Building a 3D "Hello, world!" application

In the Delphi IDE, select Create new Multi-Device Application and choose 3D Application from the dialog window that will pop up. You will see the dialog in the following screenshot, with the 3D Application entry highlighted:

Figure 13.1

The IDE will prepare the new application by adding a form. Differently from what we are used to, this form inherits from the FMX.Forms3D.TForm3D class rather than the FMX.Forms.TForm class. It basically incorporates an instance of FMX.Types3D.TContext3D and implements the FMX.Controls3D.IViewport3D interface. This enables the form to act as a host for 3D controls.

In other words, the form will be used as a 3D container for our scene. However, many other aspects of the form are unchanged with respect to the TForm (2D) version. For example, you can change the Color property of the form from the default value (White) to a custom value (Silver) and you'll notice the change immediately...