[bug] Flickering of the GUI when toggling (audio)plugins

Petersson wrote on 8/18/2023, 5:33 AM

BUG DESCRIPTION
Ticket number 2023081817001547
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Every time you initialize a VST 2 / 3 plugin, the window that should display the GUI for this plugin flickers (white) and has a slow, delayed rendering of it's content.

The flickering does occur for three different occasions;

  1. When changing the tab, in order to show the plugin
  2. When toggling the state (on / off) for that plugin (by checkbox in tab)
  3. When undo / redo an event, originally set by the visible plugin

In Vegas 21 build 108 issue 1 seems "a bit better" (less delay, but still flickering),.

Issue 2 is gone in Vegas 21 (no flicker at all when toggling the state).

Issue 3 is still present for every undo / redo (the plugin GUI is completely build up from scratch for every CTRL + Z and CTRL - Y).

Please see this video, Vegas 21 / build 108.

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SLOWMOTION

I also captured the flickering and delayed the playback, so you can see what really happens;

  1. It looks like the canvas / window for the plugin is quite small when initializing;
  2. Than it becomes white;
  3. The plugin is showed cropped inside the window;
  4. The windows adjusts it's size (becomes white again);
  5. The interface is redrawn once again;
  6. And finally it 'fits' inside the container.

This whole sequence takes times, the flickering is annoying (especially when walking through the active plugins) and when undo / redo the GUI flickering simply makes you mad.

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QUICK FIX / WORKAROUND

When it's not possible to change the speed of the GUI being drawn, maybe it's possible to change the background color for the initializing window.

It's now pure white, which gives headaches in a daily workflow and is very visual "in your face".

Once you set the background of that initializing window to a color, matching the main UI it is still delayed (of course), but less annoying.

See the mockup above, it is the same delayed movie as the second one, but I did change the background color for the plugin window.

At least it looks faster and is not hurting your eyes with flashing every time you open a plugin, or do some undo / redo stuff.

Comments

RogerS wrote on 8/18/2023, 9:38 AM

Thanks for tracking this.

Testing here with RX9 Spectral Denoise and Wavehammer surround I also see significant flickering for changing tabs (on my laptop which is slowish so maybe more visible), and none when toggling the state on and off which is great. Auto resize Fx is on in preferences.

With undo I see significant flicker.

Custom PC (2022) Intel i5-13600K with UHD 770 iGPU with latest driver, MSI z690 Tomahawk motherboard, 64GB Corsair DDR5 5200 ram, NVIDIA 2080 Super (8GB) with latest studio driver, 2TB Hynix P41 SSD and 2TB Samsung 980 Pro cache drive, Windows 11 Pro 64 bit

Dell XPS 15 laptop (2017) 32GB ram, NVIDIA 1050 (4GB) with latest studio driver, Intel i7-7700HQ with Intel 630 iGPU (latest available driver), dual internal SSD (1TB; 1TB), Windows 10 64 bit

VEGAS Pro 19.651
VEGAS Pro 20.411
VEGAS Pro 21.208
VEGAS Pro 22.93

Try the
VEGAS 4K "sample project" benchmark (works with VP 16+): https://forms.gle/ypyrrbUghEiaf2aC7
VEGAS Pro 20 "Ad" benchmark (works with VP 20+): https://forms.gle/eErJTR87K2bbJc4Q7

Petersson wrote on 8/18/2023, 10:31 AM

Thanks for tracking this.

Testing here with RX9 Spectral Denoise and Wavehammer surround I also see significant flickering for changing tabs (on my laptop which is slowish so maybe more visible), and none when toggling the state on and off which is great. Auto resize Fx is on in preferences.

With undo I see significant flicker.


@RogerS

Yeah, those are my findings (experiences) as well.

They did "something" to solve the flickering, because toggling the on / off state (1) doesn't flicker (which it did before Vegas 21).

Undo / redo (2) still triggers that "flickering in your face" effect (not nice when having photosensitive seizures, which are triggered by flashing or flickering lights).

And when changing a plugin (3) by tab, it still does flicker.
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So 1 down, 2 more to go 🙂

It should really make the "overal experience" of the GUI a lot more easier to the eyes.

Fun fact : the exact same plugin on the exact same system, but in Sound Forge is instant!

No flickering, no delay, it's just "boom, less than a second and it's there".

Not sure if SF and Vegas do share libraries (code-wise), but imagine Vegas becomes as smooth as Sound Forge 💯