VB / C Graphical programming question (in DirectX?)
 
I would like to develop a VB program that will display a large image (like
2500x2500 pixels) in a scrollable window. On the image there will be
icons (about 1500), and I would like to have some of them (like 500)
animated (in fixed positions but changing images, like animated GIFs
do)

Portions of the background will change occasionally (under the icons),
but not very often, like once every minute or so.

Another thing I would like to have is a lot (1000?) small points
traveling around the image, like single pixels following pre-defined
paths.

All this is way beyond Visual Basic's capability, I think, and I was
thinking of having a custom control developed, maybe in C and maybe
using DirectX. This would leave my VB program very simple to change
and isolated from the graphical part, where life is harder..

Here are the questions:

Is it possible to have a portion of the screen drawn by a component
with DirectX within a standard VB form?

What other solutions are feasible?

Thanks

frox-ga