blt() function copying 32bits instead of 16?

[Bunkai]

Hello,

I was thnking if it would be technically possible to implement copying 32bits instead of 16bits in one CPU cycle. If this is not yet implemented, it would be nice to use it to speed up sprite rendering, and although I realize it would not be alwasy applicable, in many cases it definitelly would be applicable.

Thanks, and with regards,
Rene.

[Johan]

Hi Rene,

Unfortunately I must again direct you to the features page.
http://www.develant.com/gapidraw-features.php

Check the section "Operating on Multiple Pixels Simultaneously"

All images in GapiDraw are stored as 16-bit WORDs (called "surfaces), which makes it possible to operate on two pixels simultaneously in many operations! GapiDraw operates on multiple pixels simultaneously in all variations of BltFast, AlphaBltFast, FillRect, and all functions that are internally depending on these functions (such as DrawText). Depending on the pixels to be copied, GapiDraw will either: (1) read and write 32-bit data, (2) read 32-bit data and write 16-bit data, or (3) read 16-bit data and write 16-bit data. What does this mean for game development? Simple - the best blitting performance available, providing arcade-action visual performance to any handheld device!

So to answer your question: All operations in GapiDraw try to operate on 32 pixels at once, for both pixel copy, transparancy effects and more.

[Bunkai]

Hello Johan,

I do apologize. I must have overlooked that information.. Thank you very much for patience and for repeating whats already written there.

Apparently, there are not many ways to improve the speed of your library by writting my own code upon PocketHAL.

Because I am alone, I dont have too much time resources to develop my own library with hope it could save say 5fps.

This is just a matter of interest, to evaluate number of energy put in developing GapiDraw. Could I kindly ask, how many years, have you been intensively developing GAPIDraw, and how many peoople are involved in research and developent?

Thank you and have a nice day,
Rene.

[Johan]

Could I kindly ask, how many years, have you been intensively developing GAPIDraw, and how many peoople are involved in research and developent?

Unfortunately these are also figures we don't just post on public forums. The first version of GapiDraw was released in 2002, and development has been ongoing since then. Number of developers have varied from 2 to much more, especially when we did the Palm and Symbian ports.

Cheers
Johan

[Bunkai]

Thank you very much.