Philips DirectX Visualizer User manual

DirectX Visualizer
User Manual
Philips 3D Solutions

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Title DirectX Visualizer, User Manual
Date 01 April 2009
Security
The attache material an the information containe herein are
proprietary to Philips 3D Solutions. Copying, repro uction,
a aptation, mo ification or issemination in whole or part is not
permitte without written permission from Philips 3D
Solutions.
Contact http://www.philips.com/3 solutions

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Table of Contents
1 Intro uction .............................................................................................................................................................................4
2 Compatibility............................................................................................................................................................................6
3 Overview of configuration process ....................................................................................................................................7
4 Installation.................................................................................................................................................................................8
5 Configuration file.....................................................................................................................................................................9
6 Configuration options..........................................................................................................................................................10
6.1 Logging...........................................................................................................................................................................10
6.2 Display resolution.......................................................................................................................................................10
6.3 Har ware gamma........................................................................................................................................................11
6.4 Application resolution................................................................................................................................................11
6.5 Image input resolution...............................................................................................................................................11
6.6 Depth input resolution..............................................................................................................................................12
6.7 Output resolution an position...............................................................................................................................12
6.8 Depth map selection ..................................................................................................................................................12
6.9 Discar able epth stencils ........................................................................................................................................15
6.10 Depth tuning help .......................................................................................................................................................15
6.11 Range of interest.........................................................................................................................................................16
6.12 Inverse projection calculation..................................................................................................................................17
6.13 Switching between 2D, 3D an epth-only mo e..............................................................................................18
6.14 Ren ering parameters in hea er.............................................................................................................................18
6.15 Improving HUD rea ability ......................................................................................................................................20
6.16 Mouse cursor rawing...............................................................................................................................................21
Appen ix A: Configuring the Visualizer for a new application ............................................................................................22

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1 Introduction
The DirectX Visualizer enables one to view the output of 3D applications or games on Philips 3D
isplays even though the applications have not been esigne to support them. It oes this by
intercepting the interaction between the 3D application an DirectX.
Direct3D application
d3d9.dll
WOWvx DirectX
Visualizer DLL
Direct3D application
d3d9.dll
Direct3D
function calls
Direct3D
function calls
forwarded Direct3D
function calls
Direct3D application The same Direct3D application
running with the WOWvx
DirectX Visualizer DLL
Figure 1: A Direct3D application running with and without the Visualizer
Because the application is unaware of the Visualizer oing its work, all configuration an tweaking has
to be one through the Visualizer’s configuration file. An overview of how to get a new application to
work with the Visualizer is given in section 3, while the configuration file format an an explanation of
all possible settings are given in sections 5 an 6 respectively.
This ocument assumes basic knowle ge of the Direct3D API in its explanation of the Visualizer
configuration process. For example it expects the rea er to un erstan what ren er targets an epth
stencils are, what the IDirect3DDevice9::Clear() function can o an what a projection matrix is.
As an alternative to the rather complicate process of creating a Visualizer configuration for a new
application or game, we provi e configuration files an installation instructions for several games on
our website.
Note that as the Visualizer works without the application being aware of it, there will always be
applications or parts of applications that will not generate proper output with the Visualizer, regar less

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of the settings in the configuration file. In some cases it is possible to buil support for this application
into a later version of the Visualizer, but this will have to be etermine on a case by case basis.

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2 Compatibility
This ocument escribes the configuration file format for DirectX Visualizer version 1.0.
At this time the Visualizer can only support games an applications that use Direct3D 9.
The Visualizer is expecte to work on any mo ern 3D graphics car , but we recommen an NVIDIA
GeForce 6800 XT or better.
At this time the DirectX Visualizer has only been teste on Microsoft Win ows XP Professional SP2.

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3 Overview of configuration process
The process of getting an application to work with the Visualizer basically consists of these six steps.
1. Getting the application to run in fullscreen at the native resolution of the 3D isplay with 32-
bit color.
1
2. Fin ing out where to install the Visualizer so it will be use by the application. This step is
iscusse in section 4.
3. Determining when an where to extract epth information. See the escription of the
DepthTriggerCon ition setting in 6.8 for more information on this step.
4. Tuning the epth settings to get a proper epth effect as explaine in sections 6.10 through
6.12.
5. Depen ing on the application it may be useful to configure several extra features of the
Visualizer, such as improving HUD rea ability (see 6.15) or turning mouse cursor rawing on
or off (see 6.16).
6. Cleaning up the configuration file by removing any unnee e settings
An example of this process is inclu e in appen ix A an inclu es more etails on steps 3 an 4 in
particular.
1
The native resolution for a 20” 3D isplay is 1600x1200, for the 42” it is 1920x1080.

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4 Installation
The Visualizer is a DLL that looks to the application like the DirectX DLL for rawing in 3D, therefore
it has the same name: 3 9. ll . The first thing to o is to etermine where to put this DLL. In most
cases the irectory containing the executable of the application is the right location. Copy over the
Visualizer DLL from where it was installe (usually C:\Program Files\Philips\DirectX Visualizer) to the
irectory with the application’s executable.
To check if the application is using our DLL, put a file name visualizer.ini in the same irectory
containing:
Starting the application shoul result in creation of a file name visualizer_log.txt . If this file is not
create , then the Visualizer is not being loa e . Try putting 3 9. ll an visualizer.ini in a ifferent
irectory.
Note: Do not put these files in the Win ows system irectory. The copy of 3 9. ll in the system
irectory is the original DirectX DLL an should not be overwritten!
[Config]
EnableLogging=1

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5 Configuration file
Once the application loa s the Visualizer when it starts up it is time to configure the Visualizer. The
Visualizer nee s to be tune specifically for each application that it is use with.
The Visualizer rea s settings from a file calle visualizer.ini if it is present. This file nee s to be place
in the same irectory as the Visualizer DLL. As mentione before, this is usually the irectory where
the application executable is locate . If no configuration file is foun , efault settings will be use .
The configuration file complies with the format of a stan ar Microsoft Win ows .ini file. It shoul
start with the eclaration of a section (always [Config] for this Visualizer), followe by a list of options
an their values. Any lines that start with a semi-colon are ignore an can be use to a comments.
Figure 2 shows an example of such a configuration file.
Figure 2: visualizer.ini example
[Config]
; Enable logging
EnableLogging=1
; Use the ‘3’ key to toggle between 2D, 3D an epth only mo e
3DToggleKey = 3

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6 Configuration options
Whenever a key nee s to be efine in the configuration file, the names from the following table can
be use . Where necessary the “Remarks” column specifies some things to note. All key names are
case insensitive, so “A” enotes the same key as “a”.
Keys
KeysKeys
Keys Remarks
RemarksRemarks
Remarks
“f1” upto “f12”, “a” upto “z”, “0” upto “9”,
“esc”, "minus", "plus", "backspace", "tab",
"capslock", "enter", "shift", "comma", "perio ",
"ctrl", "space", "menu"
main part of the keyboar
"insert", " elete", "home", "en ", "pageup",
"page own", "leftarrow", "rightarrow",
"uparrow", " ownarrow"
between main part of keyboar an the
numpa
"numlock", "numpa ivi e",
"numpa multiply", "numpa subtract",
"numpa a ", "numpa ecimal",
“numpa 0” upto “numpa 9”
on the numpa
“ isable ” can be use to specify that a function will
not be available un er a key
6.1
6.16.1
6.1 Logging
The Visualizer can write information about what is going on to a file. This can help in choosing the
right values for options in the configuration file. The name of the file is visualizer_log.txt an it will be
put in the same irectory as the Visualizer DLL. Logging incurs a performance penalty, so it shoul be
isable once the settings in visualizer.ini have been finalize .
Option name
Option nameOption name
Option name Possible
Possible Possible
Possible
values
valuesvalues
values
Default
Default Default
Default
value
valuevalue
value
Description
DescriptionDescription
Description
EnableLogging 0 or 1 0 Whether to log information to a file (1) or not (0).
6.2
6.26.2
6.2 Display resolution
For 3D output it is require that the screen resolution is set to the native resolution of the isplay. If
the application oes not support the native screen resolution an switches to a ifferent one on
startup, the Visualizer can change the resolution back. This metho is not preferre an shoul only be
use as a last resort. Set the settings below to 0 to isable resolution switching.