Processing 1.0 - Processing Discourse - Writing snapshots without rendering in window

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Index › Programming Questions & Help › Syntax Questions › Writing snapshots without rendering in window

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Writing snapshots without rendering in window (Read 2406 times)

robksawyer YaBB Newbies Offline Posts: 4	Writing snapshots without rendering in window Jun 25^th, 2008, 10:30pm Is there a way to write snapshots without having to render the scene to a window? If so, can someone explain how this is done? Also, wouldn't this speed up the process time?

PhiLho YaBB Moderator Offline Posts: 4190 Near Paris (France)	Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window Reply #1 - Jun 26^th, 2008, 8:20pm Basically, you create a PGraphics and apply the drawing operations on it. I don't think you will gain a significant amount of time, though.

antiplastik YaBB Moderator Offline Posts: 699 France	Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window Reply #2 - Jun 27^th, 2008, 9:01am Quote: Also, wouldn't this speed up the process time? No, since Processing already handle double-buffering, you don't need to care about rendering things in a buffer before displaying.

robksawyer YaBB Newbies Offline Posts: 4	Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window Reply #3 - Jun 27^th, 2008, 4:20pm I wasn't thinking so much as writing into a buffer. I was thinking more along the lines of not having to render something to a window and just have it write directly to a file skipping the visual feedback given by the window.

antiplastik

Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window
Reply #4 - Jun 27^th, 2008, 4:30pm

you can do that :
Code:

PGraphics buffer = createGraphics(400, 400, P3D);
buffer.beginDraw();
buffer.background(255);
buffer.fill(250, 150, 0);
buffer.stroke(0);
buffer.rect(10, 10, 380, 380);
buffer.save("snapshot.png");
buffer.endDraw();

but, it's easier to render in the main window and save :
Code:

size(400, 400, P3D);
background(255);
fill(250, 150, 0);
stroke(0);
rect(10, 10, 380, 380);
save("snapshot.png");

more info about the save() method :
http://processing.org/reference/save_.html

robksawyer YaBB Newbies Offline Posts: 4	Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window Reply #5 - Jun 27^th, 2008, 5:17pm It's more clear to me now. Thanks for the help.

Cedric

Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window
Reply #6 - Jun 29^th, 2008, 1:24am

@antiplastik

as you are talking about this topic right now, ive got a question.So i dont need to open a new thread with the same question... as the drawings i do getting more complex. PDF output is not a good idea anymore. working is much to slow. I wanted to output it as a highres image but couldnt figure out how PGgraphics exactly works.

Do i have to add the name(buffer in your case) to every single command which should be drawn like, line, fill, stroke ellipse and so one? how do you handle this if youve got a lot of them? or do i just dont get how PGraphics works...?

twitter.com/CedricKiefer

PhiLho

Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window
Reply #7 - Jun 29^th, 2008, 2:56pm

Cedric, basically, yes, you have to tell each time in what PGraphics buffer you write: that's because you can have several buffers opened simultaneously, where you can draw same or different things, etc.
It would be nice to have an instruction telling Processing that any further graphic command will go in a given buffer, but I don't know if such command exists yet.

Cedric YaBB Moderator Offline Posts: 1838	Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window Reply #8 - Jun 29^th, 2008, 3:49pm Ok, then i got it right but i was asking myself the same question if there is a command like that. So i guess i have to remove and add the buffer name everytime i want to switch between screenoutput and saving to a file and this takes some time if you have up to 30-40 commands.
	twitter.com/CedricKiefer

PhiLho

Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window
Reply #9 - Jun 29^th, 2008, 8:07pm

One thing you can do:
create a flag indicating if you want drawing on screen or in a graphics buffer:
boolean bOnScreen = false;

In setup(), initialize accordingly:
if (bOnScreen)
{
pg = this.g; // The PGraphics buffer of Processing itself!
}
else
{
pg = createGraphics(width, height, JAVA2D);
}

And draw:
if (bOnScreen)
{
pg.beginDraw();
}
pg.ellipseMode(CORNER);
pg.image(pi, 0, 0);
pg.stroke(0); pg.fill(20, 200, 10);
pg.ellipse(cx, cy, sz, sz);
pg.fill(200, 20, 20);
pg.rect(cx, cy+30, sz/2, sz/2);
if (!bOnScreen)
{
pg.endDraw();
}

Not tested extensively, might have bad side effects, but it is an idea to explore.

antiplastik

Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window
Reply #10 - Jun 30^th, 2008, 1:18am

PhiLho wrote on Jun 29^th, 2008, 2:56pm:

It would be nice to have an instruction telling Processing that any further graphic command will go in a given buffer, but I don't know if such command exists yet.

I like this idea.

-> let's add it to the suggestions! :-)

Edit : after posting to the suggestions category, davbol showed up with a nice solution. You can read his answer here.

« Last Edit: Jun 30^th, 2008, 6:00pm by antiplastik »

PhiLho YaBB Moderator Offline Posts: 4190 Near Paris (France)	Re: Writing snapshots without rendering in window Reply #11 - Jul 1^st, 2008, 12:39am Cool hack!

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