Approach Faster Animation Playback #73429

New Issue

Jeroen Bakker · 2020-01-27T11:13:56+01:00

Jeroen Bakker commented

2020-01-27 11:13:56 +01:00

The Faster Animation Playback second milestone consist out of non-functional requirements. This document will describe the steps we want to follow to execute that milestone.

Goal

The goal of the second milestone of #68908 (Faster Animation Playback) is to increase the playback performance when using Blender as an animator by optimizing the current weaknesses. As viewport rendering and viewport playback are very tight related most changes will impact both of them and all changes should be tested to both use cases.

Approach

Phase 0: Preparation

Select several production scenes that will be used as benchmark (@Hjalti)
** Scenes from different productions with different rigs and different sizes.
Modify blender to profile what is happening during animation playback. (@Jeroen-Bakker
Depedency Graph: Depedency Graph has a detailed profiler. Just need to check if it is sufficient. Draw Manager: Draw manager already has a detailed profiler. We might want to add small changes (for example separate mesh_extraction from preparation)
** Other: We should keep track of the rest of the time (not inside the Dependency graph/Draw manager) to detect balance shifts in performance
Create an automated test that records the timings in a database so we could compare the results and make decisions (@Jeroen-Bakker)
Document the hardware/OS's for the benchmark that will be used
Perform a base benchmark

Phase 1..n: Performance Cycle

When doing performance test you do a single change at a time and monitor what that change does to the whole system. To make a change we suggest the next approach

Find the current weakest area
Do one or more prototypes to solve the weakest link
Select the solution.
Create design (mention the other solutions as alternatives) and implement the solution.
User test the chosen solution. (@Hjalti)
Codereview and merge to master.

Only after we complete a full cycle we can start with the next cycle. We continue this until we reached a workable performance or the year has ended.

Concerns

This approach tends to be too narrow focused when looking for solutions. When looking for solutions we should keep in mind to look at the whole picture and not limit the solution to the area in focus.

Known areas of improvement

This section contains a collection of known issues that we might want to tackle during the project

DrawManager mesh extraction uses a task pool per mesh. When two meshes needs to be updated for a frame it happens in serial.
Blender's task pool has been setup originally for long running background processes. It is currently used for tasks of all sizes.
Better select the frame ranges that needs to be updated for motion curves.
VSE/Graph editor dependencies. (ref play in active area)

The Faster Animation Playback second milestone consist out of non-functional requirements. This document will describe the steps we want to follow to execute that milestone. ## Goal The goal of the second milestone of #68908 (Faster Animation Playback) is to increase the playback performance when using Blender as an animator by optimizing the current weaknesses. As viewport rendering and viewport playback are very tight related most changes will impact both of them and all changes should be tested to both use cases. ## Approach ### Phase 0: Preparation * Select several production scenes that will be used as benchmark (@Hjalti) ** Scenes from different productions with different rigs and different sizes. * Modify blender to profile what is happening during animation playback. (@Jeroen-Bakker **Depedency Graph: Depedency Graph has a detailed profiler. Just need to check if it is sufficient.** Draw Manager: Draw manager already has a detailed profiler. We might want to add small changes (for example separate mesh_extraction from preparation) ** Other: We should keep track of the rest of the time (not inside the Dependency graph/Draw manager) to detect balance shifts in performance * Create an automated test that records the timings in a database so we could compare the results and make decisions (@Jeroen-Bakker) * Document the hardware/OS's for the benchmark that will be used * Perform a base benchmark ### Phase 1..n: Performance Cycle When doing performance test you do a single change at a time and monitor what that change does to the whole system. To make a change we suggest the next approach * Find the current weakest area * Do one or more prototypes to solve the weakest link * Select the solution. * Create design (mention the other solutions as alternatives) and implement the solution. * User test the chosen solution. (@Hjalti) * Codereview and merge to master. Only after we complete a full cycle we can start with the next cycle. We continue this until we reached a workable performance or the year has ended. ## Concerns This approach tends to be too narrow focused when looking for solutions. When looking for solutions we should keep in mind to look at the whole picture and not limit the solution to the area in focus. ## Known areas of improvement This section contains a collection of known issues that we might want to tackle during the project * DrawManager mesh extraction uses a task pool per mesh. When two meshes needs to be updated for a frame it happens in serial. * Blender's task pool has been setup originally for long running background processes. It is currently used for tasks of all sizes. * Better select the frame ranges that needs to be updated for motion curves. * VSE/Graph editor dependencies. (ref play in active area)

Jeroen Bakker commented

2020-01-27 11:13:56 +01:00

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Confirmed'

Jeroen Bakker commented

2020-01-27 11:13:56 +01:00

Added subscriber: @Jeroen-Bakker

Jeroen Bakker changed title from ~~EngineeringPlan: Faster Animation Playback Global Approach~~ to [WIP] Global Approach Faster Animation Playback

2020-01-27 11:53:52 +01:00

Jeroen Bakker commented

2020-01-27 11:53:52 +01:00

Added subscriber: @Hjalti

ML commented

2020-01-27 13:11:54 +01:00

Added subscriber: @MarcelLegindi

Jeroen Bakker changed title from ~~[WIP] Global Approach Faster Animation Playback~~ to Approach Faster Animation Playback

2020-01-27 13:17:00 +01:00

William Reynish commented

2020-01-27 13:27:56 +01:00

Added subscriber: @WilliamReynish

William Reynish commented

2020-01-27 13:27:56 +01:00

Here I've often found this rather unexpected culprit that can make playback slow:

Having the Dopesheet vand/or Graph Editor visible can sometime more than halve (!) the playback speed, simply because Blender spends so many resources re-drawing the keyframes and curves, always every frame. This seems silly. Surely it doesn't need to do that, or it could perhaps be optimized?

Here I've often found this rather unexpected culprit that can make playback slow: Having the Dopesheet vand/or Graph Editor visible can sometime more than halve (!) the playback speed, simply because Blender spends so many resources re-drawing the keyframes and curves, always every frame. This seems silly. Surely it doesn't need to do that, or it could perhaps be optimized?

Ovionis commented

2020-01-27 13:59:52 +01:00

Added subscriber: @Phigon

Jeroen Bakker commented

2020-01-27 14:07:01 +01:00

@WilliamReynish that is what is referred to with the VSE/Graph editor dependencies. most of the time the whole screen is updated, but the user is just looking at a single area. There seems to be an option that is used by the animators here where only the area is updated where the mouse is Active Editor Only.

@WilliamReynish that is what is referred to with the `VSE/Graph editor dependencies`. most of the time the whole screen is updated, but the user is just looking at a single area. There seems to be an option that is used by the animators here where only the area is updated where the mouse is `Active Editor Only`.

Evan Wilson commented

2020-01-27 21:35:21 +01:00

Added subscriber: @EAW

Andrew Charlton commented

2020-01-28 01:44:32 +01:00

Added subscriber: @Scaredyfish

Adrian Lipiec commented

2020-02-05 16:22:47 +01:00

Added subscriber: @Coverop

Adrian Lipiec commented

2020-02-05 16:22:47 +01:00

I would like to add that disabling "Auto smooth" from meshes will increase performance while previewing animation in viewport.

Here's an example:
https://streamable.com/6gkf8

I would like to add that disabling "Auto smooth" from meshes will increase performance while previewing animation in viewport. Here's an example: https://streamable.com/6gkf8

KiJeon commented

2020-02-10 05:54:29 +01:00

Added subscriber: @0o00o0oo