Open GL

[d.healey]

Just seen this is added as an export option now. When is it beneficial to use OpenGL over the default?

[Christoph Hart]

It makes a huge difference for UI rendering on some devices - PercX is barely usable without OpenGL enabled, but this is just because there is so much going on there - waveform rendering, big piano scroll zooming etc. For a normal plugin interface without too many moving parts you should be fine without OpenGL.

On the other hand there are some compatibility issues with Open GL - for example slave computers without a monitor attached might render the interface black if it's accessed through TeamViewer) and on older graphic cards it might not work.

[d.healey]

Could you make the open gl option available from the command line interface? Then we could quickly generate both versions and give the user the choice of which one to use.

[Christoph Hart]

I‘ve added it as runtime option in the settings menu so there‘s no need to build two versions.

[d.healey]

@Christoph-Hart Oh even better! :)

[orange]

Very cool ;) However, since Apple has deprecated OpenGL (from Mojave), maybe in the future the Metal support would be good too ;)

Why macOS Mojave requires Metal — and deprecates OpenGL | AppleInsider

In order to run the new macOS Mojave, Macs must have graphics hardware capable of supporting Metal, Apple's modern low-level, low-overhead software that provides access to graphics processing.

AppleInsider (appleinsider.com)

[ustk]

@Christoph-Hart said in Open GL:

I‘ve added it as runtime option in the settings menu so there‘s no need to build two versions.

I don't see it in the setting panel, is that normal? (macOS)

[Casey Kolb]

I'm also trying to render the entire plugin as OpenGL. Is this still an option in the settings? I'm not seeing it in any of the recent builds.

[Casey Kolb]

Oh, I think I found it in StandalonePopupComponents.cpp – line 128

#if !HISE_USE_OPENGL_FOR_PLUGIN
	properties[(int)Properties::UseOpenGL] = false;
#endif

[arminh]

I still have issue where on Windows everything is smooth but on Mac is really laggy :(

[Casey Kolb]

Hmm, it sped up my Mac plugin by like 200%. Crazy difference in speed.

[ustk]

So is it a pre-processor command finally?

[Casey Kolb]

I just set the flags in HISE before exporting

HISE_USE_OPENGL_FOR_PLUGIN=1

[ustk]

@Lunacy-Audio Ok thanks! I never think about the possibility to set flags in the preferences…

[Casey Kolb]

Yeah, same! I've had to do some digging for a few of them.

[Natan]

This post is deleted!

[Lindon]

Isnt OpenGL depreciated on the latest Macs?

[Casey Kolb]

It's officially "deprecated" by Apple, but it's going to be around for a long, long while. The plugin I'm working on is using OpenGL almost exclusively for the main component and works across all Macs without any issues. With Windows it gets a little fishy because the graphics cards are all over the place, but in general also works fine.

[Lindon]

@Lunacy-Audio said in Open GL:

It's officially "deprecated" by Apple, but it's going to be around for a long, long while. The plugin I'm working on is using OpenGL almost exclusively for the main component and works across all Macs without any issues. With Windows it gets a little fishy because the graphics cards are all over the place, but in general also works fine.

yes this is my understanding too, however it's not so simple - the latest MacOS (and I assume all future ones) will use rosetta to virtualise your code - so you may see some performance hits as it morphs your OpenGL calls into Metal calls..

[Christoph Hart]

Doesn‘t rosetta just turn intel binaries into ARM ones?