How many FPS do I need to update a custom progress bar?

Question

I just wrote a custom progress bar, it is buffered and will remain so. How many frames per second is desirable for something like that? I do not want to spend too much processor updating the screen unnecessarily.

Answer 1

Typically, 10 fps is a reasonable minimum for very small, simple motion animations. 30 frames per second is the minimum for more complex movements and / or larger scenes.

However, as a rule, progress indicators change very little from frame to frame. If you use very simple animations, you may find that less than 10 frames per second work.

I suggest starting at 10 frames per second and checking the result. Tune in from there.

Answer 2

You might want to go the other way around and update the progress bar when the bar pixel is updated. If you have a 200-pixel panel, then update it when each 0.5% of the processing is complete. Then every 300 ms for a 1-minute process, but every 4.5 s for a 15-minute process. As the examples show, fps will usually be slower than required for smooth animation of large movements; otherwise, you do not need a progress bar. Depending on your design, it might be easier for a process to be declared on the progress bar each time it completes x%, than for the progress bar to continue to check every n ms.

Answer 3

I would be happy with the update in a second or two for functional purposes.

10-20 frames per second if you want it to look good.