Graphics rendering:
I am used to win32 and Borland C++ environments, so I stick to it, but the differences on other environments are mostly only in class names. First some approaches:
- console/text modes
You can use text graphics (ASCII art I think in English). Where point is represented by character. Intensity is made by more or less filled chars. Usually have a table of characters sorted by intensity like " ..:+*#" and use that instead of colors. For printing out something, you can use iostream, like cout << "text" << endl; or printf from stdio I think (I am not been using old-style console output for more than a decade).
Text modes video RAM (VRAM) starts at 0B000:0000 if you have the privileges for it you can do direct access like this:
char far *scr = (char far*)0x0B0000000;
scr[0] = 'A'; // Print A to left upper corner
But on Windows you can forget about direct access.
- VGA graphics mode
(DOS only, not Windows; this is doing direct direct access to the VGA hardware). Here is a small example:
// Turbo C++ for 16-bit real mode DOS
//==============================================================================
char far* scr; // VGA screen
const _sx= 320; // Physical screen size
const _sy= 200;
//==============================================================================
void gfxinit();
void cls();
void pnt(int x,int y,char c);
//==============================================================================
void gfxinit()
{
asm { mov ax,19 // This switches VGA to 320*200*256 color mode (fits inside a single 64 KB segment so no funny stuff is needed)
int 16
}
for (int i=0;i<256;i++) asm { // This overwrites 256 color palette with some BW gradients
mov dx,0x3C8
mov ax,i
out dx,al // Overwrite color al = i
inc dx
shr al,2 // al=al>>2
out dx,al // r,g,b or b,g,r not sure now
out dx,al // All values are 6-bit long, therefore the shr al,2
out dx,al
}
scr=(char far*)0xA0000000; // VRAM start address
}
//==============================================================================
void cls() // This clears the screen with zeros
{
asm { push es
mov ax,0xA000
mov es,ax
mov di,0x0000
sub ax,ax
mov cx,32000
rep stosw
pop es
}
}
//==============================================================================
void pnt(int x,int y,char c) // This draws a single point of color c
{
unsigned int adr;
if (x<_sx)
if (x>=0)
if (y<_sy)
if (y>=0)
{
y=y*_sx;
adr=x+y;
scr[adr]=c;
}
}
//==============================================================================
VESA access is similar, but you have to deal with segment crossing and paging. Here is a small Turbo C++ example:
VESA.h
// Turbo C++, still 16-bit DOS,
// but using VESA calls to set modes instead of VGA registers
//==============================================================================
//=== Globals: =================================================================
//==============================================================================
char far* scr=(char far*)0xA0000000; // VGA/VESA memory pointer
int VESA_page,VESA_pages; // Actual page and total pages
int VESA_xs,VESA_ys,VESA_bpp; // Video mode properties
int VESA_page_xy[64]={-1,-1}; // Starting x,y for each page
const int VESAmodes[]= // Usable video modes table
{
320, 200, 8,0x150,
640, 480, 8,0x101,
800, 600, 8,0x103,
1024, 768, 8,0x105,
1280,1024, 8,0x107,
320, 200,16,0x10E,
640, 480,16,0x111,
800, 600,16,0x114,
1024, 768,16,0x117,
320, 200,32,0x10F,
640, 480,32,0x112,
800, 600,32,0x115,
0,0,0,0
};
//==============================================================================
//=== Headers: =================================================================
//==============================================================================
int VESAmode(int xs,int ys,int bpp); // Set video mode
void VESApage(int page); // Set page
void VESAexit(); // Return to VGA text mode
void VESAcls(); // Clear with 0
void VESApnt(int x,int y,unsigned int c); // Render 8/16 bpp point
void VESApnt32(int x,int y,int r,int g ,int b); // render 32bpp point
//==============================================================================
//=== Graphic: =================================================================
//==============================================================================
int VESAmode(int xs,int ys,int bpp)
{
int i,mode,x,y;
unsigned int adr0,adr,dx,dy;
// find video mode
for (i=0;VESAmodes[i];i+=4)
if (VESAmodes[i+0]==xs)
if (VESAmodes[i+1]==ys)
if (VESAmodes[i+2]==bpp)
break;
if (!VESAmodes[i]) return 0;
mode=VESAmodes[i+3];
VESA_xs=xs;
VESA_ys=ys;
VESA_bpp=bpp;
// Compute start x,y for each page>0
dx=bpp>>3;
dy=xs*dx;
VESA_pages=1;
for (adr=i=x=y=0;y<VESA_ys;y++)
{
adr0=adr;
adr+=dy;
if (adr0>adr)
{
while (adr>0) { adr-=dx; x--; }
while (x<0) { x+=VESA_xs; y--; }
VESA_page_xy[i]=x; i++;
VESA_page_xy[i]=y+1; i++;
VESA_pages++;
}
}
VESA_page_xy[i]=-1; i++;
VESA_page_xy[i]=-1; i++;
// Set video mode
asm {
mov bx,mode
mov ax,0x4F02
int 16
}
VESApage(0);
/*
// Set palette to grayscale
if (VESAbpp==8)
for (int i=0;i<256;i++) asm {
mov dx,0x3C8
mov ax,i
out dx,al
inc dx
shr al,2
out dx,al
out dx,al
out dx,al
}
*/
return 1;
}
//==============================================================================
void VESApage(int page)
{
int p=page;
asm {
mov dx,p
mov bx,0
mov ax,0x4f05
int 16
}
VESA_page=page;
}
//==============================================================================
void VESAexit()
{
asm {
// Wait for key press
mov ax,0
int 0x16
// VGA 80x25 text mode
mov ax,3
int 16
}
}
//==============================================================================
void VESAcls()
{
int i;
for (i=0;i<VESA_pages;i++)
{
VESApage(i);
asm {
push es
mov ax,0xA000
mov es,ax
mov di,0x0000
mov ax,0
mov cx,32000
rep stosw
pop es
}
}
}
//==============================================================================
void VESApnt(int x,int y,unsigned int c)
{
unsigned int adr;
int p;
// inside screen?
if ((x>=0)&&(x<VESA_xs))
if ((y>=0)&&(y<VESA_ys))
{
// Low 16 bit of address
adr=y;
adr*=VESA_xs;
adr+=x;
adr*=(VESA_bpp>>3);
// Page
for (p=0;VESA_page_xy[p+p+0]>=0;p++)
{
if (VESA_page_xy[p+p+1]>y) break;
if (VESA_page_xy[p+p+1]<y) continue;
if (VESA_page_xy[p+p+0]>x) break;
}
if (p!=VESA_page) VESApage(p);
// Render
scr[adr]=c;
if (VESA_bpp==16)
{
adr++; if (adr==0) VESApage(p+1);
scr[adr]=(c>>8);
}
}
}
//==============================================================================
void VESApnt32(int x,int y,int r,int g ,int b)
{
unsigned int adr;
int p;
// inside screen?
if ((x>=0)&&(x<VESA_xs))
if ((y>=0)&&(y<VESA_ys))
{
// Low 16 bit of address
adr=y;
adr*=VESA_xs;
adr+=x;
adr*=(VESA_bpp>>3);
// Page
for (p=0;VESA_page_xy[p+p+0]>=0;p++)
{
if (VESA_page_xy[p+p+1]>y) break;
if (VESA_page_xy[p+p+1]<y) continue;
if (VESA_page_xy[p+p+0]>x) break;
}
if (p!=VESA_page) VESApage(p);
// Render
scr[adr]=b; adr++; if (adr==0) VESApage(p+1);
scr[adr]=g; adr++; if (adr==0) VESApage(p+1);
scr[adr]=r;
}
}
//==============================================================================
//=== End. =====================================================================
//==============================================================================
main.cpp
//==============================================================================
//=== Includes: ================================================================
//==============================================================================
#include "vesa.h"
//==============================================================================
//=== Main: ====================================================================
//==============================================================================
void main()
{
if (!VESAmode(800,600,32)) return;
VESAcls();
int x,y;
unsigned int c;
for (y=0;y<VESA_ys;y++)
for (x=0;x<VESA_xs;x++)
{
if (VESA_bpp== 8)
{
c=x+y;
VESApnt(x,y,c);
}
if (VESA_bpp==16)
{
c=(x&31)+((y&63)<<5);
VESApnt(x,y,c);
}
if (VESA_bpp==32) VESApnt32(x,y,x,x+y,y);
}
VESAexit();
}
//==============================================================================
//=== End. =====================================================================
//==============================================================================
- GDI – usable on Windows
Canvas is graphic subcomponent of visual components on Windows. In Borland is the class TCanvas named Canvas. All windows has it also, PaintBoxes, Bitmaps, .... It is the GDI interface between Windows and your application. It has subcomponents like Pen, Brush, and Font for lines, fills or text paper, texts ink.
Form1->Canvas->Pen->Color=clYellow;
Form1->Canvas->MoveTo(10,10);
Form1->Canvas->LineTo(100,150);
where Form1 is my VCL window. This code draws a yellow line.
GDI has many functions like Arc, Ellipse, Pixels[][],.... See the built-in help of your IDE for more information.
- GDI Bitmap
This is a special object. It is a bitmap with an OS graphic handle (DC device context). This allows a bitmap to be something like a window and have access to GDI:
Graphics::TBitmap *bmp=new Graphics::TBitmap;
bmp->Width=100;
bmp->Height=100;
bmp->HandleType=bmDIB; // Allows use of ScanLine
bmp->PixelFormat=pf32bit; // 32-bit - the same as int so we can use int* for pixels pointer
This creates a VCL bitmap and sets it to 100x100x32 bit with direct access. Now you can access the ScanLine property. Also bmp->Canvas is present, so you can do all GDI stuff too.
int *p=bmp->ScanLine[10]; // p = pointer to y=10 line of bitmap
p[20]=0; // Draw dot on x=20,y=10 color=0x00000000 which is black
int c = p[15]; // Read pixel x=15,y=10 from bitmap to c
Be careful to stay with x,y inside a bitmap or an exception will be thrown. The color coding depends on pixelformat, and usually it is 0x00RRGGBB or 0x00BBGGRR. I think this approach is the best option for you. Also, you can draw any GDI object to any other GDI object:
Form1->Canvas->Draw(0, 0, bmp);
This draws your bitmap to the window, so you can see it actually.
- Graphics library
There are many, but the most used are OpenGL and DirectX. I prefer OpenGL, because it is simpler to implement (at least for starters) and also OpenGL is cross-platform and DirectX is Windows only. Also when I started coding there wasn’t any DirecX. When I started using OpenGL all vendors had it included in the drivers. Now the only vendors which are still up to date are Nvidia and ATI (AMD). There is almost always some driver issue between them, but in general Nvidia is better for OpenGL (has bugs in the DirectX implementation) and ATI (AMD versions only) is better for DirectX (it has bugs in the OpenGL implementation). But for basic operations you are fine (problems gets on more advanced functions).
Vendors like Intel, SiS, etc. have stopped their implementations on newer OpenGL versions. At least, I do not know of any driver better than OpenGL 3.3 for them.
To get started with OpenGL, see OpenGL get Device Context.
I strongly recommend to start with GDI + Bitmap first. You can do a lot with them. I am still using it for non-complex rendering.
As mentioned before, I am Borland (VCL style) friendly, so if you use different compiler/IDE then change the GDI object names to correspond your environment. I think Canvas is the same and bitmap is HBitmap, but better check your help/documentation. At least you know what to search for.
Other platforms and stuff
- Simple graphics in Linux is here: X11/Xlib.h example
- VGA modes in assembly 8086