Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ll-xn!oberon!nunki.usc.edu!castor.usc.edu!rjung
From: rjung@castor.usc.edu (Robert Jung)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: 3D on the 8-bits (was Re: Advan Basic)
Message-ID: <666@nunki.usc.edu>
Date: 7 Apr 88 16:51:29 GMT
References: <8804052209.AA25737@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Sender: news@nunki.usc.edu
Reply-To: rjung@castor.usc.edu (Robert Jung)
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 34
Summary: Sounds plausable...Any hardware hackers care to reply?


  It was speculated on the net of whether or not 3-D glasses can be used on
the Atari 8-bit, ala "Stereotek" for the ST's is being done from Antic.

  Just to throw in my (ignorant) 2 cents here: I don't see why not.
In theory, all you need is a pair of LCD glasses that can switch the lens
transparency from left to right to left to right every 1/60th of a second,
and have that synchronized with two alternating images shown on the screen.

  From a software point of view, you're probably talking about page-flipping
the pointers to screen RAM every 1/60th of a second, and sending a signal to
the glasses (via the joystick port?) to "switch" the glasses around
accordingly...

  Of course, there's probably a very good technical reason why this can't be
done (Maybe a screen-refresh VBI can't do this much work?), and I really
don't know what I'm talking about (much less how to actually WRITE such
code  B-), but it's too early for me to think coherently anyway...


						--R.J.
						B-)

P.S. The only other place where this glasses technology is being used is on
the Sega game system, which works exactly the same as the Stereotek
glasses...But then again, the Sega uses a 68000.

P.P.S. If anyone's wondering, the upcoming "3D" episode of Moonlighting (May?)
will *not* use anything this elaborate...
______________________________________________________________________________
Bitnet: rjung@castor.usc.edu              "Who needs an Amiga?"    = == =    
                                                                   = == =    
                  Power WithOUT the Price                          = == =    
                                                               ===== == =====
   Just because it's 8-bits doesn't make it obsolete.          ====  ==  ====