VGA output

I reworked my code based off the REG_PWM version and am no longer having issues with the Serial connection.

My code is able to load a bitmap graphic off the SD card, read the bitmap and DIB headers and resize any image to the desired 2D-array size. It has to down-sample from 24-bit color to 8-bit color, but still looks pretty good with only 256 color choices.

Currently, I'm loading a background image to fit the 320x240x8 framebuffer.

Then I load 2 smaller images to do some bit-blit. I'm using images that are 24x32 pixels (also down-sized and down-sampled from larger images).

void readBitmap(char* filePath, byte** pictureBuffer,int bufferWidth,int bufferHeight)
{

  SdFile myFile;
  boolean openedFile = myFile.open(filePath,O_RDWR);
  if (openedFile)
  {

    unsigned int FileSize=0;
    unsigned int Offset=0;


    Serial.print("Reading ");
    Serial.print(filePath);
    Serial.println(" bitmap header...");
    //Read Bitmap header
    for (int i=0;i<14;i++)
    {
      byte myByte=myFile.read();
      Serial.print("Byte ");
      Serial.print(i);
      Serial.print(": 0x");
      if (myByte<16)
      {
        //Pad with a leading zero, if needed.
        Serial.print("0");
      }
      Serial.println(myByte,HEX);

      //Bytes 2 through 5 are the file size
      if((i>=2) && (i<=5))
      {
        FileSize=FileSize+(((int)myByte)<<(8*(i-2)));
        Serial.print("FileSize: ");
        Serial.println(FileSize);
      }

      //Bytes 10 through 13 are the offset to the pixel data.
      if((i>=10) && (i<=14))
      {
        Offset=Offset+(((int)myByte)<<(8*(i-10)));
        Serial.print("Offset: ");
        Serial.println(Offset);
      }
    }

    Serial.print("Done reading ");
    Serial.print(filePath);
    Serial.println(" bitmap header.");


    Serial.print("Reading ");
    Serial.print(filePath);
    Serial.println(" DIB header...");

    unsigned int Width=0;
    unsigned int Height=0;
    unsigned int BitsPerPixel=0;
    //Read the DIB header
    for (int i=0;i<40;i++)
    {
      byte myByte=myFile.read();
      Serial.print("Byte ");
      Serial.print(i);
      Serial.print(": 0x");
      if (myByte<16)
      {
        //Pad with a leading zero, if needed.
        Serial.print("0");
      }
      Serial.println(myByte,HEX);


      //Bytes 4 through 7 are bitmap width in pixels
      if((i>=4) && (i<=7))
      {
        Width=Width+(((int)myByte)<<(8*(i-4)));
        Serial.print("Width: ");
        Serial.println(Width);
      }

      //Bytes 8 through 11 are bitmap height in pixels
      if((i>=8) && (i<=11))
      {
        Height=Height+(((int)myByte)<<(8*(i-8)));
        Serial.print("Height: ");
        Serial.println(Height);
      }

      //Bytes 14 through 15 are bitmap bits per pixel
      if((i>=14) && (i<=15))
      {
        BitsPerPixel=BitsPerPixel+(((int)myByte)<<(8*(i-14)));
        Serial.print("BitsPerPixel: ");
        Serial.println(BitsPerPixel);
      }


    }


    int BytesPerPixel=((FileSize-Offset)/Width)/Height;
    Serial.print("BytesPerPixel=");
    Serial.println(BytesPerPixel);


    Serial.print("Done reading ");
    Serial.print(filePath);
    Serial.println(" DIB header...");

    Serial.print("Loading ");
    Serial.print(filePath);
    Serial.println(" bitmap pixels...");
    myFile.seekSet(Offset+1);

    byte buf[Width*BytesPerPixel];

    for(int y=0;y<Height;y++)
    {
      //Serial.print("Loading Row: ");
      //Serial.print(y,DEC);
      //Serial.print(" / ");
      //Serial.println(Height,DEC);

      //Serial.print("Pointer to FB[y][0] = ");
      //Serial.println((int)&FrameBuffer[y][0],HEX);


      //Serial.print("Loading Pixel: ");
      //Serial.print(x,DEC);
      //Serial.print(" / ");
      //Serial.println(Width,DEC);


      //Read the entire row of pixels all at once.
      //This is a major performance upgrade.
      myFile.read(buf,sizeof(buf));

      //Convert the 3-bytes-per-pixel data into 1-byte-per-pixel format.
      for (int x=0;x<Width;x++){
        byte red=buf[x*3];
        byte green=buf[(x*3)+1];
        byte blue=buf[(x*3)+2];


        //Serial.print("Red = ");
        //Serial.println(red);

        byte redBits = (byte)map(red,0,255,0,7);
        //Serial.print("RedBits = ");
        //Serial.println(redBits);
        byte greenBits = (byte)map(green,0,255,0,7);
        byte blueBits = (byte)map(blue,0,255,0,3);

        pictureBuffer[(bufferHeight-1)-(int)(((double)y*(double)bufferHeight)/(double)Height)][(int)(((double)x*(double)bufferWidth)/(double)Width)]=(redBits<<5)+(greenBits<<2)+(blueBits);
      }

      //The Bitmap file format pads every row to a 4-byte (word) 
      //boundary.  Calculate the padding, and skip it.
      int BytesInLastWord=((Width*BytesPerPixel)%4);
      int BytesOfPadding=0;
      if (BytesInLastWord>0)
      {
        BytesOfPadding=4-BytesInLastWord;
      }
      //Serial.print("Row should have ");
      //Serial.print(BytesOfPadding);
      //Serial.println(" bytes of padding.");

      for (int i=0;i<BytesOfPadding;i++)
      {
        //Skip the padding byte.
        myFile.read();
      }
    }
    myFile.close();  

    /*
    for (int y=0;y<Height;y++)
     {
     for (int x=0;x<Width;x++)
     {
     if (FrameBuffer[y][x]<16)
     {
     //Pad the output with a leading zero.
     Serial.print("0");
     }
     Serial.print(FrameBuffer[y][x],HEX);
     Serial.print(",");
     }
     Serial.println();
     }
     */


  }
  else
  {
    Serial.print("Error opening file ");
    Serial.print(filePath);
    Serial.println(" for read.");
  }

  Serial.print("Done loading ");
  Serial.print(filePath);
  Serial.println(" bitmap pixels.");

}//End readBitmap method

I bit-blit the images using the following simple steps:

void loop(void) {

  if (millis()-starttime>100)
  {
    //Initialize our timer    
    starttime=millis();


    if (spriteDeployed==true)
    {
      //Erase the sprite by putting the background back.
      for (int y=0;y<32;y++)
      {
        for (int x=0;x<24;x++)
        {
          FrameBuffer[locationY+y][locationX+x]=background[y][x];
        }
      }
      spriteDeployed=false;
    }

    locationX=locationX+random(-5,6);
    if (locationX>320-24)
    {
      locationX=320-24;
    }
    if (locationX<0)
    {
      locationX=0;
    }

    locationY=locationY+random(-5,6);
    if (locationY>240-32)
    {
      locationY=240-32;
    }
    if (locationY<0)
    {
      locationY=0;
    }


    //Get the background for the new location
    for (int y=0;y<32;y++)
    {
      for (int x=0;x<24;x++)
      {
        background[y][x]=FrameBuffer[locationY+y][locationX+x];
      }
    }

    //Put Bit-Blit the sprite on the screen
    for (int y=0;y<32;y++)
    {
      for (int x=0;x<24;x++)
      {
        //The "And" (&=) operation allows for white background to be
        //transparent, and the black object to overwrite the background.
        FrameBuffer[locationY+y][locationX+x]&=Sprite[y][x];
        
        //The "Or" (|=) operation allows the whte background to remain
        //transparent, while overlaying the color object on the black area.
        FrameBuffer[locationY+y][locationX+x]|=SpriteMask[y][x];
      }
    }
    spriteDeployed=true;
  }

}//End loop

This all works, except there's a slight flicker to the display. It's not bad, but bugs your eyes a little. The pixels seem to shift slightly left and right as the screen refreshes. It seems that the h-sync or v-sync timings must be off just slightly every once in a while. Is that possible with the interrupts? I'm trying to decide what to do to fix the image stability. Any thoughts?