processing sketch vs applet speed

Sunlitazu..

processing sketch vs applet speed

in Integration and Hardware • 1 month ago

Hi,

So I recently started using Processing and I've encountered an issues with sketches being very slow if I try to create an even remotely complex sketch. While trying to find and test ways to create a glow effect I found this sketch: http://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/85194 and saw that it was working at a perfectly normal speed inside Chrome so I copied the code directly into Processing only to find when I ran it it was only going a few frames per second. All the while the applet in chrome is still running at 60 fps.

I opened Task Manager and could see both java.exe processes. Both were using up 25% of my CPU but the process for the processing sketch was using twice as much memory. I did this on my laptop too and got the same laggy results.

I would think the issue lies in JVM but I can't imagine why it would let an applet play perfectly fine but not Processing.

Any help in solving this would be greatly appreciated. I'm working on a real time music visualizer so it's essential the sketch has little to no lag.

Information that may or may not be relevant: I'm using Windows 7 64 bit. Java version 1.7 is installed. I have 4gb of memory and a decent Nvidia graphics card.

Replies(4)

GoToLoop

Re: processing sketch vs applet speed

1 month ago

Unfortunately, Processing comes w/ its own bundled and old Java as a subfolder.
In Linux, it's enough to merely delete that folder to force Processing to use the system's more updated Java.
Although every time Processing is launched it says it's not "fond" of that Java version!

But in Windows, the developers deliberately made that more difficult. At least for Processing 2+ versions.
The Window's launcher version arbitrarily "demands" that a subfolder called /java to be present!

To overcome that, we need to create a hardlink junction in place of that hateful folder.
That junction must appoint to the system's JRE folder.

Some previous posts w/ further instructions:

http://forum.processing.org/topic/how-do-i-point-processing-to-a-particular-java-instance
http://forum.processing.org/topic/java-mode-not-working
http://forum.processing.org/topic/reuse-functionality-at-top-level

dimkir

Re: processing sketch vs applet speed

1 month ago

This may be the cause of your problem as well:

https://github.com/processing/processing/issues/1868#issuecomment-23866945

It may not be the java version, but the fact that when you run sketches from PDE, they also contains some "PDE-to-sketch" communication code, which may be broken if you have firewall on your system.

The sketch you mentioned is pretty simple and not that much dependent on version of java.

Also you can try exporting the sketch from PDE and running it standalone. And if I am right, then it should run at right speed.

Sunlitazu..

Re: processing sketch vs applet speed

1 month ago

Thank you both for your helpful advice.

Sadly after trying both creating a junction for java and disabling my firewall the sketch still ran slow. I even tried exporting it but got the same results.

However it lead me to try some other things. I download Processing 1.5 and tested the code. The sketch ran perfectly. I then tried exporting it to an application but when I tried to run the .exe it says it can't find javaw.exe then produces a Procedsing Error 'Error calling ShellExecuteEx()'

So I'm under the impression the slowdown is caused by some resource Processing uses, perhaps it's adding something extra to the code. Comparing the two applications produced by Processing 2 and 1.5 I can see Processing 2 adds a ton more files to the lib folder. Is there anyway to see exactly what Processing is up to when running a sketch?

GoToLoop

Re: processing sketch vs applet speed

1 month ago

... it says it can't find javaw.exe then produces a Procedsing Error 'Error calling ShellExecuteEx()'.

"javaw.exe" is the official launcher to run a Java program in windowed mode.
If it couldn't find it, it means that somehow Java wasn't properly installed.

Another approach for Processing 1.5.1 is export as an applet <CTRL+E>.
Inside the created "/applet" folder, look for a file w/ extension .jar.
That file should be able to run in any system w/ a properly installed Java.

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