Overlay Optimization?

KungFooMasta · Post by **KungFooMasta** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:08 am

It came to my attention that the use of OverlayElements, OverlayContainers, and Overlays in general produce a lot of batching.

It seems like every PanelOverlayElement I use raises the batch count by 1. Is there any way we can reduce this?

Thanks for any help.

KungFooMasta

Post by **xavier** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:11 am

Don't use overlays? They are not good for much other than development and debugging.

I am guessing that this came up as a result of the QuickGUI post in the addons forum -- I wasn't aware you are basing that on Overlays -- that's not such a good idea.

There is a reason that UI systems render directly to quads themselves, so they have control over how they do what they do.

KungFooMasta · Post by **KungFooMasta** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:39 am

That's not good news!

Other than this batching issue, I see the Ogre Overlay system as being very powerful and capable of fulfilling GUI needs. Instead of acknowledging that the Overlay system has limitations, we should try to make it better! Then again, it would probably have low priority for most developers.

I supposed I could look into quads when I have more free time.. Overlay's seem like a great thing, they just need some tweaking. Aren't there a lot of showcase projects that use Overlays as GUI elements of the game?

Frenetic · Post by **Frenetic** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:57 am

I always found it easier to just do all the quad rendering stuff myself, rather than submit to the details and limitations of Overlays, but that's just me.

Perhaps Overlays should be marked 'deprecated'?

Post by **xavier** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:38 am

KungFooMasta wrote:That's not good news!

Other than this batching issue, I see the Ogre Overlay system as being very powerful and capable of fulfilling GUI needs. Instead of acknowledging that the Overlay system has limitations, we should try to make it better! Then again, it would probably have low priority for most developers.

I supposed I could look into quads when I have more free time.. Overlay's seem like a great thing, they just need some tweaking. Aren't there a lot of showcase projects that use Overlays as GUI elements of the game?

No. Most showcase projects that have any interactive UI use something like CEGUI or a homegrown solution. Overlays are best for what they are used for: displaying debug info in debug overlays. As you found out, they are not in the least optimized, and there is no desire on the part of the Team to make them so.

KungFooMasta · Post by **KungFooMasta** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:04 am

Ok, got it.

Frenetic, sent you a PM with some questions since you seem to have some experience with GUI related stuff. (at least rendering quads on the screen)

Post by **Praetor** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 4:07 pm

I've stopped using overlays and now use the Rectangle2D class placed in the overlay render queue. I'm not sure the batching possible there, but you could just make your own custom quads that can be batched together. It is a very simple geometry after all.