DirectX 11, Microsoft’s next generation DirectX graphic technology with various games and graphics display options is coming for the first time for exclusive implementation on Windows 7. Microsoft has released DirectX 11 with Direct3D 11 as technical preview for end user testing. Direct3D 11 technical preview is a part of DirectX SDK and contains technical previews of various other developments such as Direct2D, DirectWrite and DXGI 1.1.

According to Redmond company, this version of the Windows 7/Direct3D 11 Technical Preview ships as part of the DirectX SDK and contains the following new features, tools, and documentation:

1. Technical Preview of Direct2D
2. Technical Preview of DirectWrite
3. Technical Preview of DXGI 1.1

DirectX 11 Features and Specifications

DirectX 11 will feature Direct2D technical preview, Directwire technical preview, DXGI 1.1 Technical Preview. This version of DirectX is compatible with Windows 7 and Vista while Windows XP users won’t have the pleasure of using this next generation technology. Here is a small intro to these tools :

Direct2D Technical Preview : Direct2D is a hardware-accelerated, immediate-mode, 2-D graphics API that provides high performance and high quality rendering for 2-D geometry, bitmaps, and text. The Direct2D API is designed to interoperate well with Direct3D and GDI. This technical preview allows developers to evaluate the API and write simple applications, with some of the more advanced functionality possible on properly configured machines.

DirectWire Technical Preview : DirectWrite provides support for high-quality text rendering, resolution-independent outline fonts, and full Unicode text and layout support, and much, much more

DXGI 1.1 Technical Preview : DXGI 1.1 builds on DXGI 1.0 and will be available on both Windows Vista and Windows 7. DXGI 1.1 adds several new features.

Download DirectX for Vista and Windows 7

Download DirectX 11 Software Development Kit

Download DirectX 11 End-User Runtimes

Download DirectX 11 Web Installer