Matrix Screen Animation

This is a simple C++ program that creates a Matrix-style animation on the screen using SDL2 and SDL_ttf libraries.

Setup Instructions

To run this application, you'll need:

1. C++ compiler(g++ or clang++)
2. SDL2 library
3. SDL_ttf library

Installing SDL2 and SDL_ttf

If you haven't installed SDL2 and SDL_ttf libraries, you can install them using your package manager. For example, on Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev

Downloading the font file

Choose a font file (e.g., arial.ttf) to use for rendering characters on https://fonts.google.com/?query=roboto+mono or other font websites. Download the font file and extract it in the project 'fonts' directory.

How it Works

The program creates a Matrix-style animation on the screen, simulating falling characters. Here's how it works:

1.Initialization:

The program initializes SDL2 for graphics rendering and SDL_ttf for text rendering. It creates a window and a renderer for rendering graphics. It loads a font to render characters.

2.Matrix Column Structure:

The MatrixColumn struct represents a column in the matrix animation. It contains members for the column's position (x, y) and speed (speed).

3.Initializing Matrix Columns:

The initMatrixColumns function initializes the matrix columns by setting their initial positions and speeds.

4.Rendering Matrix:

The renderMatrix function renders the matrix animation on the screen. It generates random characters and renders them at appropriate positions to simulate falling characters.

5.Event Handling:

The program continuously polls for SDL events. If the user closes the window, the program exits.

6.Main Loop:

The main loop of the program clears the screen, renders the matrix animation, updates the display, and adds a delay to control the frame rate.

Running the Application

After installing the required libraries, navigate to the project directory and build the application using CMake:

cd Matrix_Screen
cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build
./build/MatrixScreen

How it looks (Example)

(With a different font file)

(We can change the screen size and how fast the characters fall by using different settings for height, width, and speed)

Environment I used

• IDE: CLion
• OS: Linux Ubuntu