Introduction to Avalon (Windows Presentation Foundation)

Introduction 

In my first article, I want to describe some important features related to this new technology that will change the way of thinking about graphics. First of all, let's define it:

AVALON is an engine that paints pixels on the screen. It's a tool that is used to generate graphics, animations, shapes, combining 2D with 3D very easy.

Features:  

1. Everything is vector based and not pixels based, as in GDI/GDI+.
   
   Explanation: Each image contains a mathematical description of itself and is formed of moving key-points and paths.
   
   Advantages: The file size is far more less than for bitmaps, because it needs only stored instructions and not data for each image pixel - Each vector image can be reused, by means of modifying its size or shape, without lowering the quality; as for bitmaps, these actions can lead to pixelization, rough edges.
   
   
2. It is hardware accelerated; everything is loaded using the video card. This will reduce the workload on CPU.
   
   
3. It's an unified framework
   
   
   • You can combine animations, shapes into a single application, single environment
   • It has also 2D with 3D integration (Avalon lets 3D models to be used seamlessly in 2D environments).
   • Provides shape primitives for 2D graphics along with a built-in set of brushes, pens, transforms.
     
     
4. Provides interoperability with Win32 - one can use Avalon into existing Win32 code or one can use existing Win32 code with Avalon.
   
   
5. Provides time-based animations, in contrast to the frame-based approach. This feature delinks the speed of the animation from how the system is performing.
   
   
6. Regarding user interface, WPF has the ability to perform control composition, which means a control can contain any other control or layout. What do you need to use WPF? This new technology is designed to be used on Vista OS. But you can run it on WinXp also, by installing a special package called WinFX Runtime Components, available on the web.