.NET 4.0 Beta 1 was released a few weeks ago and there’s a lot to it that you can read about elsewhere so I thought I would just stick to what’s changed for WPF graphics. These are the biggest things of note:

• RenderOptions.ClearTypeHint: If WPF renders text into a potentially transparent surface (e.g. a layered window like a menu or popup) we use grayscale anti-aliasing instead of ClearType because if the transparent surface is blended with another transparent surface, the ClearType will get messed up. Now with ClearTypeHint you can tell us to use ClearType and we’ll trust you that things aren’t transparent.
• The BitmapEffect classes are now no-ops. They are still there so your apps will compile but don’t expect them to do anything.
• The default RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode (Unspecified) is now Linear instead of Fant. If you still want Fant, you can re-enable it.
• Pixel Shader 2.0 is now required for hardware acceleration. Yes, if your card was Tier 1 but did not have PS 2.0 it is now Tier 0.
• The memory leak that was easy to hit with software 3D has been fixed. I already mentioned this.
• A common VisualBrush.Visual disconnect crash has been fixed. It’s in the same KB article as the memory leak.

That’s not much but that’s because we’ve been saving things for Beta 2. Stay tuned!

-- Jordan