7.6. Video and 3-D

Although it is beyond the scope of this book to talk about media and 3-D in detail, it is worth being aware of the support for these features.

Video is supported with the MediaElement type. This element can be added anywhere in the UI tree. Simply set its Source property to refer to the video stream it should play, as Example 7-49 shows.

Example 7-49. Using MediaElement

<MediaElement Source="C:\WINDOWS\system32\oobe\images\intro.wmv" Stretch="Fill" />

3-D content is supported through the Viewport3D control. As far as WPF's layout system is concerned, the Viewport3D is just a rectangular control, and it will be sized and positioned like any other control. However, you provide the control with 3-D model, lighting, and camera position information, and it will render that model. The control acts as a window onto a 3-D scene, as shown in Example 7-50.

Example 7-50. Viewport3D

<Viewport3D ClipToBounds="true">
    <Viewport3D.Camera>
        <PerspectiveCamera NearPlaneDistance="1" FarPlaneDistance="100"
                           LookAtPoint="0,0,0" Position="30, -2, 20" Up="0, 0, 1"
                           FieldOfView="45" />
    </Viewport3D.Camera>

    <Viewport3D.Models>

        <Model3DGroup>
            <DirectionalLight Color="#FFFFFFFF" Direction="10,25,-1" />
            <AmbientLight Color="#66666666" />

            <GeometryModel3D>
                <GeometryModel3D.Geometry>
                    <MeshGeometry3D
                        TriangleIndices="0 1 2  1 2 3  2 3 0  0 1 3"
                        Normals="-1,-1,0 1,-1,0 1,0,0 0,0,1"
                        Positions="-2,-2,-2  2,-2,-2  0,2,-2  0,0,1"/>

                </GeometryModel3D.Geometry>
                <GeometryModel3D.Material>
                    <MaterialGroup>
                        <DiffuseMaterial Brush="LightGreen" />
                        <SpecularMaterial Brush="White" />
                    </MaterialGroup>

                </GeometryModel3D.Material>
            </GeometryModel3D >
        </Model3DGroup>
    </Viewport3D.Models>
</Viewport3D>

This sets up a very simple 3-D model containing a single square-based pyramid. Figure 7-58 shows the result. The model also contains some light sources to make sure the model is visible. And the Viewport3D also has a camera position specified.

Figure 7-58. Viewport3D (Color Plate 2)

In practice, you would normally use some kind of 3-D design tool to create 3-D models, so you would not typically expect to be working with model markup such as that shown in Example 7-50. The Viewport3D just provides a convenient way of integrating the results into your visual tree.