Hey Zincuntrin here's an inconvenient truths about the flash 10 drawTriangles method - it is, in almost all use cases, slower than using standard flash 9 drawing commands. the reason we use them at all is so that perspective correct textures are possible - which can achieve speed increases in other ways (such as not having to use the subdividing algorithm in f9 for perspective correction). But if you do a straight comparison, you will rarely see any benefit.
The one case where this is not true is when you use indices to draw your triangles, which reuse vertex coordinates for neighbouring triangles. But this is not the whole story, because there are a couple of problems with this approach: a) not only is the vertex coordinate reused, but the uvt coordinate is reused as well. It is baffling why this should be the case, as almost all modeling programs export a format that allows uv coordinates to be polygon-dependent, and vertex-independant. In draw triangles it is the other way around - so using indices restricts your uv mapping to a non-standard form that will break most imported models. b) there is a common problem with all new methods in f10 that use a long string of vectors values, and it is called marshalling. basically this the name given to the process required to 'marshall' your values into a single vector for processing in the method. In tests carried out on the drawtriangles class, the marshalling process for using drawtriangles with indices neatly removes any speed benefit that would be gained. In fact, the marshalling process is still a problem even if you don't use indices, because you have to concat all your screenvertex values every frame. However, this is at least a process that can be improved, and will hopefully see some speed increases as the Flash10 branch matures. @Ralph - you're absolutely right, the sorting process is no different in Away3d and PV3D. Although one area where we do differ quite a lot is in object pooling, which in Away3d is tied into our triangle caching system. Afaik there is currently no equivalent system in PV3D, which should mean that Away3d is better performing when it comes to memory consumption and GC calls over time. @Zincuntrin - if you compare the f9 version of Away3d with the f9 version of pv3d, there should be less of a difference in speed. I'd also be interested to see what difference there is between the Flash10 branch of Away3d and the cs4 branch of pv3d, using the same drawtriangles methods... atb Rob On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 5:33 PM, Ralph Hauwert <[email protected]> wrote: > Actually, right now Papervision3D and Away3D have exactly the same sorting > options. > As far as I know, by default both PV3D and Away3D exhibit the same sorting > behaviour. > > Ralph. > > > On Mar 9, 2009, at 4:18 PM, Peter Kapelyan wrote: > > Can you also try this on your model > > mymodel.ownCanvas=true; > > I think the reason pv3d is faster is mainly because of it's poor/simple Z > sorting. > If you enable ownCanvas on your model, it should be faster a bit. Let me > know if it is any faster. > > Also I hear enhancements to f10 are still underway, but I am sure Rob can > speak more about that. > > -Pete > > On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 8:02 AM, Zincuntrin <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> I have compared Away3D "flash 10" branch with papervision "flash 9" >> branch. >> >> Using a model with aprox 2000 tris, I get 40 FPS with Away3D and 60 >> FPS with papervision. >> >> I have digged into the code and I have seen that you are not using the >> "render batch triangles" feature of flash 10 >> (graphics.drawTriangles?), but instead, you are still using the >> "triangle by triangle" approach, though using the >> graphics.drawGraphicsData in flash 10. >> >> Am I correct? >> >> It would be nice, if possible, to know the future plan for flash 10 >> usage, for example: What are the expected performance gains? When will >> it be ready? etc... >> >> Many many thanks >> > > > > -- > ___________________ > > Actionscript 3.0 Flash 3D Graphics Engine > > HTTP://AWAY3D.COM > > > -- Rob Bateman Flash Development & Consultancy [email protected] www.infiniteturtles.co.uk www.away3d.com
