TextureLoader gone? Alternatives?

Hi,

I'm new with DirectX and I'm starting with the December 2005 SDK. It seems like almost every tutorial or sample I've run into uses TextureLoader to retrieve textures. From what I've seen, and I've looked pretty hard, TextureLoader doesn't exist in Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D anymore contrary to any documentation that I can find.

Well, instead I've been using Texture.FromBitmap to load textures, which I guess is okay... But I can't find any example of how to load transparent textures with Texture.FromBitmap. Again, all of the examples I've come across use some variation of TextureLoader which takes a colorkey to define the transparent value.

Is there a different means of loading textures that I'm supposed to use now that TextureLoader is gone Or am I looking in the wrong spot And if Texture.FromBitmap is my only alternative, how do I define transparent textures

Thanks for the help.

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TextureLoader gone? Alternatives?

Brian Senecal
Ok,
So i checked out C-Unit's tutorials that were just updated for the dec. 05' sdk and i'm still having the same problem with the Texture(device, path) not existing.

Here is the error:
TitleScreen.cs(214): No overload for method 'Texture' takes '2' arguments

I am using Visual Studio .NET 2003 on Windows XP Profession with SP1 (had massive problems with amd64 and SP2). I have ONLY the dec. 05 sdk installed (no october, etc...) and have also installed the .NET 2.0 SDK. Is there something I'm missing I really have no idea why something so trivial is giving me so many problems. Is there something I am missing that needs installed Does Visual Studio need to be updated to see the new SDK

Thx
Michael Klucher - MSFT
Yes, TextureLoader is gone, no it won't be back. All of the methods that were in the class before have been moved to the appropriate instance class instead (with a couple exceptions of a few missing in this release).
abarone
Ok,
I have finally figured this @$#! out. Here is sample code that works with Dec. 05' sdk and doesn't use any of the deprecated functions:

Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(file, false);
this.texture = Direct3D.Texture.FromBitmap(gd, bmp, 0, Direct3D.Pool.Managed);

This will load a bitmap file as a texture. The thing is, the file doesn't have to actually be a bitmap file! Here they are using the term bitmap in a generic sense to refer to an actual bit-map (just a bunch of bits in an image). Load a png (with transparency) and then set the alpha on your Direct3d.Device as follows:

gd.RenderState.AlphaBlendEnable = true;
gd.RenderState.AlphaBlendOperation = Direct3D.BlendOperation.Add;
gd.RenderState.DestinationBlend = Direct3D.Blend.InvSourceAlpha;
gd.RenderState.SourceBlend = Direct3D.Blend.SourceAlpha;

Happy Coding...
SaravanaKumar
Laxish wrote:
But I can't find any example of how to load transparent textures with Texture.FromBitmap.

This should work with transparent textures w/out much trouble:

Texture tex = new Texture(device, path);

shanecav

From the Dec. 05' SDK Documentation I found these as constuctors:

public Texture(Device, Bitmap, Usage, Pool);

public Texture(Device, int, int, int, Usage, Format, Pool);

public Texture(Device, Stream, Usage, Pool);

public Texture(IDirect3DTexture9);

public Texture(IDirect3DTexture9, Device, Pool);

public Texture(IntPtr);

i tried "new Texture(device, path)" anyway which didn't work (cause it didn't compile). Is the best way to load a png (with transparency) as a stream and pass it along to the above constructor

Also, I heard that the new Dec. SDK is really just a beta. Is this part of the problem and should I fall back to the October SDK I really didn't want to learn DirectX on the October SDK only to have much of what I learned be deprecated before my project was even finished.

Anyway, any input, advice, or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thx

Dragos.Stefanescu
Would you be able to give me a little insight as to where to find such functionality I'm still not quite clear on where to find a function to load a texture with parameters used for transparency and I haven't seen anything in the Texture class that is ringing any bells.
AbiBaby
Are you guys even using the december 2005 sdk I am having the same problem. There is NO method in the texture class for loading a texture with a transparent color key. At least not according to MSDN.

You can either load from a bitmap or from a stream:

public static Texture FromBitmap(Device device, Bitmap image, Usage usage, Pool pool);
public static Texture FromStream(Device device, Stream data, Usage usage, Pool pool);

and neither ask for a transparent color value like TextureLoader.

Has anyone succesfully used the Dec. 05 SDK to load transparent textures
Please help.
Ajay Verma

I know it is not exactly the same, but I am using the following code within a try/catch to load a PNG with alpha channel,

m_texLogo = new Texture(m_Device, new Bitmap(this.GetType(), "Images.matchit_logo.png"), 0, Pool.Managed);

Then I set the device to use alpha blending. I know it is not the exactly the same, but maybe it will point you in the proper direction.

d3D.RenderState.SourceBlend = Direct3D.Blend.SourceAlpha;

d3D.RenderState.DestinationBlend = Direct3D.Blend.InvSourceAlpha;

d3D.RenderState.AlphaBlendEnable = true;
M_Hagen

As Tom indicated, it's an instance method now. See the method under the Texture class: Texture.FromBitmap (or, equivalently, the Texture constructor that uses a bitmap)
TextureLoader gone? Alternatives?

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