🎮 RetroEngine Dev Log #2 — Beam Simulation & Afterglow
When a CRT draws an image, it doesn’t show all the pixels at once. A focused electron beam scans across the screen, lighting up phosphors that glow and fade over time.
Today’s milestone was teaching RetroEngine to do the same.
🧩 What’s New
Beam behavior & afterglow: the renderer now simulates a moving scanline that excites phosphors with brightness-dependent decay.
Real texture input: instead of test patterns, RetroEngine now renders any image through the simulated CRT pipeline.
Physically inspired blending: a Gaussian beam model and nonlinear response curve give each subpixel its own soft glow, producing a natural “tube” look.
Performance: running stable at 60 FPS with full control over mask type, pitch, scanline depth, and decay timing.
🖼️ The Comparison
Original and then the same image rendered through the beam phosphor simulation stage.
Every scanline, every RGB triad is driven by the same math that powered real displays.
✨ Next Up
Beam convergence, bloom, and phosphor persistence tuning. Getting that true analog warmth and “soft focus” glow.
#RetroEngine #GameDev #ShaderDev #DirectX12 #EngineDev #RetroTech