MiniVector

A programmable XY vector display simulator. Written in rust and wgpu.

Examples

For examples of minivector in action, there are some tests:

• Bad Apple: Display bad apple in minivector
• Pong: Play pong in minivector

OS support

Right now only unix systems are supported. Windows support is planned in the future. Wasm32 support was inteded, but is currently not possible since some native-only wgpu features are utilized.

Performance

Minivector is very gpu heavy. If you are processing a lot of points, a mid-range gpu is reccomended.

Usage

Minivector will create a pipe at the specified location. Applications can write instructions to this pipe which will be executed by minivector.

Example

nohup minivector &                                 # Run detached
cat test/drawings/hello_world.mv >> /tmp/mv_pipe   # Send instructions

Options

usage: minivector [options]
options:
    window:
        -w,  --window <width> <height>          Set the window size
            default: 1280 720
        -f   --fullscreen                       Set the window to fullscreen [Can be toggled with F11]
    display
        -r,  --resolution <width> <height>      Set the resolution
            default: 1920 1080
        -p,  --primary <color_hex>              Set the primary (background) color 
            default: 282828
        -s,  --secondary <color_hex>            Set the secondary (background) color
            default: 33ff64
        -ss, --screen-size <width> <height>     Set the screen size 
            default: [same as the resolution]
    gun
        -rg, --radius <radius>                  Set the radius of the electron gun
            default: 1.0
        -df, --dim-factor <factor>              Set the dim factor per frame
            default: 0.3
    executor:
        -ip,  --instruction-pipe <pipe>         Set the pipe to read the instructions 
            default (unix): /tmp/mv_pipe
            default (windows): \\\\.\\pipe\\mv_pipe
        -ep,  --event-pipe <pipe>               Set the pipe to send the events
            defaylt: none
        -ifr,  --instruction-per-frame <n>      Set the number of instructions per frame [If 0, it will execute all instructions in the buffer in one frame]
            default: 500
        -fr, --frame-rate <n>                   Set the frame rate
            default: vsync

Instructions

The simulator responds to a specific format of instructions. Instructions are 40 bits of data.

• The first 8-bits indicate the instruction type.
• The the rest is a 32 bit buffer of addtional data (eg. point coorinates)

| 00000000 00000000000000000000000000000000
| -------- --------------------------------
     |- 8-bit Instruction   |- 32-bit Additional Data

Instruction Set

The following is a list of supported instructions and their additional data

- 0b00 : Clear display      [No Data]
- 0b01 : Move to position   [X: ii6, Y: i16]
- 0b10 : Electron gun on    [No Data]
- 0b11 : Electron gun off   [No Data]

Events

For interactions with another program/script, the event pipe can be used. Events are 74 bits of data.

• The first 8-bits indicate the instruction type.
• The the rest is a 64 bit buffer of addtional data

| 00000000 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
| -------- ----------------------------------------------------------------
     |- 8-bit Instruction   |- 64-bit Additional Data

For an example of how to use event types, take a look at the pong demo.

Event Types

- 0b000 : Frame finished processing  [No Data]
- 0b001 : Key pressed                [Key Scancode]
- 0b010 : Key released               [Key Scancode]
- 0b011 : Mouse moved to position    [X: u32, Y: u32]
- 0b100 : Mouse button pressed       [Mouse button]
- 0b101 : Mouse button released      [Mouse button]