JavaFX performance for complex visualisations

[Jose Martinez]

John,

I do have some complex graphics and the performance is not perfect but pretty good.  On the Intel i series CPU's they work great without jitter.  Currently developing on AMD Turon laptop with a decent graphics card ATI4560 and I do see some jitter.  I am hopeful that I will be able to work through them.  Currently buying a MAC mini to try it out on there.  Looking for people to give feedback and maybe help identify where the jitter is coming from.  I can send a copy, but it is only packaged for Windows but can send you the jar to execute yourself on other platforms.

Overall I am happy with JavaFX performance, while not perfect I have trust in the platform to deliver on newer CPU's.

thanks
jose


________________________________
 From: John C. Turnbull <ozemale at ozemail.com.au>
To: openjfx-dev at openjdk.java.net 
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2012 4:14 AM
Subject: JavaFX performance for complex visualisations
 
I am under the impression that JavaFX 2.x can be used to develop reasonably
complex and demanding visualisations including games, animations etc. and
that JavaFX 8+ will enable such visualisations to be 3D.



However, as of yet, I have not seen any such advanced visualisations
anywhere.  The animation samples in Ensemble are obviously very rudimentary
(probably intentionally) and I have not been able to find anything that I
would classify as complex, demanding or advanced anywhere on the internet.



And this brings me to ask a few questions:



1. Do any such games, animations or visualisations exist yet?

2. If not, how does Oracle or anyone else actually know that JavaFX is
capable of supporting such applications?

3. Do I have the wrong understanding that JavaFX is supposed to support such
applications?

4. Is it possible that, for whatever reason, JavaFX is simply not capable of
supporting such applications?



My feeling that JavaFX can indeed support such applications is based on the
fact that it is hardware accelerated and therefore it should be limited
mostly by the capabilities of the graphics card and also because it is often
talked about in this way.  However, I have observed varying levels of
performance that don't quite follow these principles such as JavaFX
performing poorly with choppy/jittery animations and transitions on my most
powerful machine with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (the current fastest
graphics card in the world) but performing quite well on machines with much
lower specifications.



So I guess I am curious to know what kinds of testing and evaluations Oracle
has undertaken to determine the performance characteristics of JavaFX and
exactly what kinds of applications it is actually suitable for.  For
example, I am yet to see any JavaFX application with even the sophistication
of a Flash electronic greeting card or banner ad and yet I assume JavaFX
will be used for such purposes eventually.



I'd appreciate comments from Oracle and anyone who has in fact developed
more complex visualisations/animations/games with JavaFX that aren't
publicly accessible.



Thanks,



-jct