Canvas memory issues and performance

[joe andresen]

So why not process the commands?

I think it would be tough to know when to process them and when to leave 
them alone. Canvas is different then the other nodes in the scene graph 
in the sense that it could, not 100% of the time but sometimes, want to 
be processed when not visible, but generally when a node is not visible 
you do not want to process(render) it.

And yes, we could add hints to help, but that leads to a slippery slope 
of adding a bunch of API that doesn't pull its own weight (A term Rich 
often uses). There was a similar request here a couple weeks ago about 
adding an LCD hint in canvas.

Lastly, remember that canvas is a node, if you have a background color 
in your app, you could put the canvas node in a group and render a 
rectangle the size of the canvas that is the same color as the 
background in front of it, and i think that will cause it to keep 
updating (not tested). you could then fade in and out your rectangle 
when you want the canvas to be visible again. just a thought.

As for the media stuff, maybe a media guy can comment.

-Joe