Microsoft releases Direct3D 10.1 preview with Shader Model 4.1

Microsoft has released version the August 2007 version of its DirectX SDK. As part of the new version, the company provides a Direct3D 10.1 tech preview, which includes a range of new rendering features, such as dynamic texture cube arrays, Shader Model 4.1 and block compressed textures.

While the software is available as a free download, Microsoft said that the Direct3D 10.1 preview will require Vista SP1 Beta, which will be available to MSDN subscribers “once it is publicly released”.

The new DSK also comes with XAudio2 Beta, a new cross-platform audio API, supporting cross-platform DSP effects, per-voice filtering, arbitrary submixing, and multi-rate processing.

Microsoft said that it will be releasing DirectX updates four times per year. The next updates are planned for November 2007, March 2008, June 2008 and August 2008.