Re: vectorbeam hardware

On Thu, 25 Nov 1999 01:28:21 -0800 (PST), Adam Wiggins <adam@angel.com> wrote:

>
>Hi,
>
> I'm messing around with programming a vector monitor directly. I'm not
>very knowledgable about hardware, so I'm doing it all in software.
>However, I've encountered a problem which could probably be answered by
>knowing how vector game hardware works, and I assume there's a few people
>that know about that sort of thing on this mailing list. :)
>
>The question is: when drawing a line segment, how does one achieve a
>smooth, perfectly straight, unbroken line between points? I can do it on
>the vertical and horizontal axis, but when I want to draw a diagonal I
>have to regulate the velocity of the beam myself. I do this by breaking
>the line up into an arbitrary number of segments and plotting each point
>incrementally according to y = mx + b.
>
>This works, but unfortunately it's not very pretty. If I don't pause at
>each point, I get little bends and curves in the line that make it look
>sort of wiggly. If I do pause, it exhibits little breaks along its length
>(which, I've noticed, look almost exactly like the vector lines in
>Asteriods Deluxe).
>
>Is there a trick to this that I'm missing? I've tried a large number of
>different subdivisions and delay constants, none of which seem to make too
>much of a difference.
>
>Any insights would be much appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>Adam

Hey Adam,

You need to give us a little more description on what hardware you are
programming. The title says "vectorbeam hardware". Does this mean you're
programming a full Vectorbeam system (Star Castle, etc.)? Or have you connected
some other CPU to a Vectorbeam monitor? Or are you using "vectorbeam" as a
generic term for vector programming?

Each vector system works differently. You'll have to explain which system you
are using, and I'm sure someone will have some answers.

-Zonn
Received on Thu Nov 25 14:26:15 1999