Is smoother graphics movement possible on an Aquarius?

[Aquaman]

I know that the Aquarius can only shift each character one position and therefore 8 pixels at a time. This makes the movement of a character not very smooth looking. However when I look at some games on computers like for example the Vic-20, which also don't have any hardware sprites but do have user definable graphics, the movement seems much smoother. How is this possible? Are they making so much UDG's in which a character is shifting one pixel at a time to pretend smooth pixel movement or is there another trick involved?

[catsfolly]

I know that the Aquarius can only shift each character one position and therefore 8 pixels at a time. This makes the movement of a character not very smooth looking. However when I look at some games on computers like for example the Vic-20, which also don't have any hardware sprites but do have user definable graphics, the movement seems much smoother. How is this possible? Are they making so much UDG's in which a character is shifting one pixel at a time to pretend smooth pixel movement or is there another trick involved?

You're exactly right. They make user defined graphics where a character is shifting 1 or 2 pixels at a time, so it looks smooth.

[Aquaman]

You're exactly right. They make user defined graphics where a character is shifting 1 or 2 pixels at a time, so it looks smooth.

Thanks for confirming this! Therefore in respect of the Aquarius, we have to wait for the "Superfont" upgrade from Jay, to be able to pull this off.

[+Gemintronic]

Is this Superfont something that allows the Aquarius to have user defined character sets to simulate smooth scrolling like on the TI?

[jaybird3rd]

Is this Superfont something that allows the Aquarius to have user defined character sets to simulate smooth scrolling like on the TI?

It will allow user-defined characters, when it finally exists. So far I've built some crude prototypes and screen mockups running on real hardware, but that's all. My design for it has changed a bit: I originally planned it as an internal upgrade, but I might be able to integrate it into an upgraded Mini Expander that I'm planning, with only a few simple internal modifications. The new character data will be stored in expanded RAM, which should make it easy for the programmer to implement animations and multiple character sets.

[barnieg]

You sort of get possibility of smoother scrolling if "bloxels" are used for the graphics

[jaybird3rd]

You sort of get possibility of smoother scrolling if "bloxels" are used for the graphics

Yes. That will at least get you four-pixel movement, which might be acceptable for certain types of animation (background scrolling, etc).

[Aquaman]

Another question and this time regarding having no real sprites like the c64, but using programmable characters instead that act like sprites. For example the ZX Spectrum didn't have real sprites, but still the sprite like graphics moving over the background graphics seem to have no noticable effect on the background graphics(like in Uridium). I mean the background is visible just after the moving space ship without (partially) corruption of these background graphics. The appearance is exactly the same as when having real sprites! How is this possible and is this also something the Aquarius can achieve?