   Simple GUI Question
  Hey I''m making some progress with my 3D Engine I''m working on (In C# Managed DirectX) and I want to start adding a GUI to the program, like a HUD or on screen Map etc. I was wondering how this is usually done, for example drawing a map window onto the screen that can be moved around like a regular "Windows" window. I understand that I''ll have to write the windows drawing code and mouse moving etc, but how do people generally draw the gui, is it done using texture mapped triangles, or sprites or is there another way to draw to the top surface of the screen (on top of all the 3D stuff).Also I''ve seen games where the GUI become transparent or fades when inactive, which method would be best to do something like this? Although initially that isn''t something I want to impliment i''m just curious. Thanks for your help in advance,Chris 
  bumpty bump, anyone got any suggestions ;  well, you could prolly use a textured quad and blend it with the background. Just render it using orthographic view on top of your scene. Or read up something about Stencil Buffers. They might help you implement certain HUD elements such as a minimap and so on.anyway, be sure to post your findings here... I''m a newbie to 3d too so I''d like to see how you do it. Be sure to experiment with things! ;  Quads sounds about what I was thinking, I have no idea what stencil buffers are and google ain''t helping much, can u shove something under my nose to get me started (simple description will do) ;  i cheat and just use ParaGUI (SDL). Is that a valid answer? I mean, why waste an additonal 2 years programming a GUI when someone else has already done it for you? ;  Ok well here is a possible better implementation, although there is no founding evidence to that statement. Try using a Sprite. Just stick the image on to the screen and check for hits.I also use the sprite system for my cursor and it works well. D3DX utility libruary has most of the features you need. That or you could manually write the UI object to the screen pixel for pixel. :DHope this helps ;  Use texture mapped triangles/polys. I think this site has a tutorial on doing 2d drawing with Direct3d. That way you can do the stuff like transparency and fading really easily using alpha blending. Also if you wanted to get some cool effects you could have windows rotate, etc(but then you wouldn''t actually be a 2d window...) ;  I am actually starting work on a directx based gui also.  I''m using textured quads, for the record. ;  I just went with textured quads. works pretty well, thanks for feedback 