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2020-03-16 01:01
in Arduino
Why Framebuffer::GFX?
After rewriting multiple related libraries, it became confusing to people how they fit together, Adafruit::NeoMatrix, FastLED::NeoMatrix, SmartMatrix::GFX, where does Framebuffer::GFX fit in?
Is Adafruit::GFX still there/needed?
How about LEDMatrix, isn't it a better 2D lib?
What hardware backends are supported?
How the modules/drivers fit together
I made this little graph to summarize everything:
the left shows the hardware drivers supported: FastLED, SmartMatrix, ILI9341, SSD1331, ST7735, rpi-rgb-led-matrix (for ArduinoOnPC on Raspberry Pi), FastLED_SDL (for ArduinoOnPC), and X11/Linux (also ArduinoOnPC)
The 2nd column is the list of drivers I wrote for all those hardware drivers
All those drivers I wrote inherit from FrameBuffer::GFX wihch stores the actual framebuffer in FastLED CRGB 24bpp Format
FrameBuffer::GFX implements (and replaces) Adafruit::NeoMatrix panel mapping, inherits from Adafruit::GFX while converting back and forth between GFX 16bpp RGB565 and 24bpp CRGB RGB888 (see color management in https://github.com/marcmerlin/Framebuffer_GFX).
LEDMatrix is an alternative to GFX that is mostly compatible, but offers its own extensions. I you wish to use it, I modified it so that it doesn't store the CRGB array within itself, but accepts an externally generated one (so that it can be shared with SmartMatrix if this is the ultimate backend, and allocated via malloc and not a global array, which is required on ESP32 for bigger sizes). More on whether you'd want to use it, later.
Low Level Drv|Glue Driver for FrameBuffer::GFX
FastLED - FastLED_NeoMatrix -------------\ FastLED CRGB Array
SmartMatrix - SmartMatrix_GFX -----------------\ 24bit FB storage API Support
\ CRGB methods like
AF:ILI9341-\ \ scale8/fadeToBlackBy
AF:SSD1331 |--- FastLED_ArduinoGFX_TFT ----------| | ,FastLED API
AF:ST7735 / FastLED_SPITFT_GFX (for AF) | | / (XY 2D to 1D mapping)
ArduinoGFX/ AF:Adafruit (ArduinoGFX is all in 1) | |
| |
ArduinoOnPc-FastLED-GFX-LEDMatrix arduino - FrameBuffer::GFX------ Adafruit::NeoMatrix +
emulation for linux / Raspberry Pi: | | \ Adafruit::GFX APIs
---------------------------------- / Adafruit::GFX \
rpi-rgb-led-matrix - FastLED_RPIRGBPanel_GFX ---/ LEDMatrix (optional) `LEDMatrix API
ArduinoOnPC X11/linux - FastLED_TFTWrapper_GFX
FastLED_SDL (linux) - FastLED_NeoMatrix -/
Which 2D API: FastLED XY(), Adafruit/FastLED::NeoMatrix, vs LEDMatrix
Old FastLED demos use an XY() function, to access leds[XY(x,y)] to do 2D to 1D mapping. Framebuffer::GFX supports this in a way that you can both read and write while supporting full rotation and tile mapping from NeoMatrix. This is honestly no reason to do this today, you would effectively rewrite the much better XY functionality that's in FastLED::NeoMatrix/Framebuffer::GFX. However, if you have code that uses an XY function, it's fully supported, simply use matrix->XY(x, y) to let NeoMatrix do the real mapping for you without having to worry about writing/rewriting the mapping function for each potential array.
The better and most commonly used API is Adafruit::GFX. Honestly I recommend it because of the sheer number of hardware devices supported by it. It has the downside of only being 16bit color, but if you use it in FrameBuffer::GFX, can you can use 24bit color with it. Its 2nd downside is that on its own, it has no framebuffer, so it is write only. Obviously with Framebuffer::GFX, it does have a framebuffer (which can be a downside on some slower hardware at higher resolutions, see TFT below). To learn more about how to use the GFX API, see https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gfx-graphics-library?view=all
LEDMatrix is a better API with more fancy functions than GFX and native 24bpp color, but it's only meant to work on FastLED, and its matrix tiling support and rotation is pretty non trivial to use compared to NeoMatrix. I would only use it if you need its added functionality. On the plus side, Framebuffer::GFX allows you to run LEDMatrix code on any hardware backend, so you aren't limited there anymore. LEDMatrix pluses are
more primitives, including some flip/mirror screen options
Table_Mark_Estes is just that good, that it's worth having LEDMatrix for
LEDMatrix has Fancy Font Support. In my opinion it's more fancy than most people will need, and Adafruit::GFX built in front support is more than plenty, but it's there if you want it.
LEDSprites is nice if you need sprites, see my LEDSprites-Pacman demo
The SmartMatrix library has its own 2D API, it is quite fancy and includes layers, but it is not supported by FrameBuffer::GFX, so unless you're writing a SmartMatrix only project (which means you won't be able to upgrade to RGBPanels on rPI if you need a higher resolution), I recommend against using it. Technically, someone motivated could make the API work with FrameBuffer::GFX and allow rendering on another backend, but I haven't done that work and don't have the need to do so. If you'd like to contribute that, please do.
The good news is that if you don't know which one to choose Framebuffer::GFX allows you to run all 3 at the same time, thanks to the work done in neomatrix_config.h which while not required, I greatly recommend so that it'll setup everything for you and make it trivial to change from one hardware backend to another one.
If you would like an example of each API, please go to https://github.com/marcmerlin/FastLED_NeoMatrix_SmartMatrix_LEDMatrix_GFX_Demos/ and check the demos in each per API directory.
If you would like to read images from SPIFFS/FATFS (ESP8266/ESP32) or SDcard, see https://github.com/marcmerlin/AnimatedGIFs
Supported hardware backends
64x64 with Neopixels was 2 weeks of build work and 160 Amps at full power!
FastLED::NeoMatrix in 32x32 and 24x32 vs SmartMatrix::GFX 96x64
This is now the library I recommend for all TFTs instead of the multiple libraries written by Adafruit (supported by FastLED_SPITFT_GFX), not quite with the same interface, and multiple drivers. I definitely recommend https://github.com/moononournation/Arduino_GFX instead for new work.
Arduino_GFX supports running multiple TFTs at the same time if you have different CS pins:
comparison of TFTs
The demos below done on FastLED_SPITFT_GFX look exactly the same with FastLED_ArduinoGFX_TFT except for being faster with this driver.
Small SSD1331 in 96x64
The same exact resolution between RGBPanels and SSD1331
after extra work to support PSRAM on ESP32, ILI9341 320x240 became possible on ESP32
almost the same resolution than my huge RGBPanel driven by rPi
My first rPi Display at 192x128
Even bigger, 384x192
This is probably the most useful driver I wrote out of all of them, the ability to write your code and debug on linux, without any hardware:
Dealing with pushing bigger framebuffer sizes to TFTs like ILI9341
For long the highest resolution target for arduino chips has been the ILI9341 TFTs. With a resolution of 320x240 over SPI, they push the limits of Framebuffer::GFX a little bit, because it's a lot of pixels to push. Unfortunately, the TFT seems to only support about 14 frames per second for a full refresh, which is needed with the framebuffer approach, and by the time you add required use of PSRAM on ESP32, which is slower than regular RAM but required because ESP32 does not have the required contiguous 224KB of RAM, frame refresh falls down to 8fps. Worse, still, once you add computation of data being sent, demos actually run closer to 5fps.
This is far from ideal, but it's good enough or some uses still, and generally still cool that Framebuffer::GFX can be pushed so far on arduino-like chips. Using RGBPanels does not help there on arduino chips, because there is no arduino like chip that can run such a resolution on RGBPanels (Raspberry Pi can barely do it though, but that's also pushing the limits of the underlying hardware refresh capabilities).
It this ends up being a problem, but you made the decision to stick to the Adafruit::GFX API, you always have the option to remove FrameBuffer::GFX and write directly to the TFT, without having to do full framebuffer refreshes.
If you'd like numbers, I gathered as part of a test between SPI speed, raw TFT speed (empty frame push), loop to push data not from PSRAM, loop to push data from PSRAM. Actual speed in demos is still lower given that it takes time to generate high resolution frames to PSRAM (double PSRAM penalty, one to write, one to read), before they can be pushed.
Arduino::GFX ILI9314
tft/gfx/bypass/copy
40fhz, fps no PSRAM: 25/15/22/14 PSRAM: 25/11/21/8
80fhz, fps no PSRAM: 42/19/33/18 PSRAM: 40/14/32/9 (Arduino_HWSPI)
80fhz, fps no PSRAM: 53/21/38/20 Arduino_ESP32SPI
80fhz, fps no PSRAM: 60/20/34/18 Arduino_ESP32SPI_DMA
Adafruit ILI9314 (much slower)
80Mhz: TFT 40fps, NO PSRAM: 32fps, PSRAM show: 12fps
Old Adafruit numbers:
ST7735_128b160: 80Mhz: TFT153fps, NO PSRAM:104fps, PSRAM show: 45fps
ST7735_128b160: 40Mhz: TFT 68fps, NO PSRAM: 56fps, PSRAM show: 32fps
ST7735_128b160: 20Mhz: TFT 53fps, NO PSRAM: 45fps, PSRAM show: 29fps
ST7735_128b128: 40Mhz: TFT117fps, NO PSRAM: 90fps, PSRAM show: 48fps
Arduino::GFX is a lot faster (over 100fps)
SSD1331: SWSPI: TFT 9fps, NO PSRAM: 9fps, PSRAM show: 8fps
Now it's your turn, write your own 2D demos and contribute them back
https://github.com/marcmerlin/FastLED_NeoMatrix_SmartMatrix_LEDMatrix_GFX_Demos would love your code, please contribute :) |
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