At the GDC, graphics chip maker NVIDIA announced they are releasing a bunch of updated and new tools. The tool upgrades are: FX Composer 2, PerfHUD 5, ShaderPerf 2. They are also releasing a new GPU-accelerated texture tool, plus a Shader Library. The most interesting toolkit is the DX10 SDK. Targeted towards the GeForce 8 series of GPU (the only GPU that can run D3D10 so far), it’s a collection of samples for both OpenGL and DirectX, executables and source, that demonstrate and showcase DX10 features. The installer looks and acts like the Microsoft DX Sampler.
The DirectX collection makes up the bulk of the samples, while the OpenGL side is a bit thin. The samples include Rain, Smoke, Fur, Shadows, cloth simulation, Render Target usage, etc. The Direct3D SDK is 256MB while the OpenGL SDK is 45MB.
To compile the source you’ll need Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 plus have the Feb. 2007 DirectX SDK installed (which you can get here.) if you want to compile the DX samples.
If you actually want to run the code you’ll need a DirectX10 video card – which currently means an NVIDIA GeForce 8. There are videos of the programs so even if you don’t have a DX10 video card you can still see the programs running.