What is DirectX?

[ShadowsVoid]

go to Wikipedia and it talks about lots of other things I don't understand. I know it's some interface that's sends instructions to your graphics card, but that's it. Anyone got a good definition?

 

[ezskills]

DirectX enables the program to easily determine the hardware capabilities of your computer, and then sets the program parameters to match. This allows multimedia software programs to run on any Windows-based computer with DirectX compatible hardware and drivers and ensures that the multimedia programs take full advantage of high-performance hardware.
DirectX contains a set of APIs that provide access to the advanced features of high-performance hardware, such as 3-D graphics acceleration chips and sound cards. These APIs control low-level functions, including two-dimensional (2-D) graphics acceleration; support for input devices such as joysticks, keyboards, and mice; and control of sound mixing and sound output. The low-level functions are supported by these components that make up DirectX

 

[ShadowsVoid]

Thanks for the replies guys. Anyone know an easy, understandable definition of OpenGL? What are the differences?

 

[Hawkeye22]

Thanks for the replies guys. Anyone know an easy, understandable definition of OpenGL? What are the differences?

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is just another API. Most games that don't use DirectX use OpenGL. DirectX is a Microsoft API. OpenGL is an open source graphics library.