Vectorball choreography?

[Varkas]

I've got my vectorball display framework done now, and face the question, how to choreograph the ball groups. The little demo below is all hard coded, and shows a swinging cylinder of vector balls.

I assume there is a better way to write down the ball movements, spins and paths than actually program, and let the program interpret the plan. Any ideas?



Life Demo (30k):

http://www.java-gaming.org/user-generated-content/members/132627/vectorballs-r1.jar

[ClickerMonkey]

And what is a vectorball display exactly?

[sproingie]

Voxels is my guess.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[ClickerMonkey]

Nothing makes sense anymore.

[Varkas]

I thought the term is more commonly known, but it seems it isn't. Vectorballs were a funny thing to make graphics demos. They are mentioned in several old demos and you can also google the term and will find results from the demo scene.

A little mention:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal_%28demo%29

Also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkaVDczP8c4

And:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv-zCyB0hiI

Basically vectorballs are glorified particles. They have been used because they are very simple to compute and efficient to move. In the demos they were used to shape more complex objects out of points, and have funky looking transitions between the shapes.

I guess it's once again a technique of the past, and I missed the point when it was superseeded with something better.