.net based fractal rendering/ray tracing

[JColyer]

Anybody out there using .net to write their rendering software?  I'm a C#/.Net programmer by trade, but only sever side and web based stuff.  When it comes to windows GUI programming - well - I've got no clue.  I read a lot about the coding behind ray tracers, but with my lack of windows GUI knowledge I'm totally hosed.

James

[David Makin]

Lack of Windows GUI programming knowledge is the main reason I use Ultra Fractal - plus the fact that I'm sick of all the issues relating to software development under Windows in C/C++ etc.

[Snakehand]

Lack of Windows GUI programming knowledge is the main reason I use Ultra Fractal - plus the fact that I'm sick of all the issues relating to software development under Windows in C/C++ etc.

One solution which I use, is SDL - it is originally inteded for games, but can be used as a simple cross platform UI.

For illustration I  have attached a "shell" that I use for my GPU fractal renderer. The following snippet is all the GUI code that is needed for simple key driven interaction.

Code:

#include "SDL.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include "Bulber.h"


void UpdateScreen( SDL_Surface *screen, Bulber* bulb)
{
    unsigned char *raw_pixels;
    SDL_LockSurface(screen);

    raw_pixels = (unsigned char*)screen->pixels;

    bulb->Blit( raw_pixels, screen->pitch );

    SDL_UnlockSurface(screen);
    SDL_UpdateRect(screen,0,0,0,0);
}


int main()
{
    SDL_Surface *screen;

    /* Initialize SDL's video system and check for errors */
    if (SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO) != 0) {
               printf("Unable to initialize SDL: %s\n",
                      SDL_GetError());
               return 1;
    };

    /* Make sure SDL_Quit gets called when the
     * program exits! */
    atexit(SDL_Quit);

    /* Attempt to set a 640x480 24bpp video mode */
    screen = SDL_SetVideoMode(800,600,24,SDL_SWSURFACE );//  | SDL_RESIZABLE);
    if (screen == NULL) {
        printf("Unable to set video mode: %s\n",
               SDL_GetError());
        return 1;
    };

    /* If we got this far, everything worked */
 
    int x,y;
    Bulber bulb(800,600);
    float cx = 0.0f;
    float cy = 0.0f;
    float cz = -4.0f;
    float zoom = 1.0f;

    bulb.Calc( cx, cy, cz, zoom );
    UpdateScreen(screen, &bulb);

    SDL_EnableKeyRepeat(300,100);

    SDL_Event event;
    bool run = true;
    for(;run;) {
        SDL_WaitEvent(&event);
        switch (event.type) {
        case SDL_KEYDOWN:
            switch(event.key.keysym.sym){
            case SDLK_a:
                cz -= 0.01 / zoom;
                bulb.Calc( cx, cy, cz, zoom );
                UpdateScreen(screen, &bulb);
                break;
            case SDLK_z:
                cz += 0.01 / zoom;
                bulb.Calc( cx, cy, cz, zoom );
                UpdateScreen(screen, &bulb);
                break;
            case SDLK_LEFT:
                cx -= 0.04f /zoom;
                bulb.Calc( cx, cy, cz, zoom );
                UpdateScreen(screen, &bulb);
                break;
            case SDLK_RIGHT:
                cx += 0.04f /zoom;
                bulb.Calc( cx, cy, cz, zoom );
                UpdateScreen(screen, &bulb);
                break;
            case SDLK_UP:
                cy -= 0.1f /zoom;
                bulb.Calc( cx, cy, cz, zoom );
                UpdateScreen(screen, &bulb);
                break;
            case SDLK_DOWN:
                cy += 0.1f /zoom;
                bulb.Calc( cx, cy, cz, zoom );
                UpdateScreen(screen, &bulb);
                break;
            case SDLK_PAGEUP:
                zoom = zoom / 1.1f;
                bulb.Calc( cx, cy, cz, zoom );
                UpdateScreen(screen, &bulb);
                break;
            case SDLK_PAGEDOWN:
                zoom = zoom * 1.1f;
                bulb.Calc( cx, cy, cz, zoom );
                UpdateScreen(screen, &bulb);
                break;
            default:
                break;
            }
            break;

        case SDL_QUIT:
            run = false;
            break;
        }
    }

    return 0;
}

[twinbee]

I use SDL too - a great library, and it works fine under Visual C++ 2008. No GUI knowledge is really needed.

If anyone wants to know the best tutorial for setting up SDL with Visual C++, there's a good one if I can find it.....