[net.graphics] Dithering and a project

rogerh@arizona.UUCP (Roger Hayes) (10/18/84)

On the 24-to-8 issue: dithering is quite simple and produces good
results.  The technique can be derived starting from the 2 pages in
Foley and Van Dam.  I usually dither to 3-3-2 bits (rgb) when I have an
8-bit frame buffer -- does anyone take the trouble to divide the target
color space evenly?

On another issue -- I need a pointer to literature on incremental (ie,
generalized Bresenham) techniques for drawing quadratic curves.  I have 
a raycaster working (arbitrary quadric shapes, boolean combinations), but
it's deathly slow.  To speed it up, I would like to use the information 
from one ray to determine the next; I need a quick way to determine the 
solution for z of
	A*z^2 + B*z*x + C*z + D*x^2 + E*x + F >= 0
at (x+1), given the solution at x.  "Quick" means faster than substituting
the new x value and solving directly.

	Roger Hayes
	University of Arizona
	rogerh%Arizona@csnet-relay.CSNET
	{ihnp4, decvax, ucbvax}!arizona!rogerh	 	by UUCP

gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn <gwyn>) (10/20/84)

> I need a quick way to determine the solution for z of
> 	A*z^2 + B*z*x + C*z + D*x^2 + E*x + F >= 0
> at (x+1), given the solution at x.  "Quick" means faster than substituting
> the new x value and solving directly.

(You must mean = 0, not >= 0.)
Sorry, Roger, after cleaning up the statement of the problem,
I find that you must solve a quadratic equation no matter what.
The best you can do is to take some shortcuts in evaluating the
coefficients of the quadratic.