I want to make an image viewer for large images (up to 2000 x 8000 pixels) with very responsive zooming and panning, say 30 FPS or more. One option I came up with is to create a 3D scene with the image as a sort of fixed billboard, then move the camera forward/back to zoom and up/down/left/right to pan.
That basic idea seems reasonable to me, but I don't have experience with 3D graphics. Is there some fundamental thing I'm missing that will make my idea difficult or impossible? What might cause problems or be challenging to implement well? What part of this design will limit the maximum image size? Any guesses as to what framerate I might achieve?
I also welcome any guidance or suggestions on how to approach this task for someone brand new to Direct3D.