Java2D Performance Issues

Question

I\'m having performance oddities with Java2D. I know of the sun.java2d.opengl VM parameter to enable 3D acceleration for 2D, but even using that has some weird issues.

Answer 1

Well, this is old post but I'd like to share my findings about direct drawing with Swing/AWT, without BufferedImage.

Some kind of drawing, as 3D, are better done when painting directly to a int[] buffer. Once done the images, you can use an ImageProducer instance, like MemoryImageSource, to produce images. I'm assuming you know how to perform your drawings directly, without help of Graphics/Graphics2.

    /**
* How to use MemoryImageSource to render images on JPanel
* Example by A.Borges (2015)
*/
public class MyCanvas extends JPanel implements Runnable {

public int pixel[];
public int width;
public int height;
private Image imageBuffer;   
private MemoryImageSource mImageProducer;   
private ColorModel cm;    
private Thread thread;


public MyCanvas() {
    super(true);
    thread = new Thread(this, "MyCanvas Thread");
}

/**
 * Call it after been visible and after resizes.
 */
public void init(){        
    cm = getCompatibleColorModel();
    width = getWidth();
    height = getHeight();
    int screenSize = width * height;
    if(pixel == null || pixel.length < screenSize){
        pixel = new int[screenSize];
    }        
    mImageProducer =  new MemoryImageSource(width, height, cm, pixel,0, width);
    mImageProducer.setAnimated(true);
    mImageProducer.setFullBufferUpdates(true);  
    imageBuffer = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage(mImageProducer);        
    if(thread.isInterrupted() || !thread.isAlive()){
        thread.start();
    }
}
/**
* Do your draws in here !!
* pixel is your canvas!
*/
public /* abstract */ void render(){
    // rubisch draw
    int[] p = pixel; // this avoid crash when resizing
    if(p.length != width * height) return;        
    for(int x=0; x < width; x++){
        for(int y=0; y

Note we need unique instance of MemoryImageSource and Image. Do not create new Image or new ImageProducer for each frames, unless you have resized your JPanel. See init() method above.

In a rendering thread, ask a repaint(). On Swing, repaint() will call the overridden paintComponent(), where it call your render() method and then ask your imageProducer to update image. With Image done, draw it with Graphics.drawImage().

To have a compatible Image, use proper ColorModel when you create your Image. I use GraphicsConfiguration.getColorModel():

/**
 * Get Best Color model available for current screen.
 * @return color model
 */
protected static ColorModel getCompatibleColorModel(){        
    GraphicsConfiguration gfx_config = GraphicsEnvironment.
            getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().getDefaultScreenDevice().
            getDefaultConfiguration();        
    return gfx_config.getColorModel();
}