Bitblt sprites????

[diocassius]

Hailo. I'm trying to create sprites using bitblt but have no idea what to do. So far I have used bitblt to create a scrolling background, but I don't think I understand bitblt enough to create, for example, a walking animation.

So, any good tutorial links/sample code/pseudocode would be great

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[diocassius]

Ok, so no replies yet but I remain hopeful. I found this tutorial on "ZOrder" animation here: http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=492883

I was wondering if using bitblt animation would be more efficient, and what the purpose of an image 'mask' is.

[LaVolpe]

You may want to google for tutorials using terms like: sprite mask bitblt
Here are a couple:
http://gamemaker.simondonkers.com/tutorial/4
http://www.rookscape.com/vbgaming/GBeebe/bitblt.php
http://www.programmers-corner.com/tutorial/45

Description of BitBlt raster operations: http://www.winprog.org/tutorial/transparency.html

ZOrder animation almost always has the unwanted effect of flickering.

[diocassius]

Thanks for the reply! I have gotten my sprites working, now I'm trying to workout how to move the animation around the screen using the arrow keys. This is my code so far:

Option Explicit

Private Declare Function QueryPerformanceCounter Lib "kernel32" (lpPerformanceCount As Currency) As Long
Private Declare Function QueryPerformanceFrequency Lib "kernel32" (lpFrequency As Currency) As Long

Dim HeroineY As Integer
Dim Running As Boolean                                                                  'To know if the game is running
Const FPS As Double = 61.3                                                              'Frames Per Second

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Me.Show                                                                             'Display main window
    Running = True
    GameLoop                                                                            'Start the loop
End Sub
Private Sub Form_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
    If KeyCode < 40 Then keyarray(KeyCode) = True 'remember the key is down
End Sub

Private Sub Form_KeyUp(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
    If KeyCode < 40 Then keyarray(KeyCode) = False 'remember the key is up
End Sub

Private Sub GameLoop()
    Dim cTimer As Currency                                                              'Time of last tick
    Dim cTimer2 As Currency                                                             'Current time
    Dim Freq As Currency                                                                'Frequency of Counter
    Dim Interval As Double 'Time of each frame
    Static animFrame As Integer
    'Dim HeroineY As Integer
    
    
    QueryPerformanceFrequency Freq                                                      'Get Frequency
    Interval = 80
    'Freq / FPS                                                               'Calculate interval based on FPS and Frequency
    
  

    
    While Running                                                                       'Start loop
        QueryPerformanceCounter cTimer2                                                 'Get current time
        If cTimer2 >= cTimer + Interval Then                                            'Check if it's time to run code
            Me.Caption = "FPS: " & Format(Round(Freq / (cTimer2 - cTimer), 1), "0.0")   'Display FPS on screen
            QueryPerformanceCounter cTimer                                              'Get time for later use
            
            BitBlt Me.hDC, 0, 0, Me.Width, Me.Height, picBackground.hDC, BGCut, 0, vbSrcCopy
            
            BGCut = BGCut + 5
            
            
            
            Second
            
          'If keyarray(37) = True Then
            
            'HeroineY = HeroineY + 1
            
            BitBlt Form1.hDC, _
                0, HeroineY, _
                80, 66, _
                picSource.hDC, _
                animFrame * -2, 66, _
                vbSrcAnd
                
            BitBlt Form1.hDC, _
                0, HeroineY, _
                80, 65, _
                picSource.hDC, _
                animFrame * 75, -2, _
                vbSrcPaint

                animFrame = animFrame + 1
                If animFrame = 3 Then animFrame = 1
          'End If
           
           
            
            'Enter code here
        End If
        
     
        DoEvents
    Wend
    

    
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    Running = False                                                                     'Exit loop
End Sub

Private Sub Second()
    If keyarray(37) = True Then
        HeroineY = HeroineY + 10
    End If
End Sub

It's really just a kind of compilation of code I've found from tutorials.

I've tried many different ways of moving the animation across the screen, besides the one you see here, but either they result in the animation playing in its original spot without movement, or it becomes invisible and all I can see is the scrolling background. Yet if I place in the loop "HeroineY = HeroineY + 10" not in an If statement, the animation moves down the screen.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated thank you!

[Gamemaster1494]

Actually, i have a sample on that. =D Here it is! I attached it below.