vector graphics

Vector graphics are a way of displaying images on a CRT in which the beam of electrons is controlled directly by the display hardware instead of tracing the same route over and over the way that television and computer monitors do.

The most well-known vector graphics arcade-game is the asteroids arcade game written by Ed Logg who still works for Atari-Games as of this writing (1999).

Let us also fondly recall some other vector graphics video games: Battlezone, Space War, Ripoff, and a favorite of mine, Star Castle, which featured a clear colored sticker on the screen to give the appearance of color! Actually, now that I think about it, didn't Space Invaders have a colored sticker on the screen too? There was a home system for vector graphic games called Vectrex--old ones are still findable for not very much money.

In general, vector graphics are graphics based on abstract objects instead of pixels, i.e. a line is characterized by the coordinates of its start and end points and its thickness instead of a bunch of pixels. Common objects are boxes, circles, polygons and polylines. Using splines, it is possible to have complex round shapes. Letters of text objects are made up of splines.

Vector graphics have the huge advantage that they can be scaled to any size and resolution and always look perfect. They are commonly used for CAD-type applications and in presentation programs.