Retrieving Graphics Settings
pro-grammer
I have created a couple of animations for windows. Their speed varies
greatly depending on the way the Graphics settings are configured
(duh).
Now I want to try to give a uniform experience to the user. So if the
user has configured his graphics settings for "speed", the animation
should not be too fast, and if the user has configured his graphics
settings for "quality", it should not be too slow.
To do this, I need to be able to retrieve the graphics settings, and
change the way the animation behaves accordingly. How do i
programmatically retrieve these settings? Where on the internet can I
find information regarding this? Or is there another way to achieve my
goal?
Appreciate your help!
Ruud van Gaal
> Hi,
> I have created a couple of animations for windows. Their speed varies
> greatly depending on the way the Graphics settings are configured
> (duh).
>
> Now I want to try to give a uniform experience to the user. So if the
> user has configured his graphics settings for "speed", the animation
> should not be too fast, and if the user has configured his graphics
> settings for "quality", it should not be too slow.
Make your animation independent from time then. Use a timer and set your
animation timeline based on that. No need to fuzz around with abstract
things like 'Graphics Settings'.
The only worry then is to make the animation framerate ok enough,
possibly turning off features when framerate gets lower.
Cheers,
Ruud
pro-grammer
However I still think programatically tweaking the graphics settings,
just for the life of my animation, would make it look much better. Is
this possible at all?
Wolfgang Draxinger
> Not a bad suggestion...
It's not just a good suggestion. It's the only way to do it.
> However I still think programatically tweaking the graphics settings,
> just for the life of my animation, would make it look much better.
No it won't as this doesn't take into account the other processes running on
the system, driver version and a lot of other stuff.
> Is this possible at all?
It'd possible, on a very driver specific base. But from a complexity point
of view, it's not worth the trouble. Measuring the rendering time for a
single frame is a matter of 6 lines of code. Adjusting all the possible
settings, taking into account different drivers, vendors, etc. Would easily
consume hundreds of lines of code.
Just measure the rendering time, multiply that with some factor and use that
as time increment for your animation. Or in case you want to synch with
audio, use sample buffers of 16.666... ms length, and use the buffer counter
as timer variable.
Wolfgang