Significant increase in lag with versions 0.2.2+

[mattaq31]

Hi @Knightro63, thanks again for continuously updating this repo, it's been crucial to support our app for designing DNA megastructures (https://github.com/mattaq31/Hash-CAD).

The app is working great for me but I've noticed that lag has gotten considerably worse since v0.2.2 onwards (I'm currently testing on 0.2.6 and a previous version 0.1.7 did not have as much lag). My app doesn't have any complex geometries but seemingly using 6 cylinders joined together into a single honeycomb mesh (mesh.castShadow = true; mesh.receiveShadow = true; mesh.frustumCulled = false; 20 radial segments per cylinder) produces large amounts of lag - enough that 192 instances of a single mesh can cause my M3 Max to slow down to a crawl and impact the rest of my open applications. The lag is particularly noticeable when zooming in and panning the view when the objects are visible; panning from a larger distance away results in significantly less lag.

Have you noticed this kind of lag before?

For reference, my 3D code is linked here: https://github.com/mattaq31/Hash-CAD/blob/main/flutter_app/lib/graphics/3d_painter.dart

P.S. We are about to submit a journal article for peer-review on #-CAD and other research we've conducted on crisscross DNA origami. I will be recognizing your support for this project in the paper acknowledgments - if you would like me use your real name and/or point to a specific profile page please let me know on matthew_aquilina@dfci.harvard.edu !

[mattaq31]

Perhaps interestingly, performance on web appears to be significantly faster for the exact same design and scenario!

https://www.hash-cad.com

[Knightro63]

Hi @mattaq31 ,

Sorry to hear you are having some lag issues. I have made some significant updates for three_js after 0.2.1 that I am unsure where the issue would be.

A lot of users have seen issues on Windows, but this is likely due to an underlying flutter issue that is going on right now with the updates to the GPU.

I plan on moving the renderer out of the core package and have 3 different renderer packages for users to choose from. The older version version 0.1.7, version current, and the new GPU one that is not finished yet.

The main problem could be with flutter_angle. You might be able to force a downgrade to an older version to see if that helps. There was no significant changes for apple products in the newer versions but adding Linux support things could have messed with it. It did for some windows users.

The other problem could be the updates to the ThreeJS class. I will take a look in the next couple of weeks to see if I can find anything that stands out.

I am happy to hear that web was able to get a boost. A user found and reported that the web version was calling a function that it did not need to. After the update there was a significant improvement.

[mattaq31]

Ah I see - yes Windows users also reported other issues, in particular where models appear to flicker in and out while zooming/panning. Is this a bug related to a specific Flutter version?

It might be interesting to test earlier versions - if I get some time to test other flutter_angle versions I'll give it a shot. Is it also possible that one of the geometries I'm using is causing slowdowns? It really is just a set of 6 cylinders stuck together, but the performance difference between a single cylinder and the 6 cylinders is so dramatic that I'm also a but suspicious of this.

Also very interested to try out the new renderers you've described!

[Knightro63]

Hi @mattaq31,

I have updated everything, some of the community have helped to fixed the windows issues, if you want to use three_js_webgl: ^0.0.1 to go back to the old renderer to see if that fixes your lag issue.

Hope this helps

[mattaq31]

Hi @Knightro63 thanks for the update! Is this for version 0.3.0? Are you referring to the lag on all platforms or the windows-specific issues? Is there anything else I should be aware of or could I still simply upgrade everything to 0.3? I still have that requirement of the older archive version, however (due to the excel package).

Since we've spoke I've continued to use v0.2.6 and with time, things have improved significantly, the lag is now basically almost gone. Did anything else changes from the other packages bundled in three_js?

[Knightro63]

Hi @mattaq31 ,

The newest version will need you to get rid of all Native Arrays and convert them to Typed Data. There is now 2 renderers one is the current renderer that three.js runs found in three_js:^0.3.0 and the old three_js: ^0.1.7 renderer, which is now three_js_webgl:^0.0.1.

There has been some updates to ANGLE to fix some windows with low memory issues, so make sure you are running flutter_angle: 0.4.0. I will go and see if I can update the other files for you to make sure you are fully up to date.

[mattaq31]

Hi @Knightro63 I know it's been a while since I last checked in but wanted to quickly confirm - if I were to update my system now to 0.3 would the flickering issue on Windows be resolved? Thanks again!

[Knightro63]

Hi @mattaq31,

I haven't had time to take a look at it yet.