Playing a Video on a Surface

  • Article

Demonstrates how to use the VideoPlayer to play back videos on the surface of a quad.

Complete Sample

The code in this topic shows you the technique for playing a video on a quad's surface. You can download a complete code sample for this topic, including full source code and any additional supporting files required by the sample.

Download VideoQuad_Sample.zip

Playing Video

To play a video

  1. Create a quad (or other 2D or 3D surface) on which to display the video.

  2. Create a View and Projection matrix for viewing the quad.

    protected override void Initialize()
{
    // Create a scene, including a quad and a view matrix looking at it
    quad = new Quad(Vector3.Zero, Vector3.Backward, Vector3.Up, 1, 1);
    viewMatrix = Matrix.CreateLookAt(new Vector3(0, 0, 2),
        Vector3.Zero, Vector3.Up);
    projectionMatrix = Matrix.CreatePerspectiveFieldOfView(
        MathHelper.PiOver4, 4.0f / 3.0f, 1, 500);

    base.Initialize();
}

  3. Add a video to the game project using the steps outlined in loading resources.

  4. In LoadContent, use the ContentManager to load the video.

  5. Create a new instance of the VideoPlayer.

    Tip

    Set IsLooped to true if you want the video to repeat.

  6. Set up your Effect for drawing.

    Note

    In this case, we use BasicEffect, enabling default lighting and a texture.

    protected override void LoadContent()
{
    // Load a video, and initialize a player
    video = Content.Load<Video>("video");
    player = new VideoPlayer();
    player.IsLooped = true;

    // Setup our BasicEffect for drawing the quad
    worldMatrix = Matrix.CreateScale(video.Width / (float)video.Height, 1, 1);
    basicEffect = new BasicEffect(graphics.GraphicsDevice);
    basicEffect.EnableDefaultLighting();
    basicEffect.World = worldMatrix;
    basicEffect.View = viewMatrix;
    basicEffect.Projection = projectionMatrix;
    basicEffect.TextureEnabled = true;

    // Create a vertex declaration
    vertexDeclaration = new VertexDeclaration(
        new VertexElement[] {
            new VertexElement(0, VertexElementFormat.Vector3,VertexElementUsage.Position, 0),
            new VertexElement(12, VertexElementFormat.Vector3,VertexElementUsage.Normal, 0),
            new VertexElement(24, VertexElementFormat.Vector2,VertexElementUsage.TextureCoordinate,0) 
        }
        );
}

  7. In the Update method, play the video.

    protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
{
    ...
    // Play the video if it isn't already.
    if (player.State != MediaState.Playing)
        player.Play(video);

    base.Update(gameTime);
}

  8. In Draw, if the VideoPlayer is not stopped, call GetTexture to get a copy of the latest frame of video, and link it to your effect.

  9. Draw the object using your effect.

    protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
{
    GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);

    // If the video is playing, get the current frame
    // as a texture. (Calling GetTexture on a stopped
    // player results in an exception)
    if (player.State == MediaState.Playing)
        basicEffect.Texture = player.GetTexture();

    // Draw the quad
    foreach (EffectPass pass in basicEffect.CurrentTechnique.Passes)
    {
        pass.Apply();

        GraphicsDevice.DrawUserIndexedPrimitives
            <VertexPositionNormalTexture>(
                PrimitiveType.TriangleList,
                quad.Vertices, 0, 4,
                quad.Indexes, 0, 2);
    }

    base.Draw(gameTime);
}

See Also

Concepts

Media Overview

Tasks

Playing a Video on a Surface

Reference

Video Class
VideoPlayer Class