DotWarp

What is this?

DotWarp is an easy-to-use 3D software rasterization library, which produces 2D rendered images from 3D mesh files. It uses WARP, a 3D software rasterizer built-in to Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / Server 2008 R2 / Server 2012, for the actual rasterization. It is a .NET 4.0 project.

For more information about WARP, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg615082.aspx.

System requirements

DotWarp has some fairly specific requirements / prerequisites:

1. .NET 4.0
2. Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / Server 2008 R2 / Server 2012 (WARP is only supported on these platforms)
3. Latest DirectX End-User Runtime

Quick start

1. Install DotWarp using NuGet.
2. Read the wiki for information on using DotWarp to render 3D scenes.

Why should I use DotWarp?

• You want to render 3D images in a server-side environment (such as ASP.NET).

How to use DotWarp

DotWarp relies on Meshellator to import meshes from 3D files (currently, Meshellator only supports .obj and .3ds files). Materials are loaded from the mesh files, and default lighting is used.

Scene scene = MeshellatorLoader.ImportFromFile("Models/3ds/85-nissan-fairlady.3ds");
using (WarpSceneRenderer renderer = new WarpSceneRenderer(scene, 800, 600))
{
	renderer.Initialize();

	Camera camera = new PerspectiveCamera
	{
		FarPlaneDistance = 100000,
		NearPlaneDistance = 1,
		FieldOfView = MathUtility.PI_OVER_4,
		LookDirection = new Vector3D(-1, -0.3f, 1),
		Position = new Point3D(3000, 1500, -1500),
		UpDirection = Vector3D.Up
	};

	BitmapSource bitmap = renderer.Render(camera);

	// Can save bitmap, or do something else with it.
	PngBitmapEncoder e = new PngBitmapEncoder();
	e.Frames.Add(BitmapFrame.Create(bitmap));
	using (Stream stream = File.OpenWrite("output.png"))
		e.Save(stream);
}

This renders the following image: