What's the best way to paint a tile grid?

[ruben381]

Hello everyone.



I have a triple-layered grid system (3 2D byte arrays, e.g byte[][]), and I'm currently drawing it by running through the bytes in the array, grabbing the GridBlock object linked to the ID (the byte in the array), then getting the BufferedImage within that GridBlock object, and using Graphics.drawImage() to draw it in the grid. The issue is that drawing hundreds of BufferedImages can cause some major frame drops. Does anyone know a decent alternative, or an improvement I could make?

Here's the code:

		g.setColor(Util.transparent);
		for(int i = scrollX/tileSize; i < (scrollX+Properties.width)/tileSize+1; ++i){
			for(int j = scrollY/tileSize; j < (scrollY+Properties.height)/tileSize+1; ++j){
				for(int k = 0; k < (renderForeground?3:2); ++k){
					byte[][] core = (k == 0 ? scene.getCore() : k == 1 ? grid.getCore() : fore.getCore());
					if(i > 0 && i < core[0].length && j > 0 && j < core[1].length){
						if(core[i][j]>0&&GridBlock.all[core[i][j]]!=null){
							if(GridBlock.all[core[i][j]].getImage()!=null){
								g.drawImage(GridBlock.all[core[i][j]].getImage(), i*tileSize-scrollX, j*tileSize-scrollY, this.tileSize, this.tileSize, null);
								if(k==0){
									g.fillRect(i*tileSize-scrollX, j*tileSize-scrollY, this.tileSize, this.tileSize);
								}
							}
						}
					}
				}
			}
		}

Note: getCore() returns the 2D byte array associated with the layer, scrollX is the X distance scrolled by the player, and scrollY is the Y distance scrolled by the player. The transparent rectangle is drawn over layer 0 (the background) to simulate distance. Objects fore, grid and scene are instances of my class 'Grid' which essentially houses the 2D array.



Thanks everyone.

[jim829]

Have you tried drawing it to another BufferedImage and the drawing the entire image using drawImage? Also, if you would provide a complete, compilable, executable example, (Short, Self Contained, Correct Example) it would be easier for us to see the problem.

Regards,
Jim

[ruben381]

Have you tried drawing it to another BufferedImage and the drawing the entire image using drawImage? Also, if you would provide a complete, compilable, executable example, (Short, Self Contained, Correct Example) it would be easier for us to see the problem.

Regards,
Jim

I don't think that would be practical in this case. That would mean moving around 3 huge images, with the added issue that the grids are dynamic, and if these huge images are updated every time the grid is, that would mean constant, big freezes.


My question, essentially, is: How can I mass-draw images or mass paint pixels the most efficiently?

[jim829]

You need to provide the requested Short, Self Contained, Correct Example so we can both visualize and help with the problem. I have done quite a bit of graphics (some of it rather intense) and i never had a performance issue.

Regards,
Jim