[HFP]

I'm just starting to develop by using WinUI 3 (Project Reunion), but unfortunately it seems to be complicated (or even impossible) to use the amazing AB4D toolbox here, especially PowerToys on DXEngine.

One problem is obsolete dependency declaration of SharpDX nuget packages.

Maybe easy to solve by integrating some kind of "private SharpDX fork" in DXEngine, allowing newer .NET versions/variants.

It could be expected that SharpDX 4.2 source should run here just out of the box, isn't it?

Are there any further problems for DXEngine in next-gen .NET (resp. WinUI 3)?

Best wishes,
Hagen

[abenedik]

It is true that SharpDX packages are not being actively developed anymore, but because DirectX 11 API is also not changing they are 100% correct and stable. They can also work without any problems in .Net 5 applications.

The problem with WinUI is that Ab3d.PowerToys library depends on WPF 3D objects that are not present in WinUI - there is no MeshGeometry3D, GeometryModel3D and other 3D related objects; there is even no Point3D and Vector3D structs.

It would be possible to use only Ab3d.DXEngine without any WPF objects - using only classes from Ab3d.DXEngine.dll. You would need to work with low level SceneNode objects and define your own camera controllers. This would require a much bigger effort compared to when you can also use all the helper objects from Ab3d.PowerToys library.

Then it would be possible to create a shared texture that would be shared between Ab3d.DXEngine and WinUI.

But I am not planning to provide official support for that.


Instead, a new Vulkan based rendering engine is being developed. It will be truly cross-platform and will be able to integrate with many different UI engines - including WPF, WinForms, AvaloniaUI, Glfw and others. It will be able to run on Windows, Linux, Android, iOS and MacOS.

WinUI support is also on a wish list. It is great that WinUI supports multiple ways of using DirectX shared textures. Though I must say that I am very disappointed by Microsoft because the SurfaceImageSource control does not provide the SetDevice, BeginDraw and EndDraw methods from C# and forces you to use c++ there (don't they know that there are many managed libraries there to work with DirectX ?!?!). If there is anyone that knows how to use SurfaceImageSource control from C#, please send me a sample on how to do that - this will surely speed up adding support for WinUI.


And for a simple preview of the new engine, there is a screenshot of a simple test application that is running on Linux where the rendered 3D scene is composed with the UI elements in the AvaloniaUI application:
Vulkan rendering engine running in AvaloniaUI (pre-alpha version)

EDITED:
And another screenshot with more complex scene and test environment:
Vulkan test app (pre-alpha version)

[HFP]

... WinUI support is also on a wish list.
... how to do that - this will surely speed up adding support for WinUI.

Thanks a lot, Andrej, your answer helps very much to understand the actual conditions!

Fortunately, there's really no urgency for WinUI, and the good "old" WPF is still the best choice for user-friendly Windows Apps on all screen sizes and input options (especially touch vs. mouse), IMHO ...

And as we know the "good old" Microsoft for so many years, it could always a good idea to wait (or even doubt) a little bit when these Redmond boys are presenting their future plans, isn't it?

Cheers,
Hagen