Im actually a bit surprised that TGC is putting so much effort into DirectX10 already, we're at least a couple years from general adoption of Vista and Dx10 cards. Sure hard core gamers/hobbiests and most developers will be early adopters but lets face it, these arent your (as the game maker) actual target audiance, they, after all, have little tolerance for non AAA titles.
For at least the next couple years making completely dx10 games will almost certainly guarantee low sales, game makers will be forced to do dx9 and dx10 iterations for at least a couple years. Just look at the dismal sales of Vista only titles (compared to console/dx9), thats not a fluke.
Just take a look at Steams Hardware Survey statistics.
http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html
That said, it is a good time to start getting used to the capabilities of dx10 now, this also means that the new skills curve will develop more or less hand in hand with the greater over all acceptance of dx10 and Vista. Plus cheap dx10 hardware is available, and because dx10/dual-core IS the paradigm shift there wont be any big changes for a few years.
I use a lot of tools to help me make media, texture maker for instance, I expect a dx10 capable version will show up before too long.
None of that stuff really matters though, and lets be honest here. very few titles made with FPSC actually need everthing that Dx9 has hell most could probably be made with little noticable difference from dx7 stuff, hardly any models even approach AAA quality, but and heres the important thing... THAT DOESNT MATTER. Its all about fun, and bringing your vision to life, if you happen to learn something on the way that helps you make up your mind career-wise consider that a bonus.
So no, DX10 will not impact media creation for anyone other than those working on AAA titles already. The rest of us just need representations to bring our visions to life.
-Gooney
