TFT_eSPI/examples/Sprite/Animated_dial - Still Working ?

[bionicbone]

First, thanks for this awesome library, I have worked through most of the examples and the capabilities with just a little code are amazing.

I wonder if you can confirm the example examples/Sprite/Animated_dial/ still works with the current version. When I initially tried this with a older versions of libraries installed it worked well, since then I updated to the latest version of several drivers and now the font in the middle is corrupted.

If I do not load the font, then a standard small font is used and then it is fine.

Arduino IDE v1.8.19
TFT_eSPI v1.2.1
ESP32 Boards Manager v2.0.2
ESP32 Wroover Module
Display ILI9341 v1.5.10 on SPI interface

[Bodmer]

Ah, a new rendering approach is used for smooth fonts that requires an additional parameter. The new approach reduces flicker dramatically.

// Adding a parameter "true" to the setTextColor() function fills character background
    // This extra parameter is only for smooth fonts!
    tft.setTextColor(TFT_GREEN, TFT_BLACK, true);

I will update the example.

[Bodmer]

I have updated the library github master example.

[bionicbone]

Unfortunately this still does not work for me.

I reinstalled the library, just in case and did an overwrite of the example to make sure I got the latest updated github version.

Looking at the updated example " examples/Sprite/Animated_dial/" there is a slight bug, bg_color needed to initiated as global since it is now used in both setup() & plotNeedle()

However, for me the font is still corrupted in the middle of the dial even with the "spr.setTextColor(TFT_WHITE, bg_color, true);" changes.

I note that in the example "examples\Smooth Fonts\FLASH_Array\Font_Demo_1_Array" you have recently updated this code to remove the overlay of the rectangle and use the ",true" statement instead and this works successfully for me perfectly.
EDIT: But if the example was counting down then the rectangle would still be required as the number shrinks in length.

However, this example is not using a sprite to display the text.

Question: What is the advantage of using a sprit for text ?

Sorry this is probably a discussion now, but I did not want to loose the thread above...

[bionicbone]

Just drilling in a bit using visual micro we can see as the sprite updates using breakpoints there is some corruption of the font.

NOTE: It does the same with Arduino IDE

[Bodmer]

I have updated the sprite.cpp file to fix this.

Thanks for reporting the problem.

[bionicbone]

Perfect, thank you for your trouble in resolving this.

Just so you know, because I think the example " examples/Sprite/Animated_dial/" is perfect to demonstrate flicker free needles on top of gauges.

There is a slight compile error, bg_color needs to be initialised in the header with the others because it is used in the setup() & plotNeedle() and for me I increase the spr_width using "777" the remove some artifects / white dots

uint16_t* tft_buffer;
bool      buffer_loaded = false;
uint16_t  spr_width = 0;
uint16_t**  bg_color = 0;

  bg_color = tft.readPixel(120, 120); // Get colour from dial centre

 spr_width = spr.textWidth("777");

Thank you again

[Bodmer]

Thanks. Have updated example.