(Engine) A closed source proprietary graphics library API provided by Microsoft and used by the Half-Life engine to render the Half-Life world if the 'Direct3D' rendermode is chosen by the user. See Also: Direct3D homepage. Compare: OpenGL.

Direct3D is an API, owned and developed by Microsoft for the creation of 3D games. It is used for manipulating and displaying three-dimensional objects. Direct3D provides programmers with a way to develop 3-D programs that can utilize whatever graphics acceleration device is installed in the machine. Virtually all 3-D accelerator cards for PCs support Direct3D.

the 3d graphics component of DX

Microsoft's proprietary graphics interface software that manages the interaction of video hardware with 3D software such as games. See also: OpenGL.

Microsoft's API for 3D graphics. It is also one of the components of DirectX and supported by all gaming-oriented 3D accelerators so far.

A DirectX API used specifically for 3D graphics. Direct3D is being heavily promoted by Microsoft as an important enabling API for games and other 3D applications. Direct3D will be optimized for AMD-3D Technology.

microsoft's 3d API (programmer tools) that allows programmers to code a graphics engine without being concerned with hardware details: compatibility, speed, etc. quake-engine games do not use direct3d, but use its competitor OpenGl. many game developers, including John Carmack, joined forces to send a letter to microsoft requesting more support for opengl

Direct3D is a low-level graphics Application Programming Interface (API) from Microsoft. It is part of the DirectX family of API's. As such it is only supported under the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. See also OpenGL.