For my own amusement, I have been creating a 3D graphics program in C++ with Win32 that does not use any floating point numbers. For some reason, the window flickers sometimes when window is updated. I believe this to be caused by the window updating after what was previously shown in the window was erased and before what will be drawn next is drawn. I have found several web pages and questions with answers about what appears to be the same issue, except the solutions do not work.
Some examples{
Do not use CS_HREDRAW|CS_VREDRAW. (No noticeable effect)
Return 1 for the window message 'WM_ERASEBKGND'. (I need to erase what was previously drawn. This stops the flicker by preventing it from erasing.)
Instead of erasing, draw a rectangle in the case of WM_PAINT. (This made it worse)
}
How do I actually prevent window flicker?
// compile with: /D_UNICODE /DUNICODE /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /c
#include <windows.h>
#include <windowsx.h>
#include <tchar.h>
boolean Draw;
//Trigonometry tables in increments of 1/256 of a rotation and multiplied by 65536
const int Total=3,Sine[256]={0,1608,3216,4821,6424,8022,9616,11204,12785,14359,15924,17479,19024,20557,22078,23586,25080,26558,28020,29466,30893,32303,33692,35062,36410,37736,39040,40320,41576,42806,44011,45190,46341,47464,48559,49624,50660,51665,52639,53581,54491,55368,56212,57022,57798,58538,59244,59914,60547,61145,61705,62228,62714,63162,63572,63944,64277,64571,64827,65043,65220,65358,65457,65516,65536,65516,65457,65358,65220,65043,64827,64571,64277,63944,63572,63132,62714,62228,61705,61145,60547,59914,59244,58538,57798,57022,56212,55368,54491,53581,52639,51665,50660,49624,48559,47464,46341,45190,44011,42806,41576,40320,39040,37736,36410,35062,33692,32303,30893,29466,28020,26558,25080,23586,22078,20557,19024,17479,15924,14359,12785,11204,9616,8022,6424,4821,3216,1608,0,-1608,-3216,-4821,-6424,-8022,-9616,-11204,-12785,-14359,-15924,-17479,-19024,-20557,-22078,-23586,-25080,-26558,-28020,-29466,-30893,-32303,-33692,-35062,-36410,-37736,-39040,-40320,-41576,-42806,-44011,-45190,-46341,-47464,-48559,-49624,-50660,-51665,-52639,-53581,-54491,-55368,-56212,-57022,-57798,-58538,-59244,-59914,-60547,-61145,-61705,-62228,-62714,-63162,-63572,-63944,-64277,-64571,-64827,-65043,-65220,-65358,-65457,-65516,-65536,-65516,-65457,-65358,-65220,-65043,-64827,-64571,-64277,-63944,-63572,-63162,-62714,-62228,-61705,-61145,-60547,-59914,-59244,-58538,-57798,-57022,-56212,-55368,-54491,-53581,-52639,-51665,-50660,-49624,-48559,-47464,-46341,-45190,-44011,-42806,-41576,-40320,-39040,-37736,-36410,-35062,-33692,-32303,-30893,-29466,-28020,-26558,-25080,-23586,-22078,-20557,-19024,-17479,-15924,-14359,-12785,-11204,-9616,-8022,-6424,-4821,-3216,-1608},Cosine[256]={65536,65516,65457,65358,65220,65043,64827,64571,64277,63944,63572,63132,62714,62228,61705,61145,60547,59914,59244,58538,57798,57022,56212,55368,54491,53581,52639,51665,50660,49624,48559,47464,46341,45190,44011,42806,41576,40320,39040,37736,36410,35062,33692,32303,30893,29466,28020,26558,25080,23586,22078,20557,19024,17479,15924,14359,12785,11204,9616,8022,6424,4821,3216,1608,0,-1608,-3216,-4821,-6424,-8022,-9616,-11204,-12785,-14359,-15924,-17479,-19024,-20557,-22078,-23586,-25080,-26558,-28020,-29466,-30893,-32303,-33692,-35062,-36410,-37736,-39040,-40320,-41576,-42806,-44011,-45190,-46341,-47464,-48559,-49624,-50660,-51665,-52639,-53581,-54491,-55368,-56212,-57022,-57798,-58538,-59244,-59914,-60547,-61145,-61705,-62228,-62714,-63162,-63572,-63944,-64277,-64571,-64827,-65043,-65220,-65358,-65457,-65516,-65536,-65516,-65457,-65358,-65220,-65043,-64827,-64571,-64277,-63944,-63572,-63162,-62714,-62228,-61705,-61145,-60547,-59914,-59244,-58538,-57798,-57022,-56212,-55368,-54491,-53581,-52639,-51665,-50660,-49624,-48559,-47464,-46341,-45190,-44011,-42806,-41576,-40320,-39040,-37736,-36410,-35062,-33692,-32303,-30893,-29466,-28020,-26558,-25080,-23586,-22078,-20557,-19024,-17479,-15924,-14359,-12785,-11204,-9616,-8022,-6424,-4821,-3216,-1608,0,1608,3216,4821,6424,8022,9616,11204,12785,14359,15924,17479,19024,20557,22078,23586,25080,26558,28020,29466,30893,32303,33692,35062,36410,37736,39040,40320,41576,42806,44011,45190,46341,47464,48559,49624,50660,51665,52639,53581,54491,55368,56212,57022,57798,58538,59244,59914,60547,61145,61705,62228,62714,63162,63572,63944,64277,64571,64827,65043,65220,65358,65457,65516};
int HorizontalAxis,VerticalAxis,SemiHorizontalAxis,SemiVerticalAxis,Speed=1,Phi=64,Theta,VelX,VelY,VelZ,SinTheta,CosTheta=65536,SinPhi,CosPhi=-65536,RegX,RegY,RegZ,Quadrilaterals[3][6]={{0,1,2,3,1,0},{0,3,4,5,0,1},{6,7,8,9,1,2}};
LONG64 AxAv,X,Y,Z,XCoordinates[10]={-5,-5,5,5,5,-5,60,60,120,120},YCoordinates[10]={-5,5,5,-5,-5,-5,80,140,140,80},ZCoordinates[10]={10,10,10,10,30,30,100,100,200,200},q$,w$,e$,r$,t$,y$,u$,i$;
POINT Points[3][4]={{{0,0},{0,0},{0,0},{0,0}}};
RECT WindowRect;
const HPEN Pens[2]={CreatePen(PS_NULL,0,0),CreatePen(PS_SOLID,1,RGB(0,0,0))};
const HBRUSH Brushes[3]={CreateSolidBrush(RGB(0,0,0)),CreateSolidBrush(RGB(128,128,128)),CreateSolidBrush(RGB(255,255,255))};
HINSTANCE hInst;
HWND hWnd;
PAINTSTRUCT ps;
HDC hdc;
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd,UINT message,WPARAM wParam,LPARAM lParam){
switch(message){
case WM_KEYDOWN:
if(GetAsyncKeyState(16)){Speed=1+3*Speed/2;}
if(GetAsyncKeyState(17)){
Speed=2*Speed/3-1;
if(Speed<1){Speed=1;}
}if(GetAsyncKeyState(82)){
X=0;Y=0;Z=0;Theta=0;Phi=0;RegX=0;RegY=0;RegZ=0;
SinTheta=0;CosTheta=65536;SinPhi=0;CosPhi=65536;
}return 0;
case WM_SIZE:
GetWindowRect(hWnd,&WindowRect);
HorizontalAxis=WindowRect.right-WindowRect.left;
SemiHorizontalAxis=HorizontalAxis/2;
VerticalAxis=WindowRect.bottom-WindowRect.top-100;
SemiVerticalAxis=VerticalAxis/2;
AxAv=(HorizontalAxis+VerticalAxis)/2;
return 0;
case WM_PAINT:
hdc=BeginPaint(hWnd,&ps);
if(GetAsyncKeyState(83)){
if(Phi>0){
Phi--;
SinPhi=Cosine[Phi];CosPhi=-Sine[Phi];
}
}if(GetAsyncKeyState(87)){
if(Phi<128){
Phi++;
SinPhi=Cosine[Phi];CosPhi=-Sine[Phi];
}
}if(GetAsyncKeyState(65)){
Theta--;
if(Theta<0){Theta=255;}
SinTheta=Sine[Theta];CosTheta=Cosine[Theta];
}if(GetAsyncKeyState(68)){
Theta++;
if(Theta>255){Theta=0;}
SinTheta=Sine[Theta];CosTheta=Cosine[Theta];
}if(GetAsyncKeyState(39)){VelZ=-SinTheta*Speed;VelX=-CosTheta*Speed;}
if(GetAsyncKeyState(38)){VelZ+=CosTheta*Speed;VelX-=SinTheta*Speed;}
if(GetAsyncKeyState(37)){VelZ+=SinTheta*Speed;VelX+=CosTheta*Speed;}
if(GetAsyncKeyState(40)){VelZ-=CosTheta*Speed;VelX+=SinTheta*Speed;}
if(GetAsyncKeyState(81)){VelY=65536*Speed;}
if(GetAsyncKeyState(69)){VelY=-65536*Speed;}
RegX+=VelX;RegY+=VelY;RegZ+=VelZ;
X+=RegX/65536;Y+=RegY/65536;Z+=RegZ/65536;
RegX%=65536;RegY%=65536;RegZ%=65536;
VelX=0;VelY=0;VelZ=0;
q$=0;
while(q$<Total){
Draw=false;
w$=Quadrilaterals[q$][0];
e$=65536*(XCoordinates[w$]-X);
r$=65536*(YCoordinates[w$]-Y);
t$=65536*(ZCoordinates[w$]-Z);
y$=(CosTheta*e$+SinTheta*t$)/65536;
e$=(CosTheta*t$-SinTheta*e$)/65536;
u$=(CosPhi*r$+SinPhi*e$)/65536;
i$=(CosPhi*e$-SinPhi*r$)/65536;
if(i$<0){
Draw=true;
Points[q$][0].x=SemiHorizontalAxis+AxAv*y$/i$;
Points[q$][0].y=SemiVerticalAxis+AxAv*u$/i$;
}w$=Quadrilaterals[q$][1];
e$=65536*(XCoordinates[w$]-X);
r$=65536*(YCoordinates[w$]-Y);
t$=65536*(ZCoordinates[w$]-Z);
y$=(CosTheta*e$+SinTheta*t$)/65536;
e$=(CosTheta*t$-SinTheta*e$)/65536;
u$=(CosPhi*r$+SinPhi*e$)/65536;
i$=(CosPhi*e$-SinPhi*r$)/65536;
if(i$<0){
Draw=true;
Points[q$][1].x=SemiHorizontalAxis+AxAv*y$/i$;
Points[q$][1].y=SemiVerticalAxis+AxAv*u$/i$;
}w$=Quadrilaterals[q$][2];
e$=65536*(XCoordinates[w$]-X);
r$=65536*(YCoordinates[w$]-Y);
t$=65536*(ZCoordinates[w$]-Z);
y$=(CosTheta*e$+SinTheta*t$)/65536;
e$=(CosTheta*t$-SinTheta*e$)/65536;
u$=(CosPhi*r$+SinPhi*e$)/65536;
i$=(CosPhi*e$-SinPhi*r$)/65536;
if(i$<0){
Draw=true;
Points[q$][2].x=SemiHorizontalAxis+AxAv*y$/i$;
Points[q$][2].y=SemiVerticalAxis+AxAv*u$/i$;
}w$=Quadrilaterals[q$][3];
e$=65536*(XCoordinates[w$]-X);
r$=65536*(YCoordinates[w$]-Y);
t$=65536*(ZCoordinates[w$]-Z);
y$=(CosTheta*e$+SinTheta*t$)/65536;
e$=(CosTheta*t$-SinTheta*e$)/65536;
u$=(CosPhi*r$+SinPhi*e$)/65536;
i$=(CosPhi*e$-SinPhi*r$)/65536;
if(i$<0){
Draw=true;
Points[q$][3].x=SemiHorizontalAxis+AxAv*y$/i$;
Points[q$][3].y=SemiVerticalAxis+AxAv*u$/i$;
}if(Draw){
SelectPen(hdc,Pens[Quadrilaterals[q$][4]]);
SelectBrush(hdc,Brushes[Quadrilaterals[q$][5]]);
Polygon(hdc,Points[q$],4);
}q$++;
}EndPaint(hWnd,&ps);
return 0;
case WM_DESTROY:
PostQuitMessage(0);
return 0;
default:return DefWindowProc(hWnd,message,wParam,lParam);
}
}
int CALLBACK WinMain(_In_ HINSTANCE hInstance,_In_opt_ HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,_In_ LPSTR lpCmdLine,_In_ int nCmdShow){
GetWindowRect(GetDesktopWindow(),&WindowRect);
HorizontalAxis=WindowRect.right;
SemiHorizontalAxis=HorizontalAxis/2;
VerticalAxis=WindowRect.bottom-100;
SemiVerticalAxis=VerticalAxis/2;
AxAv=(HorizontalAxis+VerticalAxis)/2;
WNDCLASSEX wcex;
wcex.cbSize=sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);
wcex.style=CS_HREDRAW|CS_VREDRAW;
wcex.lpfnWndProc=WndProc;
wcex.cbClsExtra=0;
wcex.cbWndExtra=0;
wcex.hInstance=hInstance;
wcex.hIcon=LoadIcon(hInstance,IDI_APPLICATION);
wcex.hCursor=LoadCursor(NULL,IDC_ARROW);
wcex.hbrBackground=(HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW+1);
wcex.lpszMenuName=NULL;
wcex.lpszClassName=_T("DesktopApp");
wcex.hIconSm=LoadIcon(wcex.hInstance,IDI_APPLICATION);
if(!RegisterClassEx(&wcex)){
MessageBox(NULL,_T("RegisterClassEx failed!"),_T("Something"),NULL);
return 1;
}hInst=hInstance;
hWnd=CreateWindow(_T("DesktopApp"),_T("Something Application"),WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,0,0,HorizontalAxis,VerticalAxis,NULL,NULL,hInstance,NULL);
if(!hWnd){
MessageBox(NULL,_T("CreateWindow failed!"),_T("Something"),NULL);
return 1;
}ShowWindow(hWnd,nCmdShow);
UpdateWindow(hWnd);
MSG msg;
while(GetMessage(&msg,NULL,0,0)){
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
Sleep(10);
InvalidateRect(hWnd,NULL,true);
}return(int)msg.wParam;
}
This is the core of most, but not all, of the noticeable flicker:
while(GetMessage(&msg,NULL,0,0)){
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
Sleep(10);
InvalidateRect(hWnd,NULL,true);
}return(int)msg.wParam;
You are putting a Sleep statement and an InvalidateRect call not just between every WM_PAINT call, but behind EVERY windows message. That's going to cause all kinds of problems. Further, your InvalidateRect is passing true for the erase flag. Here's an improvement:
Create a timer either in WM_CREATE or right before you start pumping messages.
SetTimer(hWnd, 999, 33, NULL); // 999 is just a random timer id, "33" is the milliseconds to wait between WM_TIMER messages
while (GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0)) {
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
}return(int)msg.wParam;
And then handle the timer as follows in your WndProc.
case WM_TIMER:
{
InvalidateRect(hWnd, NULL, FALSE);
return 0;
}
case WM_DESTROY:
PostQuitMessage(0);
return 0;
default:return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);
}
Notice that I changed the redraw interval from 10 milliseconds to 33 milliseconds. I have a 4k monitor that can't go past 60 frames/second. A 10 millisecond interval is pushing that to go 100 frames/second. That's another element of flicker. So I reduced it to 30fps. We can try to push that back up after we get through some other fixes.
And since we've bought into InvalidateRect not clearing the whole screen, we can go ahead and add this to the WndProc as well so that all other redraw events won't erase it either.
case WM_ERASEBKGND:
{
return 1;
}
At this point with all the changes I've made so far, there's just a minimal amount of flicker left, especially when I resize your window down from full screen to a quarter of my 4k screen. Also, when I build your code for Release instead of Debug, it's even further reduced. That almost proves that all the math code between BeginPaint/Endpaint is taking too long and not drawing the frame within 1 frame tick.
One other minor optimization that I sometimes use, but can't definitively say if this will help is to not use the HDC provided by the BeginPaint call which might have a clipping region associated with it. It's sometimes faster to just get an unclipped HDC and redraw with that. You could try this mod to WM_PAINT. YMMV:
case WM_PAINT:
// validate that HWND
BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);
EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);
// fetch the unclipped DC so that subsequent drawing operations don't get boundary checked
hdc = GetDC(hWnd);
...
}if (Draw) {
SelectPen(hdc, Pens[Quadrilaterals[q$][4]]);
SelectBrush(hdc, Brushes[Quadrilaterals[q$][5]]);
Polygon(hdc, Points[q$], 4);
}q$++;
}
ReleaseDC(hWnd, hdc);
hdc = NULL;
return 0;
As I said above, most, but not all of the flickering is eliminated. Now to get rid of the rest, follow the instructions in the link provided by Alan Birtles. That is, in your WM_PAINT handler, create an offscreen memory DC and paint to that. Then blit from that offscreen DC to the real window DC. Your modified WM_PAINT should paint the entire space the memory DC as well including the background. When you do that, you can likely increase the framerate.