Performance Metrics and Optional Buffer Sync

[Roger-random]

New Features

• Some drawing algorithms like the AnimatedGIF decoder library depends on the frame buffer being preserved from one frame to the next. However, this is not true in double-buffering. (Need a way to keep double buffers in sync with each other #11) Setting the new flag copyAfterSwap to true will copy frame buffers so they stay in sync from one frame to the next. This flag is false by default to avoid unnecessary copy when not needed.
• ESP_8_BIT_GFX class now tracks how much time is spent in waitForFrame() which can be used as an approximation for idle time. This is in turn an approximation for performance, as faster code will leave more time between frames idle. In order to keep this tracking code lightweight, there are caveats on how these numbers should be interpreted. See comment block in ESP_8_BIT_GFX.h (initial version also copied in Add some way to see performance metrics #4 ) for details.

New Example

• Example named AnimatedGIF illustrates how to use this color composite video out library with the AnimatedGIF library by Larry Bank / bitbank2. This is a light modification of example project ESP32_LEDMatrix_I2S from that library.
• The animated art is Cat and Galactic Squid by Emily Velasco (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed PAL output error where the blanking lines were not blank. With this fix for Need to verify PAL functionality #1, PAL support is now fully on par with NTSC.

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This discussion was created from the release Performance Metrics and Optional Buffer Sync.