Re: ZVG: new vector possibilities

On Wednesday, September 11, 2002, at 02:49 PM, zonn@zonn.com wrote:

> There's no ability for curves. There's also no changing colors
> along the line.
>
> Using smaller vectors is fine for drawing curves, though
> eventually, even if the
> monitor might keep up, you'll hit an I/O bandwidth limit (you
> can't treat the
> display as raster monitor, using a 1024x768 point grid and draw
> only points.).

Yes, I know that any curve would be made of short, straight
lines. But Zektor's faster drawing rate, combined with the extra
processing power of a PC, will enable a game design to include
curves that the old vector generators could not have managed.

> Filled shapes? Now you're progressing just like the arcade
> designers did. Your
> talking about the next logical step which was done in I, Robot.

I'm talking about a VectorPlus(tm) look that is next-generation
to the existing vector games, but simpler than raster 3-D. I
would only use filled shapes as small accents, such as the ball
on the tip of a laser blast, or the beacon light on top of a
tower.

Another interesting use of extra drawing power would be to
"stroke" big objects with multiple lines, so that edges appear
wider in close-up and narrow off into the distance. (See Sark's
carrier in Tron for this effect.) Reducing brightness on
receding lines can also have a profound effect, a la Vectrex Web
Wars.

Yes, I know there are still limits; but the limits are more
relaxed. That means more tools for dreamers and game designers
to experiment with.

With all this talk of what Zektor *can't* do, I feel obligated
to test its limits and discover what it *can* do. ;-)

> As soon as you talk about filled shapes your talking about
> graphic engines in
> raster displays which is what vector displays evolved into.
>
> -ZOnn
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Received on Wed Sep 11 16:28:49 2002