We’ve just released a major update to the SIMD vector types we’ve blogged about earlier (first announcement, second update).
We’ve now made the vector library a lot more more useful for typical graphics operations. We added matrix types, a plane type, and a quaternion type. We’ve also added many methods that are often used on fixed size vectors, such as Lerp
, DistanceSquared
, Normalize
, and Reflect
.
We also completed our SIMD support for primitive types by adding support for Vector<uint>
and Vector<ulong>
.
Getting the new bits
In order to try out the update, you’ll need the following components:
- RyuJIT CPT 5 and checkout the announcement
- System.Numerics.Vectors NuGet package
Changes in this release
The first thing you’ll notice is that we renamed the package from Microsoft.Bcl.Simd
to System.Numerics.Vectors
. We intend to ship more .NET components on NuGet so we felt that we need to use a better naming convention that allows people to find our packages.
We decided to simply match our namespace and assembly naming convention. However, in case your project already references Microsoft.Bcl.Simd
, you can simply upgrade. In that case your project will automatically add a reference to System.Numerics.Vectors
and show a README
file that tells you to remove the now superfluous reference to Microsoft.Bcl.Simd
.
Here is the list of API changes we performed:
- We’ve added support for
Vector<uint>
andVector<ulong>
. We now support all integral types, including unsigned - Added new types
Matrix3x2
Matrix4x4
Plane
Quaternion
- Made fixed size vector types more useful by adding a bunch of methods:
Distance
,DistanceSquared
Length
,LengthSquared
Lerp
Normalize
Reflect
SquareRoot
Transform
,TransformNormal
- Renamed
Vector2f
,Vector3f
,Vector4f
by removing thef
suffix - Merged
VectorMath
withVector
andVector1
,Vector2
,Vector3
- Moved all static methods from
Vector<T>
to the non-genericVector
class - Renamed
Vector<T>.Length
toVector<T>.Count
We’ve also updated the SIMD samples to be compatible with the new version.
Summary
Today, we’ve released RyuJIT CTP 5 and a much improved System.Numerics.Vectors NuGet package which adds support for more graphics related APIs.
Please provide feedback as we’re trying to lock down the API design. You can simply leave a comment here or send us an email via the contact form.
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