Drawing FASTER

[Mr.Fixit]

Im searching for the fastest way to draw a pixel and get a pixel:
tried already Pset and Point, they were VERY slow.
after that ive turned to an API solution: GetPixel SetPixelV,
the GetPixel isnt much faster then Point but SetPixelV is faster by 50% then Pset (and Pset is MUCH faster then Line(x,y)-(x,y))
but if i want to fill the whole screen with changing colors i have to find much faster solutions (it still takes about a minute to paint the whole screen)
after some research ive found i can either use DirectDraw or use Pointers.
ive encountered a problem using the pointer:

'in the module:
Option Explicit
 
Type SAFEARRAYBOUND
    cElements As Long
    lLbound As Long
End Type
 
Type SAFEARRAY2D
    cDims As Integer
    fFeatures As Integer
    cbElements As Long
    cLocks As Long
    pvData As Long
    Bounds(0 To 1) As SAFEARRAYBOUND
End Type
 
Type BITMAP
    bmType As Long
    bmWidth As Long
    bmHeight As Long
    bmWidthBytes As Long
    bmPlanes As Integer
    bmBitsPixel As Integer
    bmBits As Long
End Type
 
Declare Function VarPtrArray Lib "msvbvm50.dll" Alias "VarPtr" (Ptr() As Any) As Long
Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (pDst As Any, pSrc As Any, ByVal ByteLen As Long)
Declare Function GetObjectAPI Lib "gdi32" Alias "GetObjectA" (ByVal hObject As Long, ByVal nCount As Long, lpObject As Any) As Long
 
Public pic() As Byte
Public sa As SAFEARRAY2D
Public bmp As BITMAP
Public r As Long, g As Long, b As Long
 
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
'on the form:
 
Private Sub Command1_Click()
With sa
    .cbElements = 1
    .cDims = 2
    .Bounds(0).lLbound = 0
    .Bounds(0).cElements = bmp.bmHeight
    .Bounds(1).lLbound = 0
    .Bounds(1).cElements = bmp.bmWidthBytes
    .pvData = bmp.bmBits
End With
 
CopyMemory ByVal VarPtrArray(pic), VarPtrArray(sa), 4
 
For i = 0 To UBound(pic, 1) - 3 Step 3
    For j = 0 To UBound(pic, 2)
        r = pic(i + 2, j)
        g = pic(i + 1, j)
        b = pic(i, j)
        r = ((g * b) \ 128)
        g = ((r * b) \ 128)
        b = ((r * g) \ 128)
        If r > 255 Then r = 255
        If r < 0 Then r = 0
        If g > 255 Then g = 255
        If g < 0 Then g = 0
        If b > 255 Then b = 255
        If b < 0 Then b = 0
        pic(i, j) = b
        pic(i + 1, j) = g
        pic(i + 2, j) = r
    Next j
Next i
 
CopyMemory ByVal VarPtrArray(pic), 0&, 4
Picture1.Refresh
End Sub

when i compile it says
Compile error:
Type mismatch: array or user defined type expected

i have no idea of whats im doing wrong here....

anyways ive tried to see how i do it in DDraw, but all the tutorials teach you only to initialize and use sprites...
can anyone please help?
(either find the error with the pointer or help me learn DDrwa)
Pointer tutorial - on the bottom of the page

[Mr.Fixit]

after closing the compiler error massage the 'sa' from the line

CopyMemory ByVal VarPtrArray(pic), VarPtrArray(sa), 4
'overwriting 'pic()', with the 'sa' array.

is being highlighted...

[Mr.Fixit]

nope, still doesnt work...
btw can you help me drawing an array to the backbuffer with DX and bliting it to the surface within a window (without changing res and stuff)

[Mr.Fixit]

nope, still doesnt work... (i mean i dont get the error massage...
;-)
it just crushes)
btw, do you know how to work SetDIBits()
and write to the backbuffer with DX then blit it to a window?

[Zaei]

Nope (I use DX*, which doesnt support that functionality with any reasonable speed).

Just make a new thread with that specific question.

Z.

[Dreamlax]

Since VB passes pointers to all API functions anyway, why not just use:

CopyMemory Destination(LBound(Destination)), Source(LBound(Source)), ArraySize

Just a thought...