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From: vrm@blackwater.cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu (Vasile R. Montan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Advice on icon animation wanted
Message-ID: <1116@babcock.cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu>
Date: 17 Dec 90 15:55:43 GMT
Sender: news@cerc.wvu.wvnet.edu
Reply-To: un020070@vaxa.wvnet.edu
Lines: 29

I am writing a program in which I am animating a lot of icons
at one time.  I want to keep the animation smooth and clean, and
I also want to keep everything going at a constant rate regardless
of the processor speed, which means that I will somehow have to involve
the tick counter.  I can think of two strategies for doing this:

#1: Have the main program be constantly thinking about the animation
of the icons, but handle the actual animation during the video
horizontal retrace, when the processor is interrupted and when no
drawing is taking place on the screen.  I could have a queue of
icons to be plotted, and plot just one during each retrace cycle.
(I have never written a routine for the horizontal retrace interrupt,
however, so this would mean doing some figuring.)

#2: Handle the animation wholly in the main program, looking at
the tick counter to calculate the position of an icon at any
given time.

If anyone has done anything like this, I would appreciate your guidance.

Second question:  How do you draw an icon in XOR?  Is this possible
with the easy-to-use PlotIcon, or do I have to mess with some kind
of bit transfer?

Thank you again!
--Kurisuto (who is not Vasile)
un020070@vaxa.wvnet.edu
"At times like these, it helps to remember that there have always
been times like these."