Have you tried any of the effects that LaserBoy can generate?
There isn't anything that makes a scene like your space ship, but there are some neat effects that can be used to create abstract animations and beam show stuff.
If you look at the contents of ez_ilda_frame_effects.cpp ez_ilda_frame_set_effects.cpp you'll see some of the power of LaserBoy that you might not otherwise see.
All of the elemental concepts of laser vector art have been encapsulated into C++ classes. Simple concepts are conglomerated into more complex concepts. Relationships between elements have been defined as functions and overloaded operators. What this all means is that all of the complexities of an idea like a single frame of colored vertices can be summed up in a single object.
The Pythagorean distance between two 3D points can be expressed as the evaluation of
distance = (point1 | point2);
By using the addition operator, a point can be added to the end of the set of vertices in a frame.
new_frame = frame + point;
Similarly frames can be added together to superimpose their images into the same frame
frame3 = frame1 + frame2;
Frames can be added to the end of a frame set with simple addition as well.
new_frame_set = frame_set + frame;
Points, frames, frame sets, colors, etc... all have overloaded operators defined on them making it possible to get to the business of working with laser vector art without having to see or worry about any of the tiny details.
This also makes it possible for me to add to this framework in a hurry. Once I understand the concept, I know exactly where it fits in this code!
James.
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