Develop Reference

how to keep the graphic2D shape to stay for a period time in java?

I'm going to create a moving circle for my later project, and the circle will keep moving, and it interior color will change like color emitting , the changing color will from little circle to larger circle in 5 levels, so how to keep each color change to stay a while and I hope these code present with thread, so I create two thread for the purpose, one control circle moving, another control the circle's interior color emit
here is my code:
import java.awt.*;
import static java.awt.Color.black;
import static java.awt.Color.yellow;
import static java.awt.FlowLayout.RIGHT;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.geom.Arc2D;
import java.awt.geom.Ellipse2D;
import java.awt.geom.GeneralPath;
import java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D;
import static java.lang.Math.abs;
import java.util.Random;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
class thepane extends JPanel implements Runnable{
public float x,y,r;
public float speedx,speedy;
thepane(float lx,float ly,float lr, float sx,float sy){
loadspeed(sx,sy);
load(lx,ly,lr);
for(int i=0;i<5;i++)
fc[i]=new Color(nd.nextInt(255),nd.nextInt(255),nd.nextInt(255));
}
public void load(float lx,float ly,float lr){
x=lx;y=ly;r=lr;
}
public void loadspeed(float sx,float sy){
speedx=sx;speedy=sy;
}
public void xmoving(){
x+=speedx;
}
public void ymoving(){
y-=speedy;
}
public void touchbond(){
if(x>getWidth()-r||x<0)
speedx*=-1;
if(y>getHeight()-r||y<0)
speedy*=-1;
if(x>getWidth()-r)
x=getWidth()-r;
else if(x<0)
x=0;
if(y>getHeight()-r)
y=getHeight()-r;
else if(y<0)
y=0;
}
Random nd=new Random();
int colorcount=0;
int emitcount=0;
boolean emit=false;
Color[] fc=new Color[5];
Graphics2D comp2D ;
Thread athread;
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics comp) {
comp2D = (Graphics2D) comp;
//create rectangle background
comp2D.setColor(Color.BLACK);
comp2D.fillRect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight());
//set information text
comp2D.setFont( new Font("Arial", Font.BOLD, 12));
comp2D.setColor(Color.WHITE);
comp2D.drawString("Centre("+(x+r/2)+' '+(y+r/2)+"), xspeed: "+speedx+" yspeed: "+speedy, 10f,10f );
comp2D.drawString("panel width "+getWidth()+" panel height "+getHeight()+" circle radius "
+r, 10f, 22f);
}
//thread run()
#Override
public void run() {
x=100;y=100;
System.out.println("thread in pane start!!!! (current colorcount = "+colorcount+')');
while(true){
circleEmit(fc[colorcount%5]);
repaint();
sleeping(1);
// comp2D=(Graphics2D)this.getGraphics();
// colorEmit(comp2D);
}
}
//wait method
public void waiting(){
try{wait();}
catch(Exception e){}}
public void waiting2D(int time){
try{comp2D.wait(time);}
catch(Exception e){}
}
public void waiting(int time){
try{wait(time);}
catch(Exception e){}
}
//sleep method
public void sleeping(int n){
try{
Thread.sleep(n);
}catch(Exception f){
System.out.print(f);
}
}
Ellipse2D.Float[] e=new Ellipse2D.Float[5];
public void loade(){
float centrex=x+r/2,centrey=y+r/2;
e[0]= new Ellipse2D.Float(centrex-r/10, centrey-r/10, r/5, r/5);
e[1]= new Ellipse2D.Float(centrex-r/5, centrey-r/5, 2*r/5, 2*r/5);
e[2]= new Ellipse2D.Float(centrex-3*r/10, centrey-3*r/10, 3*r/5, 3*r/5);
e[3]= new Ellipse2D.Float(centrex-2*r/5, centrey-2*r/5, 4*r/5, 4*r/5);
e[4]= new Ellipse2D.Float(centrex-r/2, centrey-r/2, r, r);
}
public Color ff;
public synchronized void circleEmit(Color fc){
comp2D=(Graphics2D)this.getGraphics();
loade();
comp2D.setColor(fc);
comp2D.fill(e[emitcount%5]);
waiting(5);
emitcount++;
}
public synchronized void callnotify(){
this.notify();
}
//iterative way to generate color emit
public void colorEmit(Graphics2D comp2D){
//create circle
//set circle property
float centrex=x+r/2,centrey=y+r/2;//so x=centrex-r/2;y=centrey+r/2
Ellipse2D.Float e1 = new Ellipse2D.Float(centrex-r/10, centrey-r/10, r/5, r/5);
Ellipse2D.Float e2 = new Ellipse2D.Float(centrex-r/5, centrey-r/5, 2*r/5, 2*r/5);
Ellipse2D.Float e3 = new Ellipse2D.Float(centrex-3*r/10, centrey-3*r/10, 3*r/5, 3*r/5);
Ellipse2D.Float e4 = new Ellipse2D.Float(centrex-2*r/5, centrey-2*r/5, 4*r/5, 4*r/5);
Ellipse2D.Float e5 = new Ellipse2D.Float(centrex-r/2, centrey-r/2, r, r);
if(colorcount>=4)
emit(comp2D,fc[(colorcount-4)%5],e5);
waiting(1000);
if(colorcount>=3)
emit(comp2D,fc[(colorcount-3)%5],e4);
waiting(1000);
if(colorcount>=2)
emit(comp2D,fc[(colorcount-2)%5],e3);
waiting(1000);
if(colorcount>=1)
emit(comp2D,fc[(colorcount-1)%5],e2);
waiting(1000);
emit(comp2D,fc[colorcount%5],e1);
waiting(1000);
colorcount++;
}
private void emit(Graphics2D comp,Color thecolor,Ellipse2D.Float f){
comp.setColor(thecolor);
comp.fill(f);
}
}
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//main class
public class drawpanel extends Thread implements ActionListener{
JFrame frame=new JFrame();
thepane panel;
JButton FlyingBalls=new JButton("balls"),exit=new JButton("Exit"),stop=new JButton("Stop");
JButton slow=new JButton("slow down"),resume=new JButton("resume");
Float x,y,r;
public void sleeping(int n){
try{
Thread.sleep(n);
}catch(Exception f){
System.out.print(f);
}
}
Thread newthread,pthread;
Thread[] five=new Thread[5];
drawpanel(){
frame.setTitle("FlyingBalls");
frame.setLocation(100, 100);
frame.setLayout(null);
//x,y,r,speedx,speedy
panel=new thepane(nd.nextInt(800),nd.nextInt(500),40,nd.nextFloat()*20+1,nd.nextFloat()*10+1);
panel.setSize(800,500);
frame.setSize(810,580);
frame.add(panel);
FlyingBalls.setSize(80,30);exit.setSize(70,30);stop.setSize(70,30);slow.setSize(140,30);
resume.setSize(100,30);
FlyingBalls.addActionListener(this);
exit.addActionListener(this);
stop.addActionListener(this);slow.addActionListener(this);resume.addActionListener(this);
frame.add(FlyingBalls);frame.add(exit); frame.add(stop);frame.add(slow);frame.add(resume);
FlyingBalls.setLocation(20,500);exit.setLocation(190, 500);stop.setLocation(110,500);
slow.setLocation(270,500);resume.setLocation(420,500);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
//control moving ball
newthread=new Thread(this);
//control color change
for(int i=0;i<5;i++){
five[i]=new Thread(panel);
}
// newthread.start();
panel.colorcount++;
five[0].start();
panel.colorcount=2;
// five[1].start();
panel.waiting(5);
}
public static void main(String[] arg){
drawpanel apanel=new drawpanel();
}
int bw=800,bh=500;
void setp(){
x=panel.x;y=panel.y;
}
void touchbond(){
System.out.println("width:"+panel.getWidth()+"Height:"+panel.getHeight());
System.out.println("xposition:"+x+"yposition:"+y);
if(x+r>panel.getWidth()){
panel.speedx*=-1;
x=bw-r;
}
else if(x-r<0){
panel.speedx*=-1;
x=r;
}
if(y-r<0){
panel.speedy*=-1;
y=r;
}
else if(y+r>panel.getHeight()){
panel.speedy*=-1;
y=bh-r;
}
panel.x=x;panel.y=y;
}
int T=10;
Random nd=new Random();
#Override
public void run(){
r=panel.r;
panel.loadspeed(-6.33f,-3.4f);
while(true){
if(stopcount==0){//button control variable
panel.xmoving();panel.ymoving();
panel.touchbond();
sleeping(T);}
panel.loade();
// panel.callnotify();
// panel.colorEmit(panel.comp2D);
panel.repaint();
}
}
#Override
public void start(){
}
int count=0,stopcount=0;
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if(e.getSource()==exit){
System.exit(0);
}
if(e.getSource()==FlyingBalls){
//panel=new thepane();
}
if(e.getSource()==resume){
stopcount=0;T=10;
panel.emit=false;
}
if(e.getSource()==slow){
if(count%2==0)
T=500;
else
T=10;
count++;
}
if(e.getSource()==stop){
stopcount++;
panel.emit=true;
}
}
}

So, lots of theory to cover.
Firstly...
Animation is not easy, good animation is hard.
Swing is single threaded and is not thread safe
This means that you should not perform any long running or blocking operations within the context of the Event Dispatching Thread.
It also means that you shouldn't modify the UI or anything the UI relies on from outside the context of the Event Dispatching Thread
More threads != more work
More threads doesn't always mean you're going to get more done. In fact, in this scenario, it could really cause a huge number of issues, as you need the ability to reason out the state at a single point in time (when painting)
Animation Theory
Okay, animation is simply the illusion of change, how you accomplish that will come down to the problem you trying to solve.
For me, the best animations are time based animations, not linear.
A linear animation keeps updating from its start state till it reaches its end state, in a constant progression. These don't tend to scale well and can suffer issues on low performant systems.
A time based animation is one where the amount of time is defined and then, based on a anchor time (ie start time) and the state of the animation is updated based on the amount of time which is passed. This is a really simple way to achieve "frame dropping". You'd also be very surprised to find that in general terms, time based animations tend to look better across more platforms.
A time based animation is also more capable of generating "easement" effects, but that's getting way deeper then we need to go right now.
Okay, but what's this got to do with your problem? Well, actually, quite a bit.
The first thing we need is some kind of "main-loop" from which all the animation can be driven. Typically, I'd look to a good animation library, but failing that, a simple Swing Timer will do the basic good really well.
It generates its ticks in the Event Dispatching Thread, which makes it very useful for our needs. See How to Use Swing Timers for more details
So, we start with something like...
private Timer timer;
//...
timer = new Timer(5, new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// Update the state
repaint();
}
});
//...
timer.start();
This gives us our "main loop", from which we can update the state as needed and then trigger a repaint of the component.
For the purpose of this demonstration, I'm going to devise a self-contained unit of "animation duration", used to track the amount of time which has passed since the animation was started, this is personal choice, but it would allow me to drive a number of animations and it contains the logic to a single unit of work.
public class AnimationDuration {
private Duration duration;
private Instant startedAt;
public AnimationDuration(Duration duration) {
this.duration = duration;
}
public Duration getDuration() {
return duration;
}
public void start() {
startedAt = Instant.now();
}
public void stop() {
startedAt = null;
}
public boolean isRunning() {
return startedAt != null;
}
public float getProgress() {
Duration runningTime = Duration.between(startedAt, Instant.now());
if (runningTime.compareTo(duration) > 0) {
runningTime = duration;
}
long total = duration.toMillis();
float progress = runningTime.toMillis() / (float) total;
return progress;
}
}
This basically allows to trigger the animation to start running (anchor point in time) and then get the progress of the animation at any point in time. This provides a normalised concept from 0-1, so if we want to make it longer or shorter, all we do is adjust the duration and everything else is taken care of.
For your specific problem, I'd consider some kind of "time line" or "key frames", which defines that certain actions should occur at certain points of time along the time line.
Now, the following is a really simple concept, but it gets the job.
public interface KeyFrame {
public float getProgress();
}
public class TimeLine<K extends KeyFrame> {
private List<K> keyFrames;
public TimeLine() {
keyFrames = new ArrayList<>(25);
}
// Returns the key frames between the current progression
public K getKeyFrameAt(float progress) {
for (int index = 0; index < keyFrames.size(); index++) {
K keyFrame = keyFrames.get(index);
if (progress >= keyFrame.getProgress()) {
if (index + 1 < keyFrames.size()) {
K nextFrame = keyFrames.get(index + 1);
// But only if your between each other
if (progress < nextFrame.getProgress()) {
return keyFrame;
}
} else {
// Nothing after me :D
return keyFrame;
}
}
}
return null;
}
public void add(K keyFrame) {
keyFrames.add(keyFrame);
Collections.sort(keyFrames, new Comparator<KeyFrame>() {
#Override
public int compare(KeyFrame lhs, KeyFrame rhs) {
if (lhs.getProgress() > rhs.getProgress()) {
return 1;
} else if (lhs.getProgress() < rhs.getProgress()) {
return -1;
}
return 0;
}
});
}
}
This allows you to define certain KeyFrames along the timeline, based on a normalised concept of time and then provides the ability to get the KeyFrame based on the current progression through animation.
There are much more complex solutions you might consider, which would generate self contained events based on time progressions automatically, but I prefer been able to driver the animation itself independently, makes these types of things more flexible - add a JSlider and you can manipulate the progression manually ;)
The next thing we need is something to carry the properties for the circle KeyFrame ...
public class CirclePropertiesKeyFrame implements KeyFrame {
private float progress;
private double radius;
private Color color;
public CirclePropertiesKeyFrame(float progress, double radius, Color color) {
this.progress = progress;
this.radius = radius;
this.color = color;
}
#Override
public float getProgress() {
return progress;
}
public Color getColor() {
return color;
}
public double getRadius() {
return radius;
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return "KeyFrame progress = " + getProgress() + "; raidus= " + radius + "; color = " + color;
}
}
Now, we need to put it together...
public class TestPane extends JPanel {
private AnimationDuration timelineDuration;
private TimeLine<CirclePropertiesKeyFrame> timeLine;
private Timer timer;
private CirclePropertiesKeyFrame circleProperties;
public TestPane() {
timelineDuration = new AnimationDuration(Duration.ofSeconds(10));
timeLine = new TimeLine<>();
timeLine.add(new CirclePropertiesKeyFrame(0, 5, Color.CYAN));
timeLine.add(new CirclePropertiesKeyFrame(0.2f, 10, Color.BLUE));
timeLine.add(new CirclePropertiesKeyFrame(0.4f, 15, Color.GREEN));
timeLine.add(new CirclePropertiesKeyFrame(0.6f, 20, Color.YELLOW));
timeLine.add(new CirclePropertiesKeyFrame(0.8f, 25, Color.MAGENTA));
timer = new Timer(5, new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (timelineDuration.isRunning()) {
float progress = timelineDuration.getProgress();
if (progress >= 1.0) {
timelineDuration.stop();
}
CirclePropertiesKeyFrame keyFrame = timeLine.getKeyFrameAt(progress);
circleProperties = keyFrame;
}
repaint();
}
});
}
#Override
public void addNotify() {
super.addNotify();
timelineDuration.start();
timer.start();
}
#Override
public void removeNotify() {
super.removeNotify();
timer.stop();
timelineDuration.stop();
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(200, 200);
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g.create();
if (circleProperties != null) {
double radius = circleProperties.radius;
double xPos = (getWidth() / 2) - radius;
double yPos = (getHeight() / 2) - radius;
g2d.setColor(circleProperties.color);
g2d.fill(new Ellipse2D.Double(xPos, yPos, radius * 2, radius * 2));
}
g2d.dispose();
}
}
And then we end up with something like...
Now, this is a 10 second sequence, so every 2 seconds it will update. Try changing the duration of the AnimationDuration and see what happens.
Note This is a non-repeating animation (it doesn't loop). You could make it loop, but the calculation to do so becomes more complicate, as you need to consider by how much you're over the expected Duration and then apply that to the next cycle, so it looks smooth
But what about movement?
Well, actually, pretty much already answered that question. You would also place the movement code inside the Timers ActionListener, right before the repaint request. In fact, I might be tempted to create some kind of class that could take the current KeyFrame information and combine it with the location properties, this would then be used the paintComponent method to draw the circle.
I want to blend the animation states ...
Well, that's a much more difficult question, especially when it comes to colors.
The basic theory is, you need the two key frames which set either side of the current progression. You would then apply a "blending" algorithm to calculate the amount of change to be applied between the two key frames.
Not impossible, just a step more difficult

Where should I put the game loop in the swing app?

I'm trying to make a simple 2D game in Java.
As far as I know, my game should consist of two threads: "event dispatch thread" (for GUI operations) and "game thread" (for game loop).
I created an outline but could not find where to place the game loop.
in short, I'm trying to create a game loop without freezing my UI thread.
I would be grateful if you could give any information about the things I did wrong.
That's my game loop (You can also give tips to create a better game loop):
while(true) {
repaint();
try {
Thread.sleep(17);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyListener;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseListener;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Forge and Attack");
frame.setExtendedState(JFrame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);
frame.setUndecorated(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setFocusable(true);
frame.add(new MyPanel());
}
}
class MyPanel extends JPanel implements KeyListener, MouseListener {
public MyPanel() {
setBackground(Color.BLACK);
setOpaque(true);
addKeyListener(this);
addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter(){
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e){
}
});
}
#Override
public void paint(Graphics g) {
}
}

I thought this an interesting topic to expand on... I have covered the questions you asked as well as showed the maybe a better or correct way of doing certain things like painting, and listening for keys pressed, as well as some others like separation of concerns and making the entire game more reusable/expandable.
1. Where to place the game loop?
So this isn't straight forward and can depend on each individuals coding style, but really all we seek to achieve here is to create the game loop and start it at an appropriate time. I believe code speaks a 1000 words (sometimes it might just be 1000 words :)), but below is some code which in the most minimally possible way (still producing a valid working example) shows where a game loop can be created/placed and used in the code, the code is heavily commented for clarity and understanding:
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.AbstractAction;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class MyGame {
private Scene scene;
private Sprite player;
private Thread gameLoop;
private boolean isRunning;
public MyGame() {
createAndShowUI();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(MyGame::new);
}
/**
* Here we will create our swing UI as well as initialise and setup our
* sprites, scene, and game loop and other buttons etc
*/
private void createAndShowUI() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("MyGame");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
player = new Sprite(/*ImageIO.read(getClass().getResourceAsStream("...."))*/);
this.scene = new Scene();
this.scene.add(player);
this.addKeyBindings();
this.setupGameLoop();
frame.add(scene);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
// after setting the frame visible we start the game loop, this could be done in a button or wherever you want
this.isRunning = true;
this.gameLoop.start();
}
/**
* This method would actually create and setup the game loop The game loop
* will always be encapsulated in a Thread, Timer or some sort of construct
* that generates a separate thread in order to not block the UI
*/
private void setupGameLoop() {
// initialise the thread
gameLoop = new Thread(() -> {
// while the game "is running" and the isRunning boolean is set to true, loop forever
while (isRunning) {
// here we do 2 very important things which might later be expanded to 3:
// 1. We call Scene#update: this essentially will iterate all of our Sprites in our game and update their movments/position in the game via Sprite#update()
this.scene.update();
// TODO later on one might add a method like this.scene.checkCollisions in which you check if 2 sprites are interesecting and do something about it
// 2. We then call JPanel#repaint() which will cause JPanel#paintComponent to be called and thus we will iterate all of our sprites
// and invoke the Sprite#render method which will draw them to the screen
this.scene.repaint();
// here we throttle our game loop, because we are using a while loop this will execute as fast as it possible can, which might not be needed
// so here we call Thread#slepp so we can give the CPU some time to breathe :)
try {
Thread.sleep(15);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
}
}
});
}
private void addKeyBindings() {
// here we would use KeyBindings (https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/misc/keybinding.html) and add them to our Scene/JPanel
// these would allow us to manipulate our Sprite objects using the keyboard below is 2 examples for using the A key to make our player/Sprite go left
// or the D key to make the player/Sprite go to the right
this.scene.getInputMap(JComponent.WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW).put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_A, 0, false), "A pressed");
this.scene.getActionMap().put("A pressed", new AbstractAction() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
player.LEFT = true;
}
});
this.scene.getInputMap(JComponent.WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW).put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_A, 0, true), "A released");
this.scene.getActionMap().put("A released", new AbstractAction() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
player.LEFT = false;
}
});
this.scene.getInputMap(JComponent.WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW).put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_D, 0, false), "D pressed");
this.scene.getActionMap().put("D pressed", new AbstractAction() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
player.RIGHT = true;
}
});
this.scene.getInputMap(JComponent.WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW).put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_D, 0, true), "D released");
this.scene.getActionMap().put("D released", new AbstractAction() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
player.RIGHT = false;
}
});
}
public class Scene extends JPanel {
private final ArrayList<Sprite> sprites;
public Scene() {
// we are using a game loop to repaint, so probably dont want swing randomly doing it for us
this.setIgnoreRepaint(true);
this.sprites = new ArrayList<>();
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
// this method gets called on Scene#repaint in our game loop and we then render each in our game
sprites.forEach((sprite) -> {
sprite.render(g2d);
});
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
// because no components are added to the JPanel, we will have a default sizxe of 0,0 so we instead force the JPanel to a size we want
return new Dimension(500, 500);
}
public void add(Sprite go) {
this.sprites.add(go);
}
private void update() {
// this method gets called on Scene#update in our game loop and we then update the sprites movement and position our game
sprites.forEach((go) -> {
go.update();
});
}
}
public class Sprite {
private int x = 50, y = 50, speed = 5;
//private final BufferedImage image;
public boolean LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN;
public Sprite(/*BufferedImage image*/) {
//this.image = image;
}
public void render(Graphics2D g2d) {
//g2d.drawImage(this.image, this.x, this.y, null);
g2d.fillRect(this.x, this.y, 100, 100);
}
public void update() {
if (LEFT) {
this.x -= this.speed;
}
if (RIGHT) {
this.x += this.speed;
}
if (UP) {
this.y -= this.speed;
}
if (DOWN) {
this.y += this.speed;
}
}
}
}
2. Tips to create a better game loop
This very much like the first point in my answer is very subjective to what you are trying to achieve and at what granularity will your problem be satisfied with. So instead of prescribing 1 type of game loop. Let us look at the various kinds we can have:
First what is a game loop?*
The game loop is the overall flow control for the entire game program. It’s a loop because the game keeps doing a series of actions over and over again until the user quits. Each iteration of the game loop is known as a frame. Most real-time games update several times per second: 30 and 60 are the two most common intervals. If a game runs at 60 FPS (frames per second), this means that the game loop completes 60 iterations every second.
a. While loop
This we have seen in the above example and is simply a while loop encapsulated inside a Thread with possibly a Thread#sleep call to help throttle CPU usage. This and the Swing Timer are probably the most basic you can use.
gameLoop = new Thread(() -> {
while (isRunning) {
this.scene.update();
this.scene.repaint();
try {
Thread.sleep(15);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
}
}
});
Pros:
Easy to implement
All updating and rendering, repainting is done in a separate thread from the EDT
Cons:
Cannot guarantee the same frame rate on various PCs, so movement of the game might look better/worse or slower/faster on various computers depending on the hardware
b. Swing Timer
Similar to the while loop, a Swing Timer can be used in which an action event is fired periodically, because it is fired periodically we can simply use an if statement to check if the game is running and then call our necessary methods
gameLoop = new Timer(15, (ActionEvent e) -> {
if (isRunning) {
MyGame.this.scene.update();
MyGame.this.scene.repaint();
}
});
Pros:
Easy to implement
Cons:
Runs on the EDT which is not necessary or wanted as we are not updating any Swing components but rather simply painting to it
Cannot guarantee the same frame rate on various PCs, so movement of the game might look better/worse or slower/faster on various computers depending on the hardware
c. Fixed time step*
This is a more complex game loop (but simpler than a variable time step game loop). This works on the premise that we want to achieve a specific FPS i.e. 30 or 60 frames per second, and thus we simply make sure we call our update and rendering methods that exact number of times per seconds.
Update methods do not accept a "time elapsed", as they assume each update is for a fixed time period. Calculations may be done as position += distancePerUpdate. The example includes an interpolation during render.
gameLoop = new Thread(() -> {
//This value would probably be stored elsewhere.
final double GAME_HERTZ = 60.0;
//Calculate how many ns each frame should take for our target game hertz.
final double TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES = 1000000000 / GAME_HERTZ;
//If we are able to get as high as this FPS, don't render again.
final double TARGET_FPS = 60;
final double TARGET_TIME_BETWEEN_RENDERS = 1000000000 / TARGET_FPS;
//At the very most we will update the game this many times before a new render.
//If you're worried about visual hitches more than perfect timing, set this to 1.
final int MAX_UPDATES_BEFORE_RENDER = 5;
//We will need the last update time.
double lastUpdateTime = System.nanoTime();
//Store the last time we rendered.
double lastRenderTime = System.nanoTime();
while (isRunning) {
double now = System.nanoTime();
int updateCount = 0;
//Do as many game updates as we need to, potentially playing catchup.
while (now - lastUpdateTime > TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES && updateCount < MAX_UPDATES_BEFORE_RENDER) {
MyGame.this.scene.update();
lastUpdateTime += TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES;
updateCount++;
}
//If for some reason an update takes forever, we don't want to do an insane number of catchups.
//If you were doing some sort of game that needed to keep EXACT time, you would get rid of this.
if (now - lastUpdateTime > TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES) {
lastUpdateTime = now - TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES;
}
//Render. To do so, we need to calculate interpolation for a smooth render.
float interpolation = Math.min(1.0f, (float) ((now - lastUpdateTime) / TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES));
MyGame.this.scene.render(interpolation);
lastRenderTime = now;
//Yield until it has been at least the target time between renders. This saves the CPU from hogging.
while (now - lastRenderTime < TARGET_TIME_BETWEEN_RENDERS && now - lastUpdateTime < TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES) {
//allow the threading system to play threads that are waiting to run.
Thread.yield();
//This stops the app from consuming all your CPU. It makes this slightly less accurate, but is worth it.
//You can remove this line and it will still work (better), your CPU just climbs on certain OSes.
//FYI on some OS's this can cause pretty bad stuttering. Scroll down and have a look at different peoples' solutions to this.
//On my OS it does not unpuase the game if i take this away
try {
Thread.sleep(1);
} catch (Exception e) {
}
now = System.nanoTime();
}
}
});
This loop will need other changes such to take place to allow for interpolation:
Scene:
public class Scene extends JPanel {
private float interpolation;
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
...
sprites.forEach((sprite) -> {
sprite.render(g2d, this.interpolation);
});
}
public void render(float interpolation) {
this.interpolation = interpolation;
this.repaint();
}
}
Sprite:
public class Sprite {
public void render(Graphics2D g2d, float interpolation) {
g2d.fillRect((int) (this.x + interpolation), (int) (this.y + interpolation), 100, 100);
}
}
Pros:
predictable, deterministic FPS on various computers/hardware
clearer calculation code
Cons:
not synced to monitor v-sync (causes jittery graphics unless you interpolate) - this example interpolates
limited max frame rate (unless you interpolate) - this example interpolates
d. Variable time step*
Usually used when a physics system is being implemented, or whenever a record of elapsed time is needed, I.e. animations. Physics/animation updates are passed a "time elapsed since last update" argument and are hence framerate-dependent. This may mean doing calculations as position += distancePerSecond * timeElapsed.
gameLoop = new Thread(() -> {
// how many frames should be drawn in a second
final int FRAMES_PER_SECOND = 60;
// calculate how many nano seconds each frame should take for our target frames per second.
final long TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES = 1000000000 / FRAMES_PER_SECOND;
// track number of frames
int frameCount;
// if you're worried about visual hitches more than perfect timing, set this to 1. else 5 should be okay
final int MAX_UPDATES_BETWEEN_RENDER = 1;
// we will need the last update time.
long lastUpdateTime = System.nanoTime();
// store the time we started this will be used for updating map and charcter animations
long currTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
while (isRunning) {
long now = System.nanoTime();
long elapsedTime = System.currentTimeMillis() - currTime;
currTime += elapsedTime;
int updateCount = 0;
// do as many game updates as we need to, potentially playing catchup.
while (now - lastUpdateTime >= TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES && updateCount < MAX_UPDATES_BETWEEN_RENDER) {
MyGame.this.scene.update(elapsedTime);//Update the entity movements and collision checks etc (all has to do with updating the games status i.e call move() on Enitites)
lastUpdateTime += TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES;
updateCount++;
}
// if for some reason an update takes forever, we don't want to do an insane number of catchups.
// if you were doing some sort of game that needed to keep EXACT time, you would get rid of this.
if (now - lastUpdateTime >= TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES) {
lastUpdateTime = now - TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES;
}
MyGame.this.scene.repaint(); // draw call for rendering sprites etc
long lastRenderTime = now;
//Yield until it has been at least the target time between renders. This saves the CPU from hogging.
while (now - lastRenderTime < TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES && now - lastUpdateTime < TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES) {
Thread.yield();
now = System.nanoTime();
}
}
});
Scene:
public class Scene extends JPanel {
private void update(long elapsedTime) {
// this method gets called on Scene#update in our game loop and we then update the sprites movement and position our game
sprites.forEach((go) -> {
go.update(elapsedTime);
});
}
}
Sprite:
public class Sprite {
private float speed = 0.5f;
public void update(long elapsedTime) {
if (LEFT) {
this.x -= this.speed * elapsedTime;
}
if (RIGHT) {
this.x += this.speed * elapsedTime;
}
if (UP) {
this.y -= this.speed * elapsedTime;
}
if (DOWN) {
this.y += this.speed * elapsedTime;
}
}
}
Pros:
smooth
easier to to code
Cons:
non-deterministic, unpredictable at very small or large steps

Waiting a keyevent [duplicate]

I want to write a little game where I can move a ball on a JavaFX Panel using the W, A, S, D keys.
I have a getPosX() and setPosX() but I don't know how to write a KeyListener which will e.g. calculate setPosX(getPosX()+1) if I press D.
What do I have to do?

From a JavaRanch Forum post.
Key press and release handlers are added on the scene and update movement state variables recorded in the application. An animation timer hooks into the JavaFX pulse mechanism (which by default will be capped to fire an event 60 times a second) - so that is a kind of game "loop". In the timer the movement state variables are checked and their delta actions applied to the character position - which in effect moves the character around the screen in response to key presses.
import javafx.animation.AnimationTimer;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.*;
import javafx.scene.image.*;
import javafx.scene.input.KeyEvent;
import javafx.scene.paint.Color;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
/**
* Hold down an arrow key to have your hero move around the screen.
* Hold down the shift key to have the hero run.
*/
public class Runner extends Application {
private static final double W = 600, H = 400;
private static final String HERO_IMAGE_LOC =
"http://icons.iconarchive.com/icons/raindropmemory/legendora/64/Hero-icon.png";
private Image heroImage;
private Node hero;
boolean running, goNorth, goSouth, goEast, goWest;
#Override
public void start(Stage stage) throws Exception {
heroImage = new Image(HERO_IMAGE_LOC);
hero = new ImageView(heroImage);
Group dungeon = new Group(hero);
moveHeroTo(W / 2, H / 2);
Scene scene = new Scene(dungeon, W, H, Color.FORESTGREEN);
scene.setOnKeyPressed(new EventHandler<KeyEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(KeyEvent event) {
switch (event.getCode()) {
case UP: goNorth = true; break;
case DOWN: goSouth = true; break;
case LEFT: goWest = true; break;
case RIGHT: goEast = true; break;
case SHIFT: running = true; break;
}
}
});
scene.setOnKeyReleased(new EventHandler<KeyEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(KeyEvent event) {
switch (event.getCode()) {
case UP: goNorth = false; break;
case DOWN: goSouth = false; break;
case LEFT: goWest = false; break;
case RIGHT: goEast = false; break;
case SHIFT: running = false; break;
}
}
});
stage.setScene(scene);
stage.show();
AnimationTimer timer = new AnimationTimer() {
#Override
public void handle(long now) {
int dx = 0, dy = 0;
if (goNorth) dy -= 1;
if (goSouth) dy += 1;
if (goEast) dx += 1;
if (goWest) dx -= 1;
if (running) { dx *= 3; dy *= 3; }
moveHeroBy(dx, dy);
}
};
timer.start();
}
private void moveHeroBy(int dx, int dy) {
if (dx == 0 && dy == 0) return;
final double cx = hero.getBoundsInLocal().getWidth() / 2;
final double cy = hero.getBoundsInLocal().getHeight() / 2;
double x = cx + hero.getLayoutX() + dx;
double y = cy + hero.getLayoutY() + dy;
moveHeroTo(x, y);
}
private void moveHeroTo(double x, double y) {
final double cx = hero.getBoundsInLocal().getWidth() / 2;
final double cy = hero.getBoundsInLocal().getHeight() / 2;
if (x - cx >= 0 &&
x + cx <= W &&
y - cy >= 0 &&
y + cy <= H) {
hero.relocate(x - cx, y - cy);
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) { launch(args); }
}
On filters, handlers and focus
To receive key events, the object that the event handlers are set on must be focus traversable. This example sets handlers on the scene directly, but if you were to set handlers on the pane instead of the scene, it would need to be focus traversable and have focus.
If you want a global intercept point to override or intercept events that are to be routed through the in-built event handlers which will consume events you want (e.g. buttons and text fields), you can have an event filter on the scene rather than a handler.
To better understand the difference between a handler and a filter, make sure that you study and understand the event capturing and bubbling phases as explained in the JavaFX event tutorial.
Generic input handler
Please ignore the rest of this answer if the information already provided is sufficient for your purposes.
While the above solution is sufficient to answer this question, if interested, a more sophisticated input handler (with a more general and separated, input and update handling logic), can be found in this demo breakout game:
Breakout input handler.
Example generic input handler from the sample breakout game:
class InputHandler implements EventHandler<KeyEvent> {
final private Set<KeyCode> activeKeys = new HashSet<>();
#Override
public void handle(KeyEvent event) {
if (KeyEvent.KEY_PRESSED.equals(event.getEventType())) {
activeKeys.add(event.getCode());
} else if (KeyEvent.KEY_RELEASED.equals(event.getEventType())) {
activeKeys.remove(event.getCode());
}
}
public Set<KeyCode> getActiveKeys() {
return Collections.unmodifiableSet(activeKeys);
}
}
While an ObservableSet with an appropriate set change listener could be used for the set of active keys, I have used an accessor which returns an unmodifiable set of keys which were active at a snapshot in time, because that is what I was interested in here rather than observing changes to the set of active keys in real-time.
If you want to keep track of the order in which keys are pressed, a Queue, List, or TreeSet can be used rather than a Set (for example, with a TreeSet ordering events on the time of keypress, the most recent key pressed would be the last element in the set).
Example generic input handler usage:
Scene gameScene = createGameScene();
// register the input handler to the game scene.
InputHandler inputHandler = new InputHandler();
gameScene.setOnKeyPressed(inputHandler);
gameScene.setOnKeyReleased(inputHandler);
gameLoop = createGameLoop();
// . . .
private AnimationTimer createGameLoop() {
return new AnimationTimer() {
public void handle(long now) {
update(now, inputHandler.getActiveKeys());
if (gameState.isGameOver()) {
this.stop();
}
}
};
}
public void update(long now, Set<KeyCode> activeKeys) {
applyInputToPaddle(activeKeys);
// . . . rest of logic to update game state and view.
}
// The paddle is sprite implementation with
// an in-built velocity setting that is used to
// update its position for each frame.
//
// on user input, The paddle velocity changes
// to point in the correct predefined direction.
private void applyInputToPaddle(Set<KeyCode> activeKeys) {
Point2D paddleVelocity = Point2D.ZERO;
if (activeKeys.contains(KeyCode.LEFT)) {
paddleVelocity = paddleVelocity.add(paddleLeftVelocity);
}
if (activeKeys.contains(KeyCode.RIGHT)) {
paddleVelocity = paddleVelocity.add(paddleRightVelocity);
}
gameState.getPaddle().setVelocity(paddleVelocity);
}

Scene myScene = new Scene();
KeyCombination cntrlZ = new KeyCodeCombination(KeyCode.Z, KeyCodeCombination.CONTROL_DOWN);
myScene.setOnKeyPressed(new EventHandler<KeyEvent>(){
#Override
public void handle(KeyEvent event) {
if(contrlZ.match(event)){
//Do something
}
}
});

using JNativeHook:
https://github.com/kwhat/jnativehook
<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.1stleg/jnativehook -->
<dependency>
<groupId>com.1stleg</groupId>
<artifactId>jnativehook</artifactId>
<version>2.1.0</version>
</dependency>
private void initKeyListener(Stage primaryStage){
/* Note: JNativeHook does *NOT* operate on the event dispatching thread.
* Because Swing components must be accessed on the event dispatching
* thread, you *MUST* wrap access to Swing components using the
* SwingUtilities.invokeLater() or EventQueue.invokeLater() methods.
*/
try {
GlobalScreen.registerNativeHook();
} catch (NativeHookException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}
GlobalScreen.addNativeKeyListener(new NativeKeyListener() {
public void nativeKeyPressed(NativeKeyEvent e) {
if ( (e.getModifiers() & NativeKeyEvent.CTRL_MASK) != 0
&& (e.getModifiers() & NativeKeyEvent.ALT_MASK) != 0
&& (e.getKeyCode() == NativeKeyEvent.VC_B)){
logger.debug("key :Hide");
primaryStage.hide();
}
if ( (e.getModifiers() & NativeKeyEvent.CTRL_MASK) != 0
&& (e.getModifiers() & NativeKeyEvent.SHIFT_MASK) != 0
&& (e.getModifiers() & NativeKeyEvent.ALT_MASK) != 0
&& (e.getKeyCode() == NativeKeyEvent.VC_B)){
logger.debug("key :Show");
primaryStage.show();
}
//System.out.println("Key Pressed: " + NativeKeyEvent.getKeyText(e.getKeyCode()));
}
public void nativeKeyReleased(NativeKeyEvent e) {
//System.out.println("Key Released: " + NativeKeyEvent.getKeyText(e.getKeyCode()));
}
public void nativeKeyTyped(NativeKeyEvent e) {
//System.out.println("Key Typed: " + NativeKeyEvent.getKeyText(e.getKeyCode()));
}
});
/*
GlobalScreen.addNativeMouseListener(new NativeMouseListener() {
#Override
public void nativeMouseReleased(NativeMouseEvent arg0) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
System.out.println("MouseReleased()");
}
#Override
public void nativeMousePressed(NativeMouseEvent arg0) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
System.out.println("MousePressed()");
}
#Override
public void nativeMouseClicked(NativeMouseEvent arg0) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
System.out.println("MouseClicked()");
}
});
*/
}

JavaGame character is not moving accurately while drawing?

for personal practice, I am remaking Flappy bird for desktop with Java, I have managed to get all the pillars generating, screen, bg moving done, but now I have one problem, which is performance.
I sometimes feel that the game isn't moving as fast, and sometimes gets stuck for 0.5 secs or something, but that's not the case, when I move my bird, it's moving a bit weird, looks like its moving too much forward & then to the back, watch the gif in MP4 format:
http://gyazo.com/d7e94c0b772192e5a5dd1d2b61b8c529
What could be causing that? could this be my game loop or the way I draw the graphics? I don't use double buffering, I render simply by calling .repaint in jframe which repaints the JPanel I added.
Game loop:
private void gameLoop() {
new Thread() {
private long last;
private long start;
private int wait;
public void run() {
while(game) {
long now = System.nanoTime();
long length = now - lastLoop;
lastLoop = now;
double delta = length / ((double) Constants.OPTIMAL);
lastFps += length;
fps++;
if (lastFps >= 1000000000) {
System.out.println("FPS: " + fps);
lastFps = 0;
fps = 0;
}
update(delta);
render();
this.sleep
}
}
private void sleep() {
try {
Thread.sleep((this.last - System.nanoTime() + Constants.OPTIMAL) / 1000000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}.start();
}
My drawing area:
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
int translateAmount = this.game.getLevel().getTranslate();
g.translate(-translateAmount, 0);
this.background.render(g2d);
this.game.getLevel().renderLevel(g2d);
g.translate(0, 0);
this.game.getBird().render(g2d);
}
The way I render the backgrounds is this: I add backgrounds one after one, and if a background is outside of the frame, i won't render it.
public void render(Graphics2D g) {
Iterator<RepeatedBackground> itr = this.repeats.iterator();
while (itr.hasNext()) {
RepeatedBackground b = itr.next();
if (this.game.getLevel().getTranslate() - b.getX() >= 300) {
itr.remove();
continue;
}
if (b.getX() - this.game.getLevel().getTranslate() < Constants.WIDTH) {
b.render(g);
}
}
}
This is how I move my bird (i dont use delta, used some tutorial on this):
private void update(double delta) {
if (System.currentTimeMillis() - this.level.getTime() >= Constants.TRANSLATE_SPEED) {
// move background
this.level.updateTranslate();
this.level.setTime();
// move bird
this.getBird().move();
}
}
public void move() {
this.x += 2 / 1.10;
}
What could be causing lag to the bird or the background? Is there something wrong with my rendering ways or game loop?
Fps always printing this:
FPS: 1724172
FPS: 1551857
FPS: 1494378
FPS: 1471987
FPS: 1434095
FPS: 1629905

Your game loop confuses me - but that's not hard ;)
Basically, as I understand these things, it should work something like...
while (gamming) {
now = get current time;
update game state
delta = get current time - now
delay = desired delay - delta
wait for delay
}
You don't seem to be taking into account the amount of time that the render and update methods "might" take to execute and calculating the time to wait based those requirements...
Now, I'm not sure what your delta values is suppose to be...the time through the current second?? So I've left it out of my example...
The following example gives me a constant 25fps, even with the random delays in the update and render methods
Now, forgive me, I typically work in milli seconds, it's just simpler on my poor, feeble mind.
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
public class TestGameLoop {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new TestGameLoop();
}
public TestGameLoop() {
gameLoop();
}
public static class Constants {
public static final double OPTIMAL = 25; // fps...
}
private boolean game = true;
private long lastLoop;
private long lastFps;
private long fps;
private void gameLoop() {
new Thread() {
private long last;
private long start;
private int wait;
public void run() {
// Calculate the optimal/maximum delay time
// This is converted to nanos so it can be
// used to calculate the actual delay...
long millisPerSecond = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.convert(1, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
long optimalDelay = Math.round(millisPerSecond / Constants.OPTIMAL);
optimalDelay = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toNanos(optimalDelay);
// Last start of a "second" loop
long loop = System.nanoTime();
// While gaming...
while (game) {
// Start of this cycle...
long now = System.nanoTime();
// Update the state and render the
// current frame...
update();
render();
// How long did that update take??
long timeTaken = System.nanoTime();
long delta = timeTaken - now;
// Subtract the delay from the maximum delay
long delay = optimalDelay - delta;
if (delay > 0) {
try {
// Sleep expects milliseconds...
delay = TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS.toMillis(delay);
Thread.sleep(delay);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
// Calculate if we've being running for a second yet...
long loopDelay = TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS.toSeconds(System.nanoTime() - loop);
// If the loop has been cycling for a second...
if (loopDelay >= 1) {
// Reset the loop time
loop = System.nanoTime();
System.out.println("FPS = " + fps);
fps = 0;
} else {
// Add another frame to the pile...
fps++;
}
}
}
}.start();
}
public void update() {
try {
Thread.sleep(Math.round(Math.random() * 20));
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void render() {
try {
Thread.sleep(Math.round(Math.random() * 20));
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

fire in every five seconds with libGdx

how do call fire method in every five seconds with libGdx ?
this is my Enemy class :
I wrote the following code, but it is wrong.
public class Enemy {
private List<Bullet> bullets;
private boolean isFire;
public Enemy(){
bullets=new ArrayList<Bullet>();
}
public void update(float delta) {
Gdx.app.log("State", "State Fire");
if(!isFire){
Gdx.app.log("State", "Fire");
fire();
}else{
Gdx.app.log("State", "No Fire");
}
}
private void fire() {
isFire=true;
bullets.add(new Bullet(5, 32));
Timer.schedule(new Task(){
#Override
public void run() {
reload();
}
}, getDelay());
}
private void reload(){
isFire=false;
}
private int getDelay() {
return 5;
}
public List<Bullet> getBullets(){
return bullets;
}
}
Is there a way to solve the problem? I have no idea

I can think of two solutions for that:
1) the render method gets executed in every X milliseconds. You can use that one.
__UPDATE__
Below code is from here
void render(float delta)
Called when the screen should render itself.
Parameters:
delta - The time in seconds since the last render.
in that method, you can add delta to figure out if it has been X milliseconds since the last time you did whatever you want to do. If so, you can do it again. If not just increment your counter. Here is what I mean.
double counter = 0;
void render(float delta){
if (counter >= 5.0){
counter = 0.0;
fireUpYourTimelyProcessHere();
} else {
counter = counter + delta;
}
...
// other rendering stuff
}
However Do not do things that take a long time to finish here, like making an HTTP request or something.
}
2) Or you can create start a regular thread and start it. But keep in mind to avoid any UI rendering on that thread.