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Case Study

Custom Graphics Engine

Graphics Engine DeveloperRendering Programmer

  • DirectX 11
  • C++
  • HLSL
  • Dear ImGui
  • Visual Studio
  • GitHub

Overview: A fully functional real-time 3D graphics engine built from scratch in C++ using DirectX 11, developed over the course of an advanced graphics programming course. The engine supports a complete rendering pipeline including physically-based shading, dynamic lighting, shadow mapping, and a custom content pipeline. Constructed incrementally from a blank Visual Studio project to a playable, hardware-accelerated build.

View on GitHub (opens in a new tab)
Real-time rendering demo from the custom DirectX 11 graphics engine

Explore the Engine

  • Move: WASD, plus Space / X for up and down
  • Look: hold left mouse button and drag
  • Tweak: ImGui panels control cameras, entities, lights, fog, blur, and a shadow-map preview
  • Quit: Esc

Run It Locally (Windows)

  1. Open D3D11Starter.sln in Visual Studio 2022 (Desktop development with C++, Windows 10 SDK).
  2. Restore NuGet packages (DirectXTK).
  3. Select x64 / Debug, then build and run.
Troubleshooting
  • Include-path error: remove or update the machine-specific ImGui path in the project file.
  • Missing resources: keep the compiled .cso shaders beside the executable and the Assets folder two levels below it.

Key Features

  • DirectX 11 rendering pipeline
  • Custom OBJ mesh loader
  • PBR shading & gamma correction
  • Normal & cube map support
  • Shadow mapping
  • Real-time camera system
  • Box blur post-processing
  • Multi-mode fog system
  • Height-based fog
  • Dear ImGui debug interface
  • Playable build

Contributions

  • Architected a real-time 3D rendering pipeline from scratch in C++ and DirectX 11 - devices, swap chains, render targets, and a custom OBJ mesh loader with material support.
  • Authored HLSL shaders implementing physically-based rendering (PBR) with albedo, normal maps, and cube-map reflections, plus a dynamic shadow mapping system.
Dynamic lighting demo from the custom DirectX 11 graphics engine
  • Built a full post-processing suite: screen-space box blur and a multi-mode fog system (linear/smoothstep/exponential, with optional height-based falloff), all runtime-adjustable.
Box blur post-processing demo from the custom DirectX 11 graphics engine Fog system demo from the custom DirectX 11 graphics engine
  • Integrated Dear ImGui for a live debug UI, letting scene, shader, and post-processing parameters be tuned in real time during development.
  • Managed the full content pipeline [texture loading, environment setup, camera system with real-time navigation] supporting a playable, hardware-accelerated build.

Impact

  • Built a complete, hardware-accelerated rendering pipeline from a blank Visual Studio project within a single course term.
  • Demonstrates end-to-end low-level graphics programming: device management, shader authoring, PBR shading, and custom post-processing effects.