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Active Forums => QB64 Discussion => Topic started by: Dav on October 15, 2021, 08:06:04 am

Title: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: Dav on October 15, 2021, 08:06:04 am
I'm using the image transparency method @bplus posted and the RotoZoom function to make a pretty snowflake effect.  Looks good to me, but I can't get the snow to fall any faster (on my pc anyways).  Does anyone see where I can improve the speed here? 

I'll post the code and the zip of images to run it.

Thanks!

- Dav

  [ This attachment cannot be displayed inline in 'Print Page' view ]   (50k)  <--- Download here

Code: QB64: [Select]
  1. 'Snowflake effect using transparency and rotozoom.
  2. 'Dav is trying to speed this up...
  3.  
  4. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(980, 550, 32)
  5.  
  6. flakes = 400 'number of flakes
  7.  
  8. DIM SHARED tree&, snow&
  9. DIM SHARED flake.x(flakes), flake.y(flakes), flake.ys(flakes) 'x/y values, y speed
  10. DIM SHARED flake.r(flakes), flake.rs(flakes) 'rotation and rotation speed
  11. DIM SHARED flake.a(flakes), flake.s(flakes) 'alpha value & flake size
  12.  
  13. 'generate random snowflake vaues
  14.  
  15. FOR f = 1 TO flakes
  16.  
  17.     flake.x(f) = RND * _WIDTH + 30 'make randowm starting x position
  18.     flake.y(f) = RND * _HEIGHT * 2 - _HEIGHT 'make random starting y position
  19.  
  20.     SELECT CASE INT(RND * 4) + 1 'make a random y falling speed
  21.         CASE 1: flake.ys(f) = 1
  22.         CASE 2: flake.ys(f) = 1.5
  23.         CASE 3: flake.ys(f) = 2
  24.         CASE 4: flake.ys(f) = 2.5
  25.     END SELECT
  26.  
  27.     flake.r(f) = RND * 360 'make random rotation sstarting value
  28.     SELECT CASE INT(RND * 4) + 1 'make random rotation speed
  29.         CASE 1: flake.rs(f) = .3
  30.         CASE 2: flake.rs(f) = .5
  31.         CASE 3: flake.rs(f) = .7
  32.         CASE 4: flake.rs(f) = .9
  33.     END SELECT
  34.  
  35.     flake.a(f) = 25 + (RND * 60) 'random alpha value
  36.  
  37.     flake.s(f) = RND * 1.75 + .1 'randomw snowflake size
  38.  
  40.  
  41. tree& = _LOADIMAGE("tree.jpg", 32)
  42. snow& = _LOADIMAGE("snow.png")
  43.  
  44.  
  46.     CLS
  47.     _PUTIMAGE (0, 0)-(980, 550), tree&, 0
  48.  
  49.     FOR f = 1 TO flakes
  50.  
  51.         _SETALPHA flake.a(f), 1 TO snow&, snow&
  52.  
  53.         RotoZoom3 flake.x(f), flake.y(f), snow&, flake.s(f), flake.s(f), _D2R(flake.r(f))
  54.  
  55.         flake.r(f) = flake.r(f) + flake.rs(f) 'increase rotation
  56.         IF flake.r(f) > 360 THEN flake.r(f) = 1
  57.  
  58.         flake.y(f) = flake.y(f) + flake.ys(f) 'lower y position
  59.  
  60.         'if flake goes off screen, make a new flake above
  61.         IF flake.y(f) > _HEIGHT + (flake.s(f) * 8) THEN
  62.             flake.y(f) = RND * _HEIGHT - _HEIGHT - (flake.s(f) * 8)
  63.         END IF
  64.  
  65.     NEXT
  66.  
  67.     _LIMIT 30
  68.  
  69.     _DISPLAY
  70.  
  72.  
  75.  
  76. SUB RotoZoom3 (X AS LONG, Y AS LONG, Image AS LONG, xScale AS SINGLE, yScale AS SINGLE, radianRotation AS SINGLE)
  77.     ' This assumes you have set your drawing location with _DEST or default to screen.
  78.     ' X, Y - is where you want to put the middle of the image
  79.     ' Image - is the handle assigned with _LOADIMAGE
  80.     ' xScale, yScale - are shrinkage < 1 or magnification > 1 on the given axis, 1 just uses image size.
  81.     ' These are multipliers so .5 will create image .5 size on given axis and 2 for twice image size.
  82.     ' radianRotation is the Angle in Radian units to rotate the image
  83.     ' note: Radian units for rotation because it matches angle units of other Basic Trig functions
  84.     '       and saves a little time converting from degree.
  85.     '       Use the _D2R() function if you prefer to work in degree units for angles.
  86.  
  87.     DIM px(3) AS SINGLE: DIM py(3) AS SINGLE ' simple arrays for x, y to hold the 4 corners of image
  88.     DIM W&, H&, sinr!, cosr!, i&, x2&, y2& '   variables for image manipulation
  89.     W& = _WIDTH(Image&): H& = _HEIGHT(Image&)
  90.     px(0) = -W& / 2: py(0) = -H& / 2 'left top corner
  91.     px(1) = -W& / 2: py(1) = H& / 2 ' left bottom corner
  92.     px(2) = W& / 2: py(2) = H& / 2 '  right bottom
  93.     px(3) = W& / 2: py(3) = -H& / 2 ' right top
  94.     sinr! = SIN(-radianRotation): cosr! = COS(-radianRotation) ' rotation helpers
  95.     FOR i& = 0 TO 3 ' calc new point locations with rotation and zoom
  96.         x2& = xScale * (px(i&) * cosr! + sinr! * py(i&)) + X: y2& = yScale * (py(i&) * cosr! - px(i&) * sinr!) + Y
  97.         px(i&) = x2&: py(i&) = y2&
  98.     NEXT
  99.     _MAPTRIANGLE _SEAMLESS(0, 0)-(0, H& - 1)-(W& - 1, H& - 1), Image TO(px(0), py(0))-(px(1), py(1))-(px(2), py(2))
  100.     _MAPTRIANGLE _SEAMLESS(0, 0)-(W& - 1, 0)-(W& - 1, H& - 1), Image TO(px(0), py(0))-(px(3), py(3))-(px(2), py(2))
  102.  



Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: Dav on October 15, 2021, 10:04:48 am
Lol, I wasn't changing the falling speed values right.  Silly me.  But, I did find a couple things.  I can ditch the CLS, and only draw flakes when in the screen area.   Now I can have a blizzard.  Gonna work on adding a little x position flutter for more falling realism.

- Dav

Code: QB64: [Select]
  1. 'Snowflake effect using transparency and rotozoom.
  2. 'Dav is trying to speed this up...
  3.  
  4. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(980, 550, 32)
  5.  
  6. flakes = 1000 'number of flakes
  7.  
  8. DIM SHARED tree&, snow&
  9. DIM SHARED flake.x(flakes), flake.y(flakes), flake.ys(flakes) 'x/y values, y speed
  10. DIM SHARED flake.r(flakes), flake.rs(flakes) 'rotation and rotation speed
  11. DIM SHARED flake.a(flakes), flake.s(flakes) 'alpha value & flake size
  12.  
  13. 'generate random snowflake vaues
  14.  
  15. FOR f = 1 TO flakes
  16.  
  17.     flake.x(f) = RND * _WIDTH + 30 'make randowm starting x position
  18.     flake.y(f) = RND * _HEIGHT * 2 - _HEIGHT 'make random starting y position
  19.  
  20.     SELECT CASE INT(RND * 4) + 1 'make a random y falling speed
  21.         CASE 1: flake.ys(f) = 1
  22.         CASE 2: flake.ys(f) = 1.5
  23.         CASE 3: flake.ys(f) = 2
  24.         CASE 4: flake.ys(f) = 2.5
  25.     END SELECT
  26.  
  27.     flake.r(f) = RND * 360 'make random rotation sstarting value
  28.     SELECT CASE INT(RND * 4) + 1 'make random rotation speed
  29.         CASE 1: flake.rs(f) = .3
  30.         CASE 2: flake.rs(f) = .5
  31.         CASE 3: flake.rs(f) = .7
  32.         CASE 4: flake.rs(f) = .9
  33.     END SELECT
  34.  
  35.     flake.a(f) = 25 + (RND * 60) 'random alpha value
  36.  
  37.     flake.s(f) = RND * 1.75 + .1 'randomw snowflake size
  38.  
  40.  
  41. tree& = _LOADIMAGE("tree.jpg", 32)
  42. snow& = _LOADIMAGE("snow.png")
  43.  
  44.  
  46.     'CLS
  47.     _PUTIMAGE (0, 0)-(980, 550), tree&, 0
  48.  
  49.     FOR f = 1 TO flakes
  50.  
  51.         IF flake.y(f) > -50 THEN
  52.             _SETALPHA flake.a(f), 1 TO snow&, snow&
  53.             RotoZoom3 flake.x(f), flake.y(f), snow&, flake.s(f), flake.s(f), _D2R(flake.r(f))
  54.         END IF
  55.  
  56.         flake.r(f) = flake.r(f) + flake.rs(f) 'increase rotation
  57.         IF flake.r(f) > 360 THEN flake.r(f) = 1
  58.  
  59.         flake.y(f) = flake.y(f) + flake.ys(f) 'lower y position
  60.  
  61.         'if flake goes off screen, make a new flake above
  62.         IF flake.y(f) > _HEIGHT + (flake.s(f) * 8) THEN
  63.             flake.y(f) = RND * _HEIGHT - _HEIGHT - (flake.s(f) * 8)
  64.         END IF
  65.  
  66.     NEXT
  67.  
  68.     _LIMIT 30
  69.  
  70.     _DISPLAY
  71.  
  73.  
  76.  
  77. SUB RotoZoom3 (X AS LONG, Y AS LONG, Image AS LONG, xScale AS SINGLE, yScale AS SINGLE, radianRotation AS SINGLE)
  78.     ' This assumes you have set your drawing location with _DEST or default to screen.
  79.     ' X, Y - is where you want to put the middle of the image
  80.     ' Image - is the handle assigned with _LOADIMAGE
  81.     ' xScale, yScale - are shrinkage < 1 or magnification > 1 on the given axis, 1 just uses image size.
  82.     ' These are multipliers so .5 will create image .5 size on given axis and 2 for twice image size.
  83.     ' radianRotation is the Angle in Radian units to rotate the image
  84.     ' note: Radian units for rotation because it matches angle units of other Basic Trig functions
  85.     '       and saves a little time converting from degree.
  86.     '       Use the _D2R() function if you prefer to work in degree units for angles.
  87.  
  88.     DIM px(3) AS SINGLE: DIM py(3) AS SINGLE ' simple arrays for x, y to hold the 4 corners of image
  89.     DIM W&, H&, sinr!, cosr!, i&, x2&, y2& '   variables for image manipulation
  90.     W& = _WIDTH(Image&): H& = _HEIGHT(Image&)
  91.     px(0) = -W& / 2: py(0) = -H& / 2 'left top corner
  92.     px(1) = -W& / 2: py(1) = H& / 2 ' left bottom corner
  93.     px(2) = W& / 2: py(2) = H& / 2 '  right bottom
  94.     px(3) = W& / 2: py(3) = -H& / 2 ' right top
  95.     sinr! = SIN(-radianRotation): cosr! = COS(-radianRotation) ' rotation helpers
  96.     FOR i& = 0 TO 3 ' calc new point locations with rotation and zoom
  97.         x2& = xScale * (px(i&) * cosr! + sinr! * py(i&)) + X: y2& = yScale * (py(i&) * cosr! - px(i&) * sinr!) + Y
  98.         px(i&) = x2&: py(i&) = y2&
  99.     NEXT
  100.     _MAPTRIANGLE _SEAMLESS(0, 0)-(0, H& - 1)-(W& - 1, H& - 1), Image TO(px(0), py(0))-(px(1), py(1))-(px(2), py(2))
  101.     _MAPTRIANGLE _SEAMLESS(0, 0)-(W& - 1, 0)-(W& - 1, H& - 1), Image TO(px(0), py(0))-(px(3), py(3))-(px(2), py(2))
  103.  
  104.  
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: SMcNeill on October 15, 2021, 11:00:13 am
Here's one simple method to keep _SETAPLHA from slowing down your code too much, like I was telling bplus in a thread somewhere before -- Do all the prerendering of you alpha levels once and be done with them.

Code: QB64: [Select]
  1. 'Snowflake effect using transparency and rotozoom.
  2. 'Dav is trying to speed this up...
  3.  
  4. Screen _NewImage(980, 550, 32)
  5.  
  6. flakes = 1000 'number of flakes
  7.  
  8. Dim Shared tree&, snow&
  9. Dim Shared flake.x(flakes), flake.y(flakes), flake.ys(flakes) 'x/y values, y speed
  10. Dim Shared flake.r(flakes), flake.rs(flakes) 'rotation and rotation speed
  11. Dim Shared flake.a(flakes), flake.s(flakes) 'alpha value & flake size
  12.  
  13. Dim Shared snows(0 To 255) As Long
  14.  
  15.  
  16.  
  17. 'generate random snowflake vaues
  18.  
  19. For f = 1 To flakes
  20.  
  21.     flake.x(f) = Rnd * _Width + 30 'make randowm starting x position
  22.     flake.y(f) = Rnd * _Height * 2 - _Height 'make random starting y position
  23.  
  24.     Select Case Int(Rnd * 4) + 1 'make a random y falling speed
  25.         Case 1: flake.ys(f) = 1
  26.         Case 2: flake.ys(f) = 1.5
  27.         Case 3: flake.ys(f) = 2
  28.         Case 4: flake.ys(f) = 2.5
  29.     End Select
  30.  
  31.     flake.r(f) = Rnd * 360 'make random rotation sstarting value
  32.     Select Case Int(Rnd * 4) + 1 'make random rotation speed
  33.         Case 1: flake.rs(f) = .3
  34.         Case 2: flake.rs(f) = .5
  35.         Case 3: flake.rs(f) = .7
  36.         Case 4: flake.rs(f) = .9
  37.     End Select
  38.  
  39.     flake.a(f) = (Rnd * 128) 'random alpha value
  40.  
  41.     flake.s(f) = Rnd * 1.75 + .1 'randomw snowflake size
  42.  
  44.  
  45. tree& = _LoadImage("tree.jpg", 32)
  46. snow& = _LoadImage("snow.png", 32)
  47. For i = 0 To 255
  48.     snows(i) = _CopyImage(snow&)
  49.     _SetAlpha i, 1 To -1, snows(i)
  51.  
  52.  
  54.     'Cls
  55.     _PutImage (0, 0)-(980, 550), tree&, 0
  56.     Locate 1, 1: Print "FPS:"; counter
  57.     k = _KeyHit
  58.     If k = 32 Then mode = Not mode
  59.     For f = 1 To flakes
  60.  
  61.         If flake.y(f) > -50 Then
  62.             If mode Then 'use the spacebar to toggle alpha methods
  63.                 _SetAlpha flake.a(f), 1 To -1&, snow&
  64.                 RotoZoom3 flake.x(f), flake.y(f), snow&, flake.s(f), flake.s(f), _D2R(flake.r(f))
  65.             Else
  66.                 RotoZoom3 flake.x(f), flake.y(f), snows(flake.a(f)), flake.s(f), flake.s(f), _D2R(flake.r(f))
  67.             End If
  68.         End If
  69.  
  70.         flake.r(f) = (flake.r(f) + flake.rs(f)) Mod 360 'increase rotation
  71.  
  72.         flake.y(f) = flake.y(f) + flake.ys(f) 'lower y position
  73.  
  74.         'if flake goes off screen, make a new flake above
  75.         If flake.y(f) > _Height + (flake.s(f) * 8) Then
  76.             flake.y(f) = Rnd * _Height - _Height - (flake.s(f) * 8)
  77.         End If
  78.     Next
  79.  
  80.     If Timer > time# Then time# = Timer + 1: counter = c: c = 0
  81.     c = c + 1
  82.     '    _Limit 30
  83.  
  84.     _Display
  85.  
  86. Loop Until k = 27
  87.  
  90.  
  91. Sub RotoZoom3 (X As Long, Y As Long, Image As Long, xScale As Single, yScale As Single, radianRotation As Single)
  92.     ' This assumes you have set your drawing location with _DEST or default to screen.
  93.     ' X, Y - is where you want to put the middle of the image
  94.     ' Image - is the handle assigned with _LOADIMAGE
  95.     ' xScale, yScale - are shrinkage < 1 or magnification > 1 on the given axis, 1 just uses image size.
  96.     ' These are multipliers so .5 will create image .5 size on given axis and 2 for twice image size.
  97.     ' radianRotation is the Angle in Radian units to rotate the image
  98.     ' note: Radian units for rotation because it matches angle units of other Basic Trig functions
  99.     '       and saves a little time converting from degree.
  100.     '       Use the _D2R() function if you prefer to work in degree units for angles.
  101.  
  102.     Dim px(3) As Single: Dim py(3) As Single ' simple arrays for x, y to hold the 4 corners of image
  103.     Dim W&, H&, sinr!, cosr!, i&, x2&, y2& '   variables for image manipulation
  104.     W& = _Width(Image&): H& = _Height(Image&)
  105.     px(0) = -W& / 2: py(0) = -H& / 2 'left top corner
  106.     px(1) = -W& / 2: py(1) = H& / 2 ' left bottom corner
  107.     px(2) = W& / 2: py(2) = H& / 2 '  right bottom
  108.     px(3) = W& / 2: py(3) = -H& / 2 ' right top
  109.     sinr! = Sin(-radianRotation): cosr! = Cos(-radianRotation) ' rotation helpers
  110.     For i& = 0 To 3 ' calc new point locations with rotation and zoom
  111.         x2& = xScale * (px(i&) * cosr! + sinr! * py(i&)) + X: y2& = yScale * (py(i&) * cosr! - px(i&) * sinr!) + Y
  112.         px(i&) = x2&: py(i&) = y2&
  113.     Next
  114.     _MapTriangle _Seamless(0, 0)-(0, H& - 1)-(W& - 1, H& - 1), Image To(px(0), py(0))-(px(1), py(1))-(px(2), py(2))
  115.     _MapTriangle _Seamless(0, 0)-(W& - 1, 0)-(W& - 1, H& - 1), Image To(px(0), py(0))-(px(3), py(3))-(px(2), py(2))
  117.  

To test this, simply let it run for a few seconds and watch the number that pops up on your top-left corner of the animation.  See what it averages to be for you after 5 or 6 updates.  Mine starts out around 110 FPS or so.

Then hit the space bar and watch how that number changes over the next five or six seconds.  Mine tends to drop down to about 80 FPS or so.

That's an increase of what?  From 80 to 110.. about 40% faster, just by doing the pre-alpha work once and being done with it?

Now, if we *really* wanted to see an increase in speed and performance, couldn't we also do the scaling in a similar manner?  (Scale is .1 to 1.75, size is 30x30, so that's a max scale range from 3  to 53, so only a total of 50 actual levels in sizing, which is a small enough array of images to keep in memory.)  Once the scaling is predone, we no longer need RotoZoom at all.  We can stick to a single simple _PUTIMAGE for our snowflakes.... 

And in that case, we can then _COPYIMAGE(image,33) everything to swap over and make them HARDWARE images and then let the GPU do all the work with that _PUTIMAGE command, which will run much, much faster than software rendering everything like we're currently doing.

It'd require more memory usage up front to store all the pre-rendered and pre-sized images, but these are small images (30x30 is only 900 pixels or 7200 bytes of information) and really shouldn't cause that big of a footprint for memory usage in modern systems.  For example, the 256 pre-rendered alpha images I'm using above only uses a total of 7200bytes * 256 alpha levels = 1.8MB of memory...  PUHH!  If your modern computer can't handle 1.8MB of memory usage, then it's time for you to upgrade!  Even if I pre-rendered and pre-sized to match every possible combination, we'd only be looking at 1.8 * 50 = ~92MB of memory usage for the whole shebang!

QB64 can work blazingly fast with modern systems and modern memory limits, if we want it to.  It's a little more programming to make it do so, and to swap everything over from software (which most of us old school programmers are used to) to hardware images, but *when necessary*, it can make one helluva difference. 
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: Dav on October 15, 2021, 11:31:19 am
Great tips, @SMcNeill.  Thanks for the code too.  Yeah that makes sense. 

My laptop must really be slow, I can't get over 33 FPS.  Space toggle brings it down to 28.  I'm using an old T430 laptop. 

- Dav
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: SMcNeill on October 15, 2021, 12:55:17 pm
Give this a shot @Dav:

Code: QB64: [Select]
  1. 'Snowflake effect using transparency and rotozoom.
  2. 'Dav is trying to speed this up...
  3.  
  4. Screen _NewImage(980, 550, 32)
  5.  
  6. flakes = 1000 'number of flakes
  7.  
  8. Dim Shared tree&, snow&
  9. Dim Shared flake.x(flakes), flake.y(flakes), flake.ys(flakes) 'x/y values, y speed
  10. Dim Shared flake.r(flakes), flake.rs(flakes) 'rotation and rotation speed
  11. Dim Shared flake.a(flakes), flake.s(flakes) 'alpha value & flake size
  12.  
  13. Dim Shared snows(0 To 255) As Long
  14.  
  15.  
  16.  
  17. 'generate random snowflake vaues
  18.  
  19. For f = 1 To flakes
  20.  
  21.     flake.x(f) = Rnd * _Width + 30 'make randowm starting x position
  22.     flake.y(f) = Rnd * _Height * 2 - _Height 'make random starting y position
  23.  
  24.     Select Case Int(Rnd * 4) + 1 'make a random y falling speed
  25.         Case 1: flake.ys(f) = 1
  26.         Case 2: flake.ys(f) = 1.5
  27.         Case 3: flake.ys(f) = 2
  28.         Case 4: flake.ys(f) = 2.5
  29.     End Select
  30.  
  31.     flake.r(f) = Rnd * 360 'make random rotation sstarting value
  32.     Select Case Int(Rnd * 4) + 1 'make random rotation speed
  33.         Case 1: flake.rs(f) = .3
  34.         Case 2: flake.rs(f) = .5
  35.         Case 3: flake.rs(f) = .7
  36.         Case 4: flake.rs(f) = .9
  37.     End Select
  38.  
  39.     flake.a(f) = (Rnd * 128) 'random alpha value
  40.  
  41.     flake.s(f) = Rnd * 1.75 + .1 'randomw snowflake size
  42.  
  44.  
  45. tree& = _LoadImage("tree.jpg", 33)
  46. snow& = _LoadImage("snow.png", 32)
  47. For i = 0 To 255
  48.     _SetAlpha i, 1 To -1, snow&
  49.     snows(i) = _CopyImage(snow&, 33)
  51.  
  53.     ' Cls
  54.     _PutImage (0, 0)-(980, 550), tree&, 0
  55.     _Title "FPS:" + Str$(counter)
  56.     k = _KeyHit
  57.     If k = 32 Then mode = Not mode
  58.     For f = 1 To flakes
  59.         _PutImage (flake.x(f), flake.y(f))-Step(30 * flake.s(f), 30 * flake.s(f)), snows(flake.a(f))
  60.         flake.r(f) = (flake.r(f) + flake.rs(f)) Mod 360 'increase rotation
  61.  
  62.         flake.y(f) = flake.y(f) + flake.ys(f) 'lower y position
  63.  
  64.         'if flake goes off screen, make a new flake above
  65.         If flake.y(f) > _Height + (flake.s(f) * 8) Then
  66.             flake.y(f) = Rnd * _Height - _Height - (flake.s(f) * 8)
  67.         End If
  68.     Next
  69.  
  70.     If Timer > time# Then time# = Timer + 1: counter = c: c = 0
  71.     c = c + 1
  72.     '    _Limit 30
  73.  
  74.     _Display
  75.  
  76. Loop Until k = 27
  77.  
  80.  
  81. Sub RotoZoom3 (X As Long, Y As Long, Image As Long, xScale As Single, yScale As Single, radianRotation As Single)
  82.     ' This assumes you have set your drawing location with _DEST or default to screen.
  83.     ' X, Y - is where you want to put the middle of the image
  84.     ' Image - is the handle assigned with _LOADIMAGE
  85.     ' xScale, yScale - are shrinkage < 1 or magnification > 1 on the given axis, 1 just uses image size.
  86.     ' These are multipliers so .5 will create image .5 size on given axis and 2 for twice image size.
  87.     ' radianRotation is the Angle in Radian units to rotate the image
  88.     ' note: Radian units for rotation because it matches angle units of other Basic Trig functions
  89.     '       and saves a little time converting from degree.
  90.     '       Use the _D2R() function if you prefer to work in degree units for angles.
  91.  
  92.     Dim px(3) As Single: Dim py(3) As Single ' simple arrays for x, y to hold the 4 corners of image
  93.     Dim W&, H&, sinr!, cosr!, i&, x2&, y2& '   variables for image manipulation
  94.     W& = _Width(Image&): H& = _Height(Image&)
  95.     px(0) = -W& / 2: py(0) = -H& / 2 'left top corner
  96.     px(1) = -W& / 2: py(1) = H& / 2 ' left bottom corner
  97.     px(2) = W& / 2: py(2) = H& / 2 '  right bottom
  98.     px(3) = W& / 2: py(3) = -H& / 2 ' right top
  99.     sinr! = Sin(-radianRotation): cosr! = Cos(-radianRotation) ' rotation helpers
  100.     For i& = 0 To 3 ' calc new point locations with rotation and zoom
  101.         x2& = xScale * (px(i&) * cosr! + sinr! * py(i&)) + X: y2& = yScale * (py(i&) * cosr! - px(i&) * sinr!) + Y
  102.         px(i&) = x2&: py(i&) = y2&
  103.     Next
  104.     _MapTriangle _Seamless(0, 0)-(0, H& - 1)-(W& - 1, H& - 1), Image To(px(0), py(0))-(px(1), py(1))-(px(2), py(2))
  105.     _MapTriangle _Seamless(0, 0)-(W& - 1, 0)-(W& - 1, H& - 1), Image To(px(0), py(0))-(px(3), py(3))-(px(2), py(2))

Now, this is running the same as before, with one exception -- I tossed out Rotozoom and simply used _PUTIMAGE to scale our  images, which allowed me to swap this over to all hardware images...

The FPS counter is now up in the title bar, rather than printed to the screen (as print is a slow beast), and there's no toggle between modes for this as I wanted to showcase the difference in how it'd perform without anything much extra involved in the process...

Before, I was running at 80FPS while setting alpha as needed, and 110FPS with alpha preset...

Now, using hardware images, this is what I'm getting:

  [ This attachment cannot be displayed inline in 'Print Page' view ]  

(Note the number in the title bar...)

I think we're to the point where we need to put a _LIMIT back in that dang program!!  :D
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: SMcNeill on October 15, 2021, 12:59:10 pm
And I think this topic makes a great example of why more people need to start looking into hardware images and what they can do for their programs.

Thanks for sharing something simple like this which can be used to make a good contrast in the various performance differnces, @Dav.


I'd also like to take a second to point out something else important here:

  [ This attachment cannot be displayed inline in 'Print Page' view ]

If you'll look at the screen shot above, you can see how much of the CPU each program is using.

The software rendered version is coming in at 10.5% CPU usage, and 78MB total memory usage.
The hardware rendered version is coming in at 5.7% CPU usage, and 90MB total memory usage.

As far as I'm concerned, both of these programs use trivial amounts of memory in today's computer environments.  The extra 12MB of memory for the hardware version is completely trivial, in my opinion.

The difference in an unthrottled program using 10.5% CPU and 5.7% CPU power is the difference between night and day on my system!  The 10.5% CPU usuage kicks my fans into high gear and my PC sounds like an airplane getting ready to take off, while the 5.7% CPU usage isn't enough to do anything, letting my performance remain nice and quiet and utterly unnoticeable.

Much, much faster.  Half the CPU usage.  No triggering the fans when running with no _LIMIT...  What more do I need to point out to showcase the difference between hardware images and software?
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: Dav on October 15, 2021, 01:04:46 pm
Wow, a huge speed increase here.  I'm hitting over 100 now.  Big thank you, @SMcNeill.  I'm planning a Christmas screensaver with holiday music, need all the speed advantage. 
 
- Dav 
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: Dav on October 15, 2021, 01:10:23 pm
Just notice it knocks out rotation though.  Hmm.. I suppose a could make several images already rotated if I really need to keep that in.   I started thinking of this for the halloween program first, making a level where faded ghosts are on the screen, and moved on to a snowflakes thing.

- Dav
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: SMcNeill on October 15, 2021, 01:16:59 pm
Quote from: Dav on October 15, 2021, 01:10:23 pm
Just notice it knocks out rotation though.  Hmm.. I suppose a could make several images already rotated if I really need to keep that in.   I started thinking of this for the halloween program first, making a level where faded ghosts are on the screen, and moved on to a snowflakes thing.

- Dav

Since your snowflakes are symmetrical, there's no real point to rotate them more than something like 60 degrees.  (6 point snowflakes right?  I didn't look that close.)  A 1 degree rotation per frame isn't going to make that much of a difference (I wouldn't think), so you should be able to get by with all of about 20 three-degree rotations.  Just pre-rotate those 20 images and save them as they are.  It's an extra 7200 bytes memory per image, but I honestly don't see how that'd be an issue for any system out there today.  ;)
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: Dav on October 15, 2021, 01:40:37 pm
That's a good idea.

This will be a benefit in another program I have on the back burner.  I'm wanting to redo a fish aquarium saver, now I can have random see through bubbles floating up in front and even behind some fish.

- Dav
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: johnno56 on October 15, 2021, 04:50:52 pm
Fast. Slow. CPU rates high or low. This much ram or that much ram. Regardless of all those matters, I think the program is pretty cool. well done, Dav. Well done!
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: jack on October 15, 2021, 04:59:07 pm
now you need to add some fun stuff like kids making a snowman
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: SMcNeill on October 15, 2021, 05:09:18 pm
TWINS??  😱😱
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: bplus on October 16, 2021, 05:27:00 pm
I am curious how this holds up speed-wise:
Code: QB64: [Select]
  1. _Title "Snowjob, drawn flakes" ' B+ mod 2018-12-5
  2.  
  3. ' screen
  4. Const XMAX = 800
  5. Const YMAX = 600
  6. Screen _NewImage(XMAX, YMAX, 32)
  7. _ScreenMove 200, 100
  8. 'snow making machine
  9. Type PARTICLE
  10.     x As Single
  11.     y As Single
  12.     dx As Single
  13.     dy As Single
  14.     size As Single
  15.     density As Single
  16.     angle As Single
  17.     dir As Single
  18.     maxy As Single
  20.  
  21. '  background, try 3 backgrounds
  22. wallpaper& = _NewImage(XMAX, YMAX, 32)
  23. _Dest wallpaper&
  24. drawLandscape
  26.  
  27. nLayers = 15
  28. flakes = 2 ^ (nLayers + 1) - 1
  29. Dim snow(flakes) As PARTICLE
  30. horizon = .5 * YMAX
  31. For layer = nLayers To 1 Step -1
  32.     For flake = 0 To 2 ^ layer
  33.         snow(flake).x = Rnd * 2 * XMAX - .5 * XMAX
  34.         snow(flake).y = Rnd * YMAX
  35.         snow(flake).dx = .1 * (nLayers + 1 - layer) * Cos(Rnd * _Pi(.6666) + _Pi(.0833))
  36.         snow(flake).dy = .1 * (nLayers + 1 - layer) * Sin(Rnd * _Pi(.6666) + _Pi(.0833))
  37.         snow(flake).size = .5 * (nLayers - layer)
  38.         snow(flake).density = 2.3 + Rnd * .5
  39.         snow(flake).angle = Rnd * _Pi
  40.         If Rnd < .5 Then snow(flake).dir = -1 Else snow(flake).dir = 1
  41.         snow(flake).maxy = horizon + (nLayers + 1 - layer) * 30
  42.     Next
  44.  
  46.  
  47.     _PutImage , wallpaper&, 0
  48.     For flake = flakes To 0 Step -1
  49.         snow(flake).x = snow(flake).x + snow(flake).dx
  50.         snow(flake).y = snow(flake).y + snow(flake).dy
  51.  
  52.         If snow(flake).size <= 1 Then
  53.             PSet (snow(flake).x, snow(flake).y), _RGBA32(255, 255, 255, 80)
  54.         ElseIf snow(flake).size <= 2 Then
  55.             Circle (snow(flake).x, snow(flake).y), 1, _RGBA32(255, 255, 255, 100)
  56.         Else
  57.             snow(flake).angle = snow(flake).angle + snow(flake).dir * _Pi(1 / 400)
  58.             rFlake snow(flake).x, snow(flake).y, snow(flake).size, snow(flake).density, snow(flake).angle
  59.         End If
  60.         If snow(flake).y > snow(flake).maxy Or snow(flake).x < -.5 * XMAX Or snow(flake).x > 1.5 * XMAX Then
  61.             snow(flake).x = Rnd * 2 * XMAX - .5 * XMAX
  62.             snow(flake).y = Rnd * YMAX - 1.1 * YMAX
  63.         End If
  64.     Next
  65.     _Display
  66.     _Limit 60
  68.  
  69. Sub rFlake (x, y, r, DV, rAng)
  70.     'DV = flake density
  71.     Color _RGBA32(225, 225, 245, r ^ 2 * 30)
  72.     For a = 0 To 5
  73.         armX = x + r * Cos(a * _Pi(1 / 3) + rAng)
  74.         armY = y + r * Sin(a * _Pi(1 / 3) + rAng)
  75.         Line (x, y)-(armX, armY)
  76.         If r > 2.5 Then rFlake armX, armY, r / DV, DV, rAng
  77.     Next
  79.  
  80. Sub midInk (r1%, g1%, b1%, r2%, g2%, b2%, fr##)
  81.     Color _RGB(r1% + (r2% - r1%) * fr##, g1% + (g2% - g1%) * fr##, b1% + (b2% - b1%) * fr##)
  83.  
  84. Function rand% (lo%, hi%)
  85.     rand% = Int(Rnd * (hi% - lo% + 1)) + lo%
  87.  
  88. Sub drawLandscape
  89.     'needs midInk, rand
  90.     'the sky
  91.     For i = 0 To YMAX
  92.         midInk 200, 90, 158, 58, 28, 90, i / YMAX
  93.         Line (0, i)-(XMAX, i)
  94.     Next
  95.     'the land
  96.     startH = YMAX - 300
  97.     rgb = 160
  98.     For mountain = 1 To 6
  99.         Xright = 0
  100.         y = startH
  101.         While Xright < XMAX
  102.             ' upDown = local up / down over range, change along Y
  103.             ' range = how far up / down, along X
  104.             upDown = (Rnd * .8 - .35) * (mountain * .5)
  105.             range = Xright + rand%(15, 35) * 3.5 / mountain
  106.             lastx = Xright - 1
  107.             Color _RGB32(rgb + 40, rgb - 30, rgb)
  108.             For X = Xright To range
  109.                 y = y + upDown
  110.  
  111.                 Line (lastx, y)-(X, YMAX), , BF 'just lines weren't filling right
  112.                 lastx = X
  113.             Next
  114.             Xright = range
  115.         Wend
  116.         '_DELAY 1
  117.         rgb = rand%(rgb, rgb + 20)
  118.         startH = startH + rand%(5, 20)
  119.     Next
  121.  
  122.  
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: Dav on October 16, 2021, 07:26:39 pm
Now that's pretty, @bplus.  The falling looks very natural too.  On my laptop I get the same speed with or without _LIMIT 60 in, so my FPS is below that.  I don't notice a change in speed until around _LIMIT 30.  Really cool code.

- Dav
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: bplus on October 16, 2021, 07:38:24 pm
Yes cool, going for that :) thanks
Title: Re: Trying to speed up this falling snowflake effect
Post by: Dav on October 16, 2021, 07:43:26 pm
Using Steve's _TITLE/FPS counter code I get 34-39 FPS without using a _LIMIT

EDIT:  I think the _TITLE call slows it down a bit though, when I use a LOCATE/PRINT instead I get +5 higher FPS.

- Dav
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