How to draw on a single buffer for generative art purposes - c++

Question

I'm actually facing a issue I can't solve by myself, using SFML I have a single shape, and I'm moving it at each frame, and then I draw it. The problem is, SFML using two buffers, the trail won't be the same on each buffer (frame) and it will give a weird blinking effect.
I need your knowledge, should I find another way of doing it, like an array of shapes that I'll extend. Or is there a way to skip the second buffer? Making this buffer a piece of paper, and my shape the brush.
sf::CircleShape circle;
//Init the circle (radius etc)
sf::Vector2f pos(0, 500);
while(!done)
{
pos.x += 1;
circle.setPosition(pos);
window.draw(circle);
window.display();
}
May you spend a nice day.

Answer 1

you can achieve that by using sf::RenderTexture which acts as the back buffer (single buffer) to make your drawing and then draw it on screen via sf::RenderWindow`
#include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>
int main()
{
sf::RenderWindow window(sf::VideoMode(800, 600), "SFML art");
window.setVerticalSyncEnabled(true);
sf::RenderTexture target;
if (!target.create(window.getSize().x, window.getSize().y))
return -1;
target.clear(sf::Color::White);
target.display();
while (window.isOpen())
{
sf::Event event;
while (window.pollEvent(event))
{
if (event.type == sf::Event::Closed)
window.close();
}
if (sf::Mouse::isButtonPressed(sf::Mouse::Left))
{
sf::CircleShape circle(5.f, 32u);
circle.setPosition(sf::Vector2f(sf::Mouse::getPosition(window)));
circle.setFillColor(sf::Color::Red);
target.draw(circle, sf::BlendNone);
target.display();
}
window.clear();
window.draw(sf::Sprite(target.getTexture()));
window.display();
}
}

Answer 2

The purpose of double buffering is to avoid showing parts of not fully rendered scene during rendering of a frame. So your problem has nothing to do with double-buffering itself. Basically, you need to generate all the primitives necessary to render a particular frame every time. In your specific case you could achieve this like this:
sf::CircleShape circle;
//Init the circle (radius etc)
sf::Vector2f pos(0, 500);
int frameCount = 0;
while(!done)
{
++frameCount;
for (int i = 0; i < frameCount; ++i) {
circle.setPosition(pos + sf::Vector2f(i, 0));
window.draw(circle);
}
window.display();
}