We (me and Xorxos) need some facts for Wikipedia´s Workbench article. Anyone knows if Workbench in OS4.1 uses cairo for some visual effects?

@pavlor

No.

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@xeron

Thanks! Simple and fast answer I needed.

@all:
if I'm not wrong, Amiga OS 4.1 update 2 uses Cairo partial hardware support for compositing. this information must be checked. Not sure.

Kindest Regards,
AmiDARK.

@AmiDARK

You're wrong.

The intuition window compositing feature uses Composite() function from graphics.library (not Cairo). Incidentally this function is also used by the OS4.1upd2 Cairo implementation.

@pavlor
Not yet.

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@salass00
I've checked the update list ...
And effectively "not yet" ...
But I didn't find the Caïro SDK help ... Any clue ?

Kindest Regards,
AmiDARK.

@ssolie

What advantages would using Cairo bring to Workbench?

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@pavlor
I guess it depends on what you mean by "uses cario". It's used by ALL programs that have Compositing enabled for their screen, and so to this extent it is used by Workbench. But I doubt there is any Workbench code which specifically calls Cairo itself.

Composited screens have partial transparency, and since Update 2 the windows also have shadows (and in fact the screen title bar has a shadow as well).

Also, the Ringhio notification system probably uses Cairo, since it fades notifications in/out on composited screens.

Last edited by ChrisH on 14-Sep-2010 at 04:52 PM.

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@ChrisH

Seems people is mixing the Porter-Duff compositing engine that AmigaOS4.1 sports, with an HW accelerated port of Cairo, which should be useful for those applications that use it on other platforms (Mozilla comes to mind), in the future the workbench could make use of it, now, Ringhio,Workbench, etc all use the compositing engine.

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@pavlor

Quote:

pavlor wrote: We (me and Xorxos) need some facts for Wikipedia´s Workbench article. Anyone knows if Workbench in OS4.1 uses cairo for some visual effects?

The facts of Cairo as embedded into Workbench were edited by me in Wikipedia, but I just reported some public announcements.

I have no Ideas on about how much it is implemented Cairo into Workbench and what it is required to activate it...

For example icons are not vector icons aren't they?

The zoom feature is hardware based but it is not Cairo based, isn't it?

In my ignorance I think that Cairo features should be implemented step by step, by the single programs to be active.

Correct my statements if I am wrong.

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@Raffaele

Quote:

For example icons are not vector icons aren't they?

The Icons are scalable but not vectors.

The icon.library support plug-in: So it totally possible to load vector icons if you wrote a plug-in.

Quote:

The zoom feature is hardware based but it is not Cairo based, isn't it?

Yes.

"The intuition window compositing feature uses Composite() function from graphics.library"

Quote:

In my ignorance I think that Cairo features should be implemented step by step

Way?
Is Cairo not just high level interface to low level API’s like intuition?

Last edited by NutsAboutAmiga on 14-Sep-2010 at 06:19 PM.
Last edited by NutsAboutAmiga on 14-Sep-2010 at 06:18 PM.

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@pavlor

The compositing engine and Cairo are two separate entities. Cairo makes sense if you are porting an application that's already using Cairo for it's rendering engine. Using Cairo for the OS functions is just adding an extra unnecessary layer. A bit like putting a plastic glove on to pick up a dog turd that's already safely wrapped up in a plastic bag.

Last edited by Rob on 14-Sep-2010 at 08:26 PM.

@Ami603 Quote:

Seems people is mixing the Porter-Duff compositing engine that AmigaOS4.1 sports, with an HW accelerated port of Cairo

Perhaps you could enlighten us as to which bit of software is responsible for the transparent windows & window shadows (i.e. Porter-Duff compositing), if Cairo isn't? I assumed it was.

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@Rob

Quote:

A bit like putting a plastic glove on to pick up a dog turd that's already safely wrapped up in a plastic bag.

Haha... great analogy!

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@Slash
Yeah I'm sick and tired of car analogies, so this was a nice change:)

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@ChrisH

graphics.libray/CompositeTagList - Compose one bitmap onto another (V53) would be my best guess....

Last edited by broadblues on 15-Sep-2010 at 08:17 AM.

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@ChrisH

Like many already said, the compositing engine is called through graphics.library/Composite() (and probably resides somewhere in the Radeon driver).
On composited Intuition screens, instead of performing traditional 2D blits on a single bitmap, layers.library use the 3D hardware to blend each window bitmap on the screen.

@Rob
Quote:

The compositing engine and Cairo are two separate entities. Cairo makes sense if you are porting an application that's already using Cairo for it's rendering engine. Using Cairo for the OS functions is just adding an extra unnecessary layer. A bit like putting a plastic glove on to pick up a dog turd that's already safely wrapped up in a plastic bag.

But, it's maybe interesting to directly develop an app using Caïro when possible instead of OS API. Not ?

Regards,
AmiDARK.

@Rob

Hah. That's a crap analogy and you know it

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