A quick update on current state of things.
1. The software rendering of vector data got even faster. Right now rendering of our test image with transparent layers (see below) takes 40 milliseconds on Intel® Core™ i7-2620M CPU @ 2.70GHz (previous value was 63 milliseconds).
2. The hardware rendering of vector data is implemented at basic level, but not complete. At the moment it is much slower, even comparing to old rendering engine (processing of test file takes ~150 milliseconds).
3. Ivan is implementing optimization for image layers. Currently he have managed to make it work on hardware rendering via GPU. Small images (~300×300 px) give significant speed boost comparing to old rendering – something around 5 times faster (especially noticeable when image is rotated). But for big images (2000x2000px) it works slower, because it takes time to load image into videocard memory. To fix this we have to implement some kind of “storage engine” to avoid loading images on every frame.
4. Our crowdfunding campaign is funded at 34% towards our monthly goal. It is just 3 days left till the deadline. The success (or fail) of the campaign will determine how much time Ivan will be able to dedicate to optimization of Synfig in October. Much thanks to our latest contributors who keep pushing campaign to the target – brix, antonio, Sam Muirhead, Anonymous, thatraja and jcomee!
