Before you can do this tutorial, you will need the following:

1.  Visual Studio 2005 (or Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition)*.
2.  A knowledge of basic C++ and Win32 programming.
3.  DirectX SDK (February 2005 or later) and a knowledge of its basics.
4.  A burning desire to make games.

* - other versions of C++ compilers will also run DirectX, however, there are some language specific changes you may need to make in each of the demo applications.

This lesson covers the theory of particle engines, what they are, what they do, and how they do it.

The basic component of a particle engine is the "billboard".  In this lesson we will find out how to make one.  It's a lot simpler than it sounds.

In the last lesson, we made a boring (albeit cool looking) particle.  The only problem was, it didn't move.  In this lesson, we'll learn how to handle timing for particles, as well as do basic movements and acceleration.

Now this lesson is where things get cool.  We're going to learn to build a particle emitter so that we can make an actual particle effect.  We'll end up with a real-time 3D fire animation.