   Is FX Composer the right program?
  I’ve designed a landmark in 3ds max and converted it to .x now loading it in a dx window I should adjust alpha maps and reflections and lights and camera and so on.Is there some way to see the rendered mesh in directx just like what I see in my designing program? As it seems from the fx composer user’s guide I guess this is the right choice but the program (version 2) itself and the guide doesn’t matchIn the guide it says click on new effect and then choose one from templates, it has a texture and reflection but on my computer it’s just a wireframe sphere with no texture or anything, I can only change the name of the material. I run it on both vista and xp,First thing I wanna know is that if I choose the right software and second is does version 2 really has these bugs and is it better to download the older version?Thanks in advance   
  There is an effect viewer in the DirectX SDK, though i've never really tried to use it properly. FX Composer or Rendermonkey should do it too.   ;Quote:Is there some way to see the rendered mesh in directx just like what I see in my designing program?No, Direct3D is a step lower down than this - it's the technology used to write those sorts of tools. As Dave commented, things like 'dxviewer', 'fxcomposer' and 'rendermonkey' are the things you need to look at.The tools provided by the IHV's are phenomenally powerful for rapid prototyping and data-driven applications, but you have to be aware that they're not necessarily standardised. For example, the FXComposer generated .fx files often contain semantics that are tailored for the tool and thus require a bit of (guess-)work to integrate into your own code.hthJack   ;  Thank you so much, but please aware me of version 2 of fx composer, yet the guide provided is not what I see on the main program. May be if I find some other guide or a sort of tutorial it can help.Do you use the second version or the 1.8 release is more recommended. I ask this because it took me so long to download it, I’ve already feel failed with the latest version, but if you say fx composer is the right program may be downloading the older version can help, in other words is it true that I can’t use the current version?Thanks again;  My understanding is that FXComposer 2.0 is still a fairly new release. You'd like to think they released a high-quality polished product but I've seen reports to the contrary.Ideally, stick with 2.0 as it's the "latest-n-greatest" version. However it might take some time before documentation and samples catch up.If you really can't get anywhere with 2.0 then rolling back to 1.8 is probably your only choice. I can't imagine you'll be requiring any of the new features added since 1.8...hthJack   ;Quote:Original post by jollyjeffersMy understanding is that FXComposer 2.0 is still a fairly new release.Its not even a release yet, its still a beta.On my SM2.0 cards it won't get beyond the splash box.   ;  Oh right! I assumed that the "shade your world" contest this site is running was tied to the RTM launch of FXComposer 2.0... Didn't cross my mind that they'd run a competition against beta software [oh]Jack   ;  As far as I know 2.0 is final as the already work on the next version with SM 4.0 support.   ;  ok I've downloaded the earlier version now I want to add the alpha mapuser guide doesn't contain help for such things, it explain what does every menu item and option do.I googled fx composer tutorial but i could not find a good guideDo you guys know a nice source of tutorial?I tried playing with the program but i couldn't add the opacity map   