A triangle strip is a group of triangles where each one shares 2 vertices with the last one.
So for example
triangle 1 would use verts 0,1,2
triangle 2 would use verts 1,2,3
triangle 3 would use verts 2,3,4
and so on.
Reusing verts like this speeds up rendering because the transformed (rotated and translated) verts can be stored in a fast cache area on the graphics card and don't need to be transformed again.
You have to tell DirectX that you are sending it verts in triangle strip order and you have to break your model down into strips.
I believe NVidia had a free tool for breaking a model into strips for you so that was a no brainer.
So for example
triangle 1 would use verts 0,1,2
triangle 2 would use verts 1,2,3
triangle 3 would use verts 2,3,4
and so on.
Reusing verts like this speeds up rendering because the transformed (rotated and translated) verts can be stored in a fast cache area on the graphics card and don't need to be transformed again.
You have to tell DirectX that you are sending it verts in triangle strip order and you have to break your model down into strips.
I believe NVidia had a free tool for breaking a model into strips for you so that was a no brainer.