Arduino_GFX

Arduino_GFX is a Arduino graphics library supporting various displays with various data bus interfaces.

This library start rewrite from Adafruit_GFX, LovyanGFX, TFT_eSPI, Ucglib, and more...

Various dat bus interfaces

Arduino_GFX utilize Arduino Built-in SPI class to support 8-bit SPI for most platform.

Most tiny display in hobbiest electronics world support 8-bit SPI. But some requires 9-bit SPI. Arduino_GFX should be the first Arduino display library that can use ESP32 SPI to support 9-bit hardware SPI. 9-bit hardware SPI is important to support the displays that require 9-bit SPI interface. (e.g. HX8357B, ...)

Larger display most likely not support standalone SPI since it is not fast enough to refresh the full screen details. Most of them support 8-bit/16-bit Parallel interface.

Some larger display requires 3-bit SPI + RGB combo interface, i.e. requires more than 3 + 24 pins. Most dev board have not enough GPIO to support this. Arduino_GFX will finally support this combo interface but will be in very low priority. Huge monthly donation may make it happen :P

Ease of use

Simple Declaration

(not require touch the header files in libraries folder)

#include <Arduino_GFX_Library.h>
Arduino_DataBus *bus = new Arduino_HWSPI(16 /* DC */, 5 /* CS */);
Arduino_GFX *gfx = new Arduino_ILI9341(bus, 17 /* RST */);

And Simple Usage

gfx->begin();
gfx->fillScreen(BLACK);
gfx->setCursor(10, 10);
gfx->setTextColor(RED);
gfx->println("Hello World!");

Performance

This library is not putting speed at the first priority, but still paid much effort to make the display look smooth.

Figures

Below are some figures compare with other 3 Arduino common display libraries.

• Arduino IDE: 1.8.15
• arduino-esp32: 1.0.6
• Dev Board: TTGO T8 v1.8
• PSRAM: disable
• Display: ILI9341
• Interface: SPI
• SPI Frequency: 40MHz
• Test time: 2021 Jun 16

Benchmark	Adafruit_GFX	Arduino_GFX	Lovyan_GFX	TFT_eSPI
Screen fill	195,782	160,094	154,341	155,938
Text	97,662	18,960	22,473	21,752
Pixels	1,365,211	903,549	867,702	775,781
Lines	1,062,311	412,026	269,060	264,950
Horiz/Vert Lines	17,637	14,197	13,692	13,833
Rectangles-filled	406,817	332,696	320,761	323,908
Rectangles	11,641	9,254	8,545	8,714
Triangles-filled	150,941	118,010	105,661	109,675
Triangles	58,843	23,570	15,884	16,277
Circles-filled	76,739	52,170	42,787	45,827
Circles	118,125	40,955	25,959	25,269
Arcs-filled	N/A	33,381	21,546	N/A
Arcs	N/A	66,054	47,901	N/A
Rounded rects-fill	408,534	338,136	318,882	323,189
Rounded rects	43,185	21,562	13,089	15,371

Why Run Fast?

• No read operation. Since not all display provide read back graphic memories API, Arduino_GFX skip all read operations. It can reduce the library size footprint and sometimes reduce the operation time.
• Tailor-made data bus classes. Arduino_GFX decouple data bus operation from display driver, it is more easy to write individual data bus class for each platform.

Currently Supported data bus [Wiki]

• 8-bit and 9-bit hardware SPI (ESP32SPI)
• 8-bit hardware SPI (HWSPI, ESP8266SPI, mbedSPI, NRFXSPI, RPiPicoSPI)
• 8-bit and 9-bit software SPI (SWSPI)
• 8-bit parallel interface (AVRPAR8, ESP32PAR8, RPiPicoPAR8, RTLPAR8)
• 16-bit parallel interface (ESP32PAR16, RPiPicoPAR16)

Tobe Support data bus (Donation can make it happen)

• ESP32 I2S 8-bit/16-bit parallel interface
• FastLED

Currently Supported Dev Board

• Arduino Nano
• Arduino Nano BLE 33
• Arduino Pro Micro
• ESP8266 Series
• ESP32 Series
• Raspberry Pi Pico
• rtlduino
• WeAct BlackPill V2.0 (BlackPill F411CE)

Tobe Support Dev Board

• Arduino ATMega2560
• ESP32-S2 Series
• ESP32-S3 Series

Currently Supported Dev Device [Wiki]

• ESP32 LCDKIT
• Makerfabs ESP32 3.5" TFT Touch with Camera
• TTGO T-DISPLAY
• wireless-tag WT-32-SC01
• Wio Terminal
• M5Stack Core Family
• Odroid Go
• TTGO T-Watch

Currently Supported Display [Wiki]

• GC9A01 round display 240x240 [demo video]
• HX8347C 240x320 [demo video]
• HX8347D 240x320 [demo video]
• HX8352C 240x400 [demo video]
• HX8357A 320x480 [demo video] (currently only portrait works, i.e. rotation 0 and 2)
• HX8357B (9-bit SPI) 320x480 [demo video]
• ILI9225 176x220 [demo video]
• ILI9341 240x320 [demo video]
• ILI9341 (8-bit Parallel) 240x320 [demo video]
• ILI9342 320x240 [demo video]
• ILI9481 320x480 (18 bit color) [demo video]
• ILI9486 320x480 (18 bit color) [demo video]
• ILI9488 320x480 (3 bit color with canvas) [demo video]
• ILI9488 320x480 (18 bit color) [demo video]
• ILI9806 (8-bit/16-bit Parallel) 480x854 [demo video]
• JBT6K71 (8-bit Parallel) 240x320 [demo video]
• NT35310 320x480 [demo video]
• NT35510 (8-bit/16-bit Parallel) 480x800 [demo video]
• NT39125 (8-bit/16-bit Parallel) 240x376 [demo video]
• R61529 (8-bit/16-bit Parallel) 320x480 [demo video]
• SEPS525 160x128 [demo video]
• SSD1283A 130x130 [demo video]
• SSD1331 96x64 [demo video]
• SSD1351 128x128 [demo video]
• SSD1351 128x96
• ST7735 128x160 (various tabs) [demo video]
• ST7735 128x128 (various tabs) [demo video]
• ST7735 80x160 [demo video]
• ST7789 TTGO T-Display 135x240 [demo video]
• ST7789 240x240 [demo video]
• ST7789 TTGO T-Watch 240x240 [demo video]
• ST7789 round corner display 240x280 [demo video]
• ST7789 240x320 [demo video]
• ST7796 320x480 [demo video]

Tobe Support Display (Donation can make it happen)

• FastLED Martix supported by co-operate with Canvas
• Mono display supported by co-operate with Canvas
• Multi-color e-ink display supported by co-operate with Canvas

Canvas (framebuffer) [Wiki]

• Canvas (16-bit pixel)
• Canvas_Indexed (half memory space)
• Canvas_3bit (1/4 memory space framebuffer)
• Canvas_Mono (1/16 memory space framebuffer)

Using source code come from:

• http://elm-chan.org/fsw/tjpgd/00index.html
• https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-GFX-Library.git
• https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_ILI9341.git
• https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-SSD1351-library.git
• https://github.com/ananevilya/Arduino-ST7789-Library.git
• https://github.com/BasementCat/arduino-tft-gif
• https://github.com/Bodmer/TFT_eSPI
• https://github.com/daumemo/IPS_LCD_R61529_FT6236_Arduino_eSPI_Test
• https://github.com/espressif/arduino-esp32.git
• https://github.com/gitcnd/LCDWIKI_SPI.git
• https://github.com/hi631/LCD_NT35510-MRB3971.git
• https://github.com/lcdwiki/LCDWIKI_SPI.git
• https://github.com/lovyan03/LovyanGFX.git
• https://github.com/lovyan03/M5Stack_JpgLoopAnime