Hello everybody. I was just wondering if it was possible to draw pixels with D3D. I was thinking of drawing the object as a point list, but wouldnt that be a little slow? I am trying to write a ray tracer but my software version just doesnt work and I dont have alot of experience with OpenGL. Also, is it possible to create a vertex buffer that can be expanded? For example could one write a function that "draws" a pixel (actually adding a vertex to the vertex buffer) instead of having an array of them? Thanks.

DONT use d3d to plot pixels, its slow.
DONT use opengl to plot pixels, its slow.
DO use directdraw with system memory surfaces.
DO use DIBs if you dont want to use directdraw.

i dont understand why your software one dont work. if its because you have trouble plotting pixels, then you have more problems then you think and should look into learning about c/c++, arrays, and pointers. you should also be VERY comfortable with those before even starting a ray tracer.

btw you cant use dx8, you will have to use dx3-dx7 (take your pick) to access directdraw. you DONT have to install the older sdk, nor have to install the older dx runtime. just have to create the older directdraw object. if that dont make sense, add learning directx to your list of things todo.