Move html elements positions slow on iOS - javascript

I have a huge performance issue on iOS html5 webapp when I modify the position of multiple html elements in CSS. I would like also to move manually my elements. I do not want to use CSS transformation because it is not possible to stop the animation (we are making a highly responsive game).
My example works fine on a desktop browser (chrome, firefox, etc.), on Android. But it is very slow on an iPad 2 and an iPhone 4S (both running iOS 5.1).
Running the html5 code in a Phonegap app is better than directly in the browser but is still slow.
What do you suggest to improve things?
editable example
full screen example

First of all, if you want something that is not slow, avoid all jQuery call you can.
Here is how I would rewrite (really quickly) your code :
// shim layer with setTimeout fallback
window.requestAnimFrame = (function(){
return window.requestAnimationFrame ||
window.webkitRequestAnimationFrame ||
window.mozRequestAnimationFrame ||
window.oRequestAnimationFrame ||
window.msRequestAnimationFrame ||
function( callback ){
window.setTimeout(callback, 1000 / 60);
};
})();
var canvas = document.getElementById('canvas-test');
canvas.height = 500;
canvas.width = 500;
var context = canvas.getContext('2d');
// in this example, the fillstyle is always the same. no need to change it at every loop
context.fillStyle = "#FF0000";
var balls = [];
var ballcanvas = [];
var ballctx = [];
// create 30 balls in canvases
var eDivBody = document.getElementById('divbody');
for (var i = 0; i < 30; i++){
balls[i] = {
x : 250,
y : 100 + i * 2,
dx : 3, // direction
};
// create the canvas
var eBall = document.createElement('canvas');
eBall.id = 'ballcanvas' + i;
eBall.width = 75;
eBall.height = 75;
eDivBody.appendChild(eBall);
// some css
// no need for jQuery
eBall.style.position = "absolute";
eBall.style.left = balls[i].x + "px";
eBall.style.top = balls[i].y + "px";
eBall.style.backgroundColor = "#000000";
// associate the element to the ball, no need to go threw the DOM after
balls[i].element = eBall;
}
var ball_test = {
x : 250,
y : 300,
dx : 3 // direction
};
function loop(ball_test, balls, canvas, context, ballcanvas, ballctx){
//change of direction on the sides
if (ball_test.x > 400 || ball_test.x < 100)
ball_test.dx *= -1;
// movement
ball_test.x += ball_test.dx;
// the same for balls in canvases
// never use array.legth in a loop condition. put it in a variable then compare.
for (var i = 0, j = balls.length; i < j; i++){
// balls are following the test ball, no need to re-check the bounds
// we take the test ball direction
balls[i].dx = ball_test.dx;
//movement
balls[i].x += balls[i].dx;
// change left style - No need for jQuery
balls[i].element.style.left = balls[i].x + "px";
}
// display ball_test
displayBallTest(ball_test, canvas, context);
// Prefer the use of requestAnimationFrame
requestAnimFrame(function(){
loop(ball_test, balls, canvas, context, ballcanvas, ballctx);
});
};
// no need to recalculate Math.PI * 2 for every loop.
// do it just the first time then use the value
var pi2 = Math.PI * 2;
function displayBallTest(ball, canvas, context){
// clear canvas
// you don't need to clear all the canvas, just the zone where you now the ball is.
// must need some calculation to be the most efficient possible
context.clearRect(ball.x - 50 , ball.y - 50, 100, 100);
context.beginPath();
context.arc(ball.x, ball.y, 40, 0, pi2 );
context.fill();
};
// start main loop
loop(ball_test, balls, canvas, context, ballcanvas, ballctx);
I commented the code but here are what I did :
totally avoiding jQuery. No need, except maybe for the ready if you choose to not put your script at the end of the content
using requestAnimationFrame when possible
avoiding recalculation or reset of values when they are global
(Math.PI*2 , context.fillStyle ... )
avoiding the use of .length if for loop condition
But I think your problem come from the fact that you want to move 30 canvas elements instead of drawing theyre content into the main canvas.
iOS is known to be fast when you use Canvas Drawing.
For me, your performance problems will be resolved if you choose to draw on the main canvas instead of moving DOM elements.

One obvious thing you can do is cache your selector instead of executing it every time:
// some css
$('#ballcanvas' + i).css("position", "absolute");
$('#ballcanvas' + i).css("left", balls[i].x + "px");
$('#ballcanvas' + i).css("top", balls[i].y + "px");
$('#ballcanvas' + i).css("background-color", "#000000");
Should be something like:
var thisBall = $('#ballcanvas' + i)
thisBall.css("position", "absolute");
... rest of your code ....
Aside: Why bother using document.getElementById, when you already have Jquery $.

Related

Moving from setInterval method to requestAnimationFrame with sprite

I am trying to use the method 'requestAnimationFrame' with the help I can find on Internet. I can move an element, but when I want to do it with sprites, I am lost.
For example, the code below is working normally with 'setInterval', but I cannot manage to make it work with 'requestAnimationFrame'.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Animating Sprites in HTML5 Canvas</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, user-scalable=no">
<style>
.demo {background: #aaaaaa;}
#myCanvas{background: #cccccc}
</style>
</head>
<body class="demo">
<canvas id="myCanvas" width="800" height="100"></canvas>
<script>
(function() {
// Canvas
var canvas = document.getElementById('myCanvas');
var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
// Set the fill style for the drawing context.
ctx.fillStyle = '#3399ff';
// VARIABLES
var width = 48; // Width CANVAS
var height = 60; // Height CANVAS
var xFrame = 0; // Frame x coordinate
var yFrame = 0; // Frame y coordinate
var dxFrame = 0; // Frame dx position in canvas
var dyFrame = 0; // Frame dy position in canvas
// SPRITE used
image = new Image()
image.src = 'myRunner2.png';
//
var requestID;
// shim layer with setTimeout fallback
window.requestAnimFrame = (function(){
return window.requestAnimationFrame ||
window.webkitRequestAnimationFrame ||
window.mozRequestAnimationFrame ||
window.oRequestAnimationFrame ||
window.msRequestAnimationFrame ||
function(/* function FrameRequestCallback */ callback, /* DOMElement Element */ element){
window.setTimeout(callback, 1000 / 60);
};
})();
// FUNCTION DRAWING MOVE (xFrame = 0 & yFrame = 1)
var drawMove = function(){
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
ctx.drawImage(image, width * xFrame, height * yFrame, width, height, dxFrame, dyFrame, width, height);
if (xFrame == 7) {
xFrame = 0;
} else {
xFrame++
dxFrame+=2;
}
//window.requestAnimFrame(eMove);
}
// ANIMATION in 3 moves: Idle + Move + Tired
var intA;
function eMove() {
// Runner in motion (8 frames)
yFrame = 1;
xFrame = 0;
clearInterval(intA);
intA = setInterval(drawMove, 100);
}
eMove();
}());
</script>
</body>
</html>
I am looking for help about this issue, a portion of code will be great but a way to work or a direction to look for will be good as well. How to manipulate sprite with the method 'requestAnimationFrame'?
Ultimately, my goal is to move a sprite in one direction and the background in the other direction. I can move the sprite in one direction with setTimeout/setInterval methods alone or I can move in the other direction the background with 'requestAnimationFrame', but also separately.
I hope you understand my problem.
Thank you,
JLuc01
For requestAnimationFrame to work well it needs an accurate timer by which it can update the progress. The animation would then also depend on this variable. Of course a total duration will have to be set as well (to measure the progress). Here's a general piece of code :
var initial = update = new Date().getTime(), progress = 0, duration = 2000;
requestAnimationFrame(frameSequence);
function frameSequence() {
update = new Date().getTime();
var elapsed = update-initial;
progress = Math.max(elapsed/duration, 1);
someFunction(); // do calculations and implement them based on progress
if (progress < 1) requestAnimationFrame(frameSequence);
}
And a live example (relevant code at the bottom)
http://codepen.io/Shikkediel/pen/vEzqoX?editors=001
Edit - some comments promoted to update :
The requestAnimationFrame call is just a basic loop really to replace the timeout. It could be as simple as using requestAnimationFrame(drawMove) instead of clearInterval(intA); intA = setInterval(drawMove, 100). It'll probably do the whole thing in 8/60 of a second that way though (I see there are 8 frames and 60 is the common display refresh rate) - hence a timer would be needed.
This would optimise and work for sure : setInterval(requestAnimationFrame(drawMove), 100). It will not force a frame on the display then like a timeout does (giving performance issues and flickering) but make it wait for the first appropriate instance when there is a new paint of the screen. But not using timeouts at all is a much better approach.

JavaScript - how to draw on the canvas and get an image to follow the mouse

I've gotten a lot of help from this site, but I seem to be having a problem putting all of it together. Specifically, in JS, I know how to
a) draw an image onto canvas
b) make a rectangle follow the cursor (Drawing on a canvas) and (http://billmill.org/static/canvastutorial/ball.html)
c) draw a rectangle to use as a background
What I can't figure out is how to use a rectangle as the background, and then draw an image (png) on the canvas and get it to follow the cursor.
What I have so far looks like this:
var canvas = document.getElementByID('canvas');
var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
var WIDTH = canvas.width;
var HEIGHT = canvas.height;
var bgColor = '#FFFFFF';
var cirColor = '#000000';
clear = function() {
ctx.clearRect(0, 0, WIDTH, HEIGHT);
}
drawIMG = function(x,y,r) {
ctx.fillStyle = cirColor;
ctx.beginPath();
ctx.arc(x, y, r, 0, Math.PI*2, true);
ctx.closePath();
ctx.fill();
}
draw = function() {
ctx.fillStyle = bgColor;
clear();
ctx.fillRect(0, 0, WIDTH, HEIGHT);
drawIMG(150, 150, 30);
drawIMG(300, 500, 12);
};
draw();
This will draw in the HTML5 canvas element, the height and width of which are specified in the HTML and so are variable, with a white rectangle the size of the canvas beneath two black circles at (150,150) and (300,500). It does that perfectly well.
However, I don't know how to also make JS draw a .png on top of that that follows the cursor. Like I said, I've been able to do most of the steps individually, but I have no idea how to combine them. I know, for instance, that I have to do
img = new Image();
and then
img.src = 'myPic.png';
at some point. They need to be combined with position modifiers like
var xPos = pos.clientX;
var yPos = pos.clientY;
ctx.drawImage(img, xPos, yPos);
But I have no idea how to do that while maintaining any of the other things I've written above (specifically the background).
Thanks for your patience if you read through all of that. I have been up for a while and I'm afraid my brain is so fried I wouldn't recognize the answer if it stripped naked and did the Macarena. I would appreciate any help you could possibly send my way, but I think a working example would be best. I am an initiate in the religion of programming and still learn best by shamelessly copying and then modifying.
Either way, you have my optimistic thanks in advance.
First off, I've made an animated purple fire follow the mouse. Click (edit doesn't exist anymore)here to check it out.
Before you continue, I recommend you check out these websites:
http://www.williammalone.com/articles/create-html5-canvas-javascript-sprite-animation/
William talks about the basic techniques of canvas animations
http://www.paulirish.com/2011/requestanimationframe-for-smart-animating/
Paul Irish talks about a recursive animation function that turns at 60 fps.
Using both of their tutorials is pretty a good start for animation.
Now from my understanding you want one 'background' and one animation that follows the cursor. The first thing you should keep in mind is once you draw on your canvas, whatever you draw on, gets replaced. So the first thing I notice that will cause performance issues is the fact you clear your whole canvas, and not what needs to be cleared.
What you need to do is memorize the position and size of your moving element. It doesn't matter what form it takes because your clearRect() should completely remove it.
Now you're probably asking, what if I draw on the rectangle in the background. Well that will cause a problem. You have two solutions. Either, (a) Clear the background and clear your moving animation and draw them back again in the same order or (b) since you know your background will never move, create a second canvas with position = absolute , z-index = -1 , and it's location the same as the first canvas.
This way you never have to worry about the background and can focus on the animation currently going on.
Now getting back to coding part, the first thing you'll want to do is copy Paul Irish's recursive function:
(function() {
var lastTime = 0;
var vendors = ['webkit', 'moz'];
for(var x = 0; x < vendors.length && !window.requestAnimationFrame; ++x) {
window.requestAnimationFrame = window[vendors[x]+'RequestAnimationFrame'];
window.cancelAnimationFrame =
window[vendors[x]+'CancelAnimationFrame'] || window[vendors[x]+'CancelRequestAnimationFrame'];
}
if (!window.requestAnimationFrame)
window.requestAnimationFrame = function(callback, element) {
var currTime = new Date().getTime();
var timeToCall = Math.max(0, 16 - (currTime - lastTime));
var id = window.setTimeout(function() { callback(currTime + timeToCall); },
timeToCall);
lastTime = currTime + timeToCall;
return id;
};
if (!window.cancelAnimationFrame)
window.cancelAnimationFrame = function(id) {
clearTimeout(id);
};
}());
Question then is, how to use it? If you go here you can check out how it was done:
function fireLoop()
{
window.requestAnimationFrame(fireLoop);
fire.update();
fire.render();
console.log('you spin me right round baby right round');
follow();
}
This is the loop I use. Every second Paul Irish's function will call the main loop. In this loop. I update the information choose the right animation that needs to be drawn and then I draw on the canvas (after having removed the previous element).
The follow function is the one that chooses the next coordinates for the animation. You'll have to change this part since, you don't want to move the canvas but move the animation. You can use the same code, but you need to apply location to where you want to draw on the canvas.
function follow()
{
$(fireCanvas).offset({
top: getTop(),
left: getLeft()
});
}
function getTop()
{
var off = $(fireCanvas).offset();
if(off.top != currentMousePos.y - $(fireCanvas).height() + 10)
{
if(off.top > currentMousePos.y - $(fireCanvas).height() + 10)
{
return off.top - 1;
}
else
{
return off.top + 1;
}
}
}
function getLeft()
{
var off = $(fireCanvas).offset();
if(off.left != currentMousePos.x - $(fireCanvas).width()/2)
{
if(off.left > currentMousePos.x - $(fireCanvas).width()/2)
{
return off.left - 1;
}
else
{
return off.left + 1;
}
}
}
var currentMousePos = { x: -1, y: -1 };
$(document).mousemove(function(event) {
currentMousePos.x = event.pageX;
currentMousePos.y = event.pageY;
});
If you want me to go into depth about anything specific let me know.

d3 js - how to mimic distance/depth of field using randomized opacity on fillStyle() & fillRect() without strobe effect?

I am attempting to use particlesDepthBlur() in place of the opacity for the "snowflakes" - which is located inside the step function, however it produces an undesired strobe effect - why? Consider the following code,
Edited for clarification:
<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
<script src="http://d3js.org/d3.v3.min.js"></script>
<script>
var num = 2000;
var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
var width = canvas.width = 960;
var height = canvas.height = 500;
var ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
var particles = d3.range(num).map(function(i) {
return [Math.round(width*Math.random()), Math.round(height*Math.random())];
});
function particlesDepthBlur(){
return Math.random();
console.log(Math.random());
}
function particlesDepthSize(){
return Math.floor((Math.random()*4)+1);
}
d3.timer(step);
function step() {
ctx.shadowBlur=0;
ctx.shadowColor="";
ctx.fillStyle = "rgba(0,0,0,"+particlesDepthBlur()+")";
ctx.fillRect(0,0,width,height);
ctx.shadowBlur=particlesDepthSize();
ctx.shadowColor="white";
ctx.fillStyle = "rgba(255,255,255,1)";
particles.forEach(function(p) {
p[0] += Math.round(2*Math.random()-1);
p[1] += Math.round(2*Math.random()-1) + 2;
if (p[0] < 0) p[0] = width;
if (p[0] > width) p[0] = 0;
if (p[1] < 0) p[1] = height;
if (p[1] > height) p[1] = 0;
drawPoint(p);
});
};
function drawPoint(p) {
ctx.fillRect(p[0],p[1],1,1);
};
</script>
<style>
html, body { margin: 0; padding: 0; }
</style>
Couple things:
Firstly you are calling ctx.fillStyle = "rgba(0,0,0,"+particlesDepthBlur()+")"; immediately before filling the background of the canvas.
Second, you are only calculating the blur and opacity once per frame, not per particle.
Thirdly, if you calculate it per particle (and continue to use Math.random()) then it bogs down my machine with several thousand operations per second.
Here is my
fiddle!
~Every frame I calculate 10 opacities and 10 sizes and iterate across the particles setting them per particle.~ << This was an
old version; now the opacities are all set up before step() is called, and the sizes are proportional to opacities.
edit: good job with the random falling-downward motion!
edit2: tweaking to set constant opacity and size per particle. this still runs very slowly for me, probably because you are running Math.random() 4000 times per frame. You might consider calculating a couple dozen positional vectors once per frame, and iterate across all your particles. This way every n snowflakes would be falling in the same pattern, at the benefit of much less computation needed.
Finally, perhaps consider making the 'close' snowflakes (big and bright) fall faster than the 'far' snowflakes.
<snip>
// Set up an opacity value for each particle, this will later be indexed with j
var particleOpacities = [];
particles.forEach(function(p){
particleOpacities.push(particlesDepthBlur());
});
d3.timer(step);
var j = 0;
// since j is used by both step and drawPoint, it has to be outside both functions
function step() {
ctx.shadowBlur=0;
ctx.shadowColor="";
ctx.fillStyle = "rgba(0,0,0,1)";
ctx.fillRect(0,0,width,height);
j = 0;
particles.forEach(function(p) {
p[0] += Math.round(2*Math.random()-1);
p[1] += Math.round(2*Math.random()-1) + 2;
if (p[0] < 0) p[0] = width;
if (p[0] > width) p[0] = 0;
if (p[1] < 0) p[1] = height;
if (p[1] > height) p[1] = 0;
drawPoint(p);
});
};
function drawPoint(p) {
j++; // iterate over points
var particleSize = particleOpacities[j] * 4;
ctx.shadowBlur=particleSize;
ctx.shadowColor="white";
ctx.fillStyle = "rgba(255,255,255," + particleOpacities[j] + ")";
ctx.fillRect(p[0],p[1],particleSize,particleSize);
};
The ctx.fillStyle = "rgba(0,0,0,"+particlesDepthBlur()+")"; randomly changes how much of the previous canvas is visible. It does so uniformly across the entire canvas. Sometimes if fills the screen completely with black wiping out the past views, other times it lets the last screen partially show. When it lets previous views be seen it can as much double the amount of white on the canvas, and when followed by a low opacity suddenly the quantity of white drops.
function particlesDepthBlur(){
return Math.random(0.5)+.5;
}
smooths this out

The author of this Raphael JS extension has vanished from the face of the internet, help me with his script

The extension I'm talking about is the Raphael-zpd: http://pohjoisespoo.net84.net/src/raphael-zpd.js
/* EDIT The script is added to a Raphael document with this command var zpd = new RaphaelZPD(paper, { zoom: true, pan: true, drag: false}); where paper is your canvas */
The script was originally released at the authors github http://www.github.com/somnidea which no longer exists.
What I wanted to do was run the mousewheel zoom out to the threshold as soon as the raphael is loaded. The zoomthreshold is set at the beginning of the script zoomThreshold: [-37, 20]. In the mousewheel scroll function it is compared to zoomCurrent which is by default 0 me.zoomCurrent = 0;
This is the whole mousewheel event part
me.handleMouseWheel = function(evt) {
if (!me.opts.zoom) return;
if (evt.preventDefault)
evt.preventDefault();
evt.returnValue = false;
var svgDoc = evt.target.ownerDocument;
var delta;
if (evt.wheelDelta)
delta = evt.wheelDelta / 3600; // Chrome/Safari
else
delta = evt.detail / -90; // Mozilla
if (delta > 0) {
if (me.opts.zoomThreshold)
if (me.opts.zoomThreshold[1] <= me.zoomCurrent) return;
me.zoomCurrent++;
} else {
if (me.opts.zoomThreshold)
if (me.opts.zoomThreshold[0] >= me.zoomCurrent) return;
me.zoomCurrent--;
}
var z = 1 + delta; // Zoom factor: 0.9/1.1
var g = svgDoc.getElementById("viewport"+me.id);
var p = me.getEventPoint(evt);
p = p.matrixTransform(g.getCTM().inverse());
// Compute new scale matrix in current mouse position
var k = me.root.createSVGMatrix().translate(p.x, p.y).scale(z).translate(-p.x, -p.y);
me.setCTM(g, g.getCTM().multiply(k));
if (!me.stateTf)
me.stateTf = g.getCTM().inverse();
me.stateTf = me.stateTf.multiply(k.inverse());
}
The reason I can't just draw a smaller SVG to begin with is that I'm using raster images as the background and need them to be higher resolution. I would still like to start at the furthest point I've set at the threshold. Is it possible for me to somehow use this script to do this? I'm naturally using it otherwise to handle mouse zoom/pan.
//EDIT
There is also this function at the end of the script, but so far I've been unable to work it.
Raphael.fn.ZPDPanTo = function(x, y) {
var me = this;
if (me.gelem.getCTM() == null) {
alert('failed');
return null;
}
var stateTf = me.gelem.getCTM().inverse();
var svg = document.getElementsByTagName("svg")[0];
if (!svg.createSVGPoint) alert("no svg");
var p = svg.createSVGPoint();
p.x = x;
p.y = y;
p = p.matrixTransform(stateTf);
var element = me.gelem;
var matrix = stateTf.inverse().translate(p.x, p.y);
var s = "matrix(" + matrix.a + "," + matrix.b + "," + matrix.c + "," + matrix.d + "," + matrix.e + "," + matrix.f + ")";
element.setAttribute("transform", s);
return me;
}
Seems like it's used for panning through the document through say click events so that a click would execute the function with the given coordinates. However, as said I've been unable to work it. I don't know how it's supposed to function. I tried paper.ZPDPanTo(100, 100); as well as just ZPDPanTo(100,100) but nothing happens.
You may also want to check out the working branch for Raphaël 2.0, which supposedly adds support for viewBox and transforms, see https://github.com/DmitryBaranovskiy/raphael/tree/2.0.
This doesn't answer your question fully, but it seems quite possible that Raphaël 2.0 will address your use-case.
If you're using pure svg then you can manipulate the zoom&pan positions via the SVG DOM properties currentTranslate and currentScale, see this example.
An example using RAPHAEL ZPD:
var paper = Raphael("container",800,760);
window.paper = paper;
zpd = new RaphaelZPD(paper, { zoom: true, pan: true, drag: false });
paper.circle(100,100, 50).attr({fill:randomRGB(),opacity:0.95});
paper.rect(100,100, 250, 300).attr({fill:randomRGB(),opacity:0.65});
paper.circle(200,100, 50).attr({fill:randomRGB(),opacity:0.95});
paper.circle(100,200, 50).attr({fill:randomRGB(),opacity:0.95});
http://jsfiddle.net/4PkRm/1/

Smooth random line using Canvas

var canvas = document.getElementById("canvas");
var context = canvas.getContext("2d");
context.canvas.width = window.innerWidth;
context.canvas.height = window.innerHeight;
var x1 = Math.random()*context.canvas.width;
var y1 = Math.random()*context.canvas.height;
var xdir = 0; var ydir = 0;
context.beginPath();
setInterval(function(){
for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
randx = Math.random(); randy = Math.random();
if (randx > 0.95) {
if (xdir < 0) xdir = (xdir+((Math.random()*1.5) - 1))/2;
else if (xdir > 0) xdir = (xdir+((Math.random()*1.5) - 0.5))/2;
else xdir = (Math.random()*1.5) - 0.75;
}
if (randy > 0.95) {
if (ydir < 0) ydir = (ydir+((Math.random()*1.5) - 1))/2;
else if (ydir > 0) ydir = (ydir+((Math.random()*1.5) - 0.5))/2;
else ydir = (Math.random()*1.5) - 0.75;
}
context.lineTo(x1+xdir, y1+ydir);
context.stroke();
x1 = x1+xdir;
y1 = y1+ydir;
}
},50);
This is my random line script, but my lines are really ugly: http://i.stack.imgur.com/YZT2o.png
Is there any better way for achieving a smooth line using canvas?
take a look at this question:
Drawing GOOD LOOKING (like in Flash) lines on canvas (HTML5) - possible?
Lines on HTML5 Canvas are nicely antialiased on all browsers/OS (AFAIK). However, in your update callback with its 10-strokes-per-loop you are neither clearing your canvas nor clearing your path and so you are drawing the same path on top of itself 200 times per second. This is causing all the anti-aliasing to be destroyed as even the faintest opacity pixels build up until they are solid lines.
The simplest fix to make your code look pretty is to add this line:
context.clearRect(0,0,context.canvas.width,context.canvas.height);
inside your for loop, for example right before context.stroke();.
This one-line change makes it look good, but is bad for performance, clearing and redrawing the canvas 10 times for each visual update.
Here's a better alternative:
context.beginPath();
context.moveTo(x1,y1);
context.lineTo(x1+xdir, y1+ydir);
context.stroke();
x1 += xdir; y1 += ydir;
This way you never clear the canvas, and instead draw only the changed line each frame.
One other alternative (if you need the full path always available) is to accumulate your changes to the context path in one high-speed setInterval loop, and in another, slower loop occasionally clear the canvas and re-stroke the entire path. This is similar to what I've done for my Langton's (Very Fast) Ant simulation.

Categories

Resources