Comments on: Fast Line Drawing http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506 Mastering AS3 Mon, 14 May 2012 17:02:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Russ http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506/comment-page-1#comment-12617 Russ Sun, 11 Sep 2011 15:21:00 +0000 http://jacksondunstan.com/?p=506#comment-12617 Anyone landing here looking for how to draw fast lines should definitely look into flash.display.Graphics.drawPath, which essentially bundles up a series of lineTo calls and avoid a lot of function overhead: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/flash/display/Graphics.html#drawPath() Flash >= 10 only, and watch out for transparency issues (if you care) as described very well here: http://www.flashandmath.com/howtos/pathalpha/ Anyone landing here looking for how to draw fast lines should definitely look into flash.display.Graphics.drawPath, which essentially bundles up a series of lineTo calls and avoid a lot of function overhead:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/flash/display/Graphics.html#drawPath()

Flash >= 10 only, and watch out for transparency issues (if you care) as described very well here:
http://www.flashandmath.com/howtos/pathalpha/

]]> By: Robert W http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506/comment-page-1#comment-5722 Robert W Sat, 30 Apr 2011 02:44:03 +0000 http://jacksondunstan.com/?p=506#comment-5722 right. what a shame... ;( Anyway thanks for that. I just need the performance as well as the look. But the look might be number 1. So back to lineStyle i guess.. Thanks for your help. right. what a shame… ;( Anyway thanks for that. I just need the performance as well as the look. But the look might be number 1. So back to lineStyle i guess.. Thanks for your help.

]]> By: jackson http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506/comment-page-1#comment-5710 jackson Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:39:52 +0000 http://jacksondunstan.com/?p=506#comment-5710 Nope, <code>efla</code> doesn't have those features so I tested it against a simple 1-pixel stroke. Also, check out the <a href="/articles/1079#article506" rel="nofollow">performance update</a> in Flash Player 10.2. Nope, efla doesn’t have those features so I tested it against a simple 1-pixel stroke.

Also, check out the performance update in Flash Player 10.2.

]]> By: Robert W http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506/comment-page-1#comment-5708 Robert W Fri, 29 Apr 2011 15:44:13 +0000 http://jacksondunstan.com/?p=506#comment-5708 Hi guys, This is great stuff, but I've been trying to look around for this EFLA line generator, is there anyway you can control the stroke or thickness of the line? Otherwise it's pretty much no wonder why its faster right? Because you can only control the color but not the style of it like lineStyle does? Please advice. Thanks. Hi guys,
This is great stuff, but I’ve been trying to look around for this EFLA line generator, is there anyway you can control the stroke or thickness of the line? Otherwise it’s pretty much no wonder why its faster right? Because you can only control the color but not the style of it like lineStyle does? Please advice. Thanks.

]]> By: jackson http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506/comment-page-1#comment-4346 jackson Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:29:12 +0000 http://jacksondunstan.com/?p=506#comment-4346 Cool! This will definitely revitalize <code>efla</code> after the (somewhat) lost ground in Flash Player 10.2. Cool! This will definitely revitalize efla after the (somewhat) lost ground in Flash Player 10.2.

]]> By: skyboy http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506/comment-page-1#comment-4345 skyboy Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:25:18 +0000 http://jacksondunstan.com/?p=506#comment-4345 I decided to optimize this a bit, and the results I got were with my update being consisitantly 55% faster (145 ms vs 323 ms), thought I'd share. https://github.com/skyboy/AS3-Utilities/blob/master/skyboy/utils/efla.as I decided to optimize this a bit, and the results I got were with my update being consisitantly 55% faster (145 ms vs 323 ms), thought I’d share.
https://github.com/skyboy/AS3-Utilities/blob/master/skyboy/utils/efla.as

]]> By: jackson http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506/comment-page-1#comment-777 jackson Fri, 13 Aug 2010 05:44:03 +0000 http://jacksondunstan.com/?p=506#comment-777 It's not my line-drawing algorithm, but what would I copy/draw from? It’s not my line-drawing algorithm, but what would I copy/draw from?

]]> By: limeyd http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506/comment-page-1#comment-776 limeyd Fri, 13 Aug 2010 03:02:10 +0000 http://jacksondunstan.com/?p=506#comment-776 Awesome tip, why not swap out the setPixels for copypixels or draw, not as good as photoshop but still rocking Awesome tip, why not swap out the setPixels for copypixels or draw, not as good as photoshop but still rocking

]]> By: jackson http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506/comment-page-1#comment-567 jackson Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:26:28 +0000 http://jacksondunstan.com/?p=506#comment-567 On a 2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.6: <table> <tr> <th>Dest Point</th> <th>efla</th> <th>lineTo (low)</th> <th>lineTo (medium)</th> <th>lineTo (high)</th> <th>lineTo (best)</th> </tr> <tr> <td>999,999</td> <td>99</td> <td>1 vector/97 bitmap</td> <td>1 vector/407 bitmap</td> <td>1 vector/2095 bitmap</td> <td>1 vector/4703 bitmap</td> </tr> <tr> <td>100,100</td> <td>10</td> <td>1 vector/14 bitmap</td> <td>1 vector/50 bitmap</td> <td>1 vector/216 bitmap</td> <td>1 vector/481 bitmap</td> </tr> <tr> <td>10,10</td> <td>1</td> <td>1 vector/6 bitmap</td> <td>1 vector/14 bitmap</td> <td>1 vector/38 bitmap</td> <td>1 vector/71 bitmap</td> </tr> </table> So yes, it does seem as though there is a fair amount of overhead. It seems safe to say that if you want to draw a lot of little lines and can live with the reduced feature set (eg. solid colors), you'll get a very large (6x minimum) speedup by using a <tt>BitmapData</tt>-based algorithm. Thanks for the tip! On a 2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.6:

Dest Point efla lineTo (low) lineTo (medium) lineTo (high) lineTo (best)
999,999 99 1 vector/97 bitmap 1 vector/407 bitmap 1 vector/2095 bitmap 1 vector/4703 bitmap
100,100 10 1 vector/14 bitmap 1 vector/50 bitmap 1 vector/216 bitmap 1 vector/481 bitmap
10,10 1 1 vector/6 bitmap 1 vector/14 bitmap 1 vector/38 bitmap 1 vector/71 bitmap

So yes, it does seem as though there is a fair amount of overhead. It seems safe to say that if you want to draw a lot of little lines and can live with the reduced feature set (eg. solid colors), you’ll get a very large (6x minimum) speedup by using a BitmapData-based algorithm.

Thanks for the tip!

]]> By: benji http://jacksondunstan.com/articles/506/comment-page-1#comment-566 benji Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:55:52 +0000 http://jacksondunstan.com/?p=506#comment-566 not sure if its relevant, but if i remember rightly the graphics methods are not affected much by the distance of the line drawn..where as any bitmap method would gain a performance boost for shorter differences.. do a find and replace for "999" and change it to "100" you should here really see the benifits ;) not sure if its relevant, but if i remember rightly the graphics methods are not affected much by the distance of the line drawn..where as any bitmap method would gain a performance boost for shorter differences..

do a find and replace for “999″ and change it to “100″

you should here really see the benifits ;)

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