QML OpenGL plugin not redrawing at 60Hz - c++

Question

The Situation
My company has a QML-based application which displays some content using a custom OpenGL-based render plugin (MyGame). This plugin has a few critical needs:
To be able to effect changes in the renderer in response to QML-based signals.
(e.g. change the position of an object rendered by the game)
To only process these changes at a specific spot in MyGame's redraw loop.
(This is very important; MyGame is very sensitive about when changes are allowed.)
To have the plugin redraw at 60Hz (at least).
The Problem
The code we have right now honors (1) and (2), but fails (3); the plugin does not get visually updated consistently. (The updates are erratic, at an estimated 5-10Hz.) I believe that the plugin we have created—based on QQuickFramebufferObject—is not taking proper advantage of how Qt/QML intended the scene graph to be updated.
How can I re-structure my plugin so that I get all three of the above?
The Code
Overview:
The plugin creates a QQuickFramebufferObject (MyPlugin) and a QQuickFramebufferObject::Renderer (MyRenderer).
When MyRenderer::render() is called it calls MyGame::Redraw() itself, and then calls update().
MyGame::Redraw() does what it needs to, and at the right spot where changes can be accepted, emits a timeToMakeChanges QML signal on MyPlugin.
QML listens for the onTimeToMakeChanges signal and invokes methods on the plugin that affect MyGame.
To workaround the problem of low-frequency visual updates, I've found that if I overlay a QML Canvas over my plugin and redraw the canvas frequently using a Timer, my plugin starts to get visually updated at what appears to be around 60Hz. Clearly this is a gross hack.
Following is a summary of the code setup. Please forgive missing/incorrect code; I'm trying to distill thousands of lines of glue code down to the essentials for this question.
MyPlugin.h
#include <QOpenGLFramebufferObject>
#include <QQuickFramebufferObject>
class MyPlugin : public QQuickFramebufferObject {
Q_OBJECT
public:
MyPlugin();
virtual ~MyPlugin();
virtual QQuickFramebufferObject::Renderer* createRenderer() const;
signals:
void timeToMakeChanges();
public slots:
void makeChanges(QVariant inValue);
void HandleWindowChanged(QQuickWindow *inWindow);
private:
MyGame* GetGame() { ... }
};
MyPlugin.cpp
#include "MyPlugin.h"
#include <MyGame.h>
// ******************************************************************
class MyRenderer:
public QObject,
public QQuickFramebufferObject::Renderer,
protected QOpenGLFunctions
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
virtual void render();
private:
static void RequestGameChanges();
};
void MyRenderer::render() {
if ( !m_Initialized ) {
QOpenGLFramebufferObject *theFbo = this->framebufferObject();
InitializeGl( theFbo ); // Not shown
m_MyGame = &MyGame::Create();
m_MyGame->RegisterCallback(
reinterpret_cast<qml_Function>(MyRenderer::RequestGameChanges)
);
m_Initialized = true;
}
m_MyGame->RestoreState();
m_MyGame->Redraw();
m_MyGame->SaveState();
m_PluginItem->window()->resetOpenGLState();
// Tell QML that we want to render again as soon as possible
update();
}
// This gets invoked in the middle of m_MyGame->Redraw()
void MyRenderer::RequestGameChanges() {
emit m_PluginItem->timeToMakeChanges();
}
// ******************************************************************
MyPlugin::MyPlugin() {
setMirrorVertically(true);
connect(
this, SIGNAL(windowChanged(QQuickWindow*)),
this, SLOT(HandleWindowChanged(QQuickWindow*))
);
}
void MyPlugin::HandleWindowChanged(QQuickWindow *inWindow) {
inWindow->setClearBeforeRendering(false);
}
void MyPlugin::makeChanges(QVariant inValue) {
MyGame *theGame = GetGame();
// Send the requested changes to theGame
}
QQuickFramebufferObject::Renderer* MyPlugin::createRenderer() const {
m_Renderer = new MyRenderer( *this );
}
MyApp.qml
import MyPlugin 1.0
Window {
MyPlugin {
property var queuedUpChanges: ([])
onSomeOtherSignal: queueUpChangesToMake();
onTimeToMakeChanges: makeChanges( queuedUpChanges );
}
Canvas { id:hack }
Timer {
interval:10; running:true; repeat:true
onTriggered: hack.changeWhatYouShow();
}
}
Bonus Points
The main question is "How do I modify my code so that I get 60Hz updates?" However, as seen in the QML, the setup above requires me to queue up all changes in QML so that they are able to be applied during the right spot in the MyGame::Render().
Ideally, I'd prefer to write QML without timeToMakeChanges, like:
MyPlugin {
onSomeOtherSignal: makeChanges( ... );
}
If there's a way to accomplish this (other than queuing up the changes in C++ instead)—perhaps something related to synchronize() I'd love to know about it.

Answer 1

I'd make a timer in QML that calls the makeChanges regularly. But store all the state in MyPlugin. Then, in Renderer::synchronize(), copy from MyPlugin to MyRenderer, so it can be used by the MyGame.
(although, I wouldn't do any gamelogic-related calculations in QML ever in the first place)