OpenGL APIs
DirectX on Windows, OpenGL on others
Mixed fixed-function and programmable concepts
Oriented towards UI applications
Basic 3D functionality
Simple shapes and models
Minimalistic lighting without shadows
Shader effects baked on top
Might be difficult to use latest GPU features

18. FireMonkey 3D strengths
Strong 3D math and vector framework in RTL
Initially was part of FireMonkey, now resides in System.Math.Vectors.pas
GUI-oriented, facilitates showing UI on 3D surfaces
See ControlsDemo (ControlsDesktop) example.
Hardware-Accelerated Direct3D 11 Canvas with Batching
GlobalUseGPUCanvas := True

19. Other libraries GLScene Supports many different 3D graphics formats.
Great integration with third-party physics, scripting and game engines.
Many service and helper functions: Cadencer, Skyboxes, Perlin noise…
Getting outdated (pre-GL2 design?)
But seems to have some recent movements!
MPL, OpenGL-only :(
Installation issues in Delphi Tokyo

20. Other libraries Castle Game Engine
A great collection of features – shadows, bump mapping, mirrors, etc.
Supports a large variety of 2D and 3D formats.
Integrated with Kraft Physics Engine.
Interesting features such as sound and editors.
(L)GPL, OpenGL-only :(

21. Other libraries Other “game engines” out there
Proprietary vs open-source
C/C++ libraries and engines
Unity
Unreal
Ogre3D
Afterwarp Framework (
We’ll see a quick preview shortly…
But we’ll talk more about this one tomorrow. :)

22. Advanced 3D Real-time Shadows Order-Independent Transparency
Shadow Volumes
Shadow Maps
Hard edges
Soft edges
Order-Independent Transparency
Instancing
Generating Geometry directly on GPU

23. The Future Compute Shaders and GPGPU Ray-tracing
More powerful AI
Physics
Parallel computing
Ray-tracing
Nvidia Opti-X Ray Tracing Engine
Direct3D 12 Ray Tracing API
Where we go from here?