Compositing Graphics in WPF

The WPF compositing engine enables applications to combine text, graphics, and video and apply visual effects such as rotation. This screen shot shows a WPF sample application demonstrated by Microsoft at its Sept. 2005 Professional Developers Conference. The application is designed to run as an in-store kiosk for North Face that gives potential customers information about North Face’s outdoor products.

The application combines several graphic elements:

• The background is a series of still images; each is displayed for a few seconds while the camera pans across it and then dissolves into the next image. (An effect sometimes known as “Ken Burns” after the director of the TV documentary The Civil War, where the effect was first popularized.)
• On top of the background effect, four video clips are played. Each clip is curved slightly and rotates around a common center. The audio of the frontmost clip is played and then slowly fades out as the clip moves past.
• The text “Ama Dablam