Show FPS in QML

Question

Is there a "simple" way to show the FPS (frame rate) in a QML/c++ application. All animations and views are done in QML and the application logic is in c++.

I already tried setting QML_SHOW_FRAMERATE in Linux before starting the application but it didn't help:

export QML_SHOW_FRAMERATE=1

Answer 1

I studied to topic a bit. I typically used the approach described by @Miguel Angel, but I recently implemented a simpler one using the QQuickWindow::frameSwapped() signal. Code and info can be found here: https://github.com/carlonluca/lqtutils#lqtutils_uih. It is simple to integrate in another app.

I compared these two techniques with the one from @forlayo: the first two seem to always agree on the measurement, the other is typically different.

This is the comparison: https://youtu.be/p_y_kL85R4A.

I also wrote a blog post with some more info: https://thebugfreeblog.blogspot.com/2021/09/measure-framerate-qt.html

Answer 2

You have to create your own FPS QQuickItem (or QQuickPaintedItem) and register in your main.cpp to be available in your QML code.

Here an example.

class FPSText: public QQuickPaintedItem
{
    Q_OBJECT
    Q_PROPERTY(int fps READ fps NOTIFY fpsChanged)
public:
    FPSText(QQuickItem *parent = 0);
    ~FPSText();
    void paint(QPainter *);
    Q_INVOKABLE int fps()const;

signals:
    void fpsChanged(int);

private:
    void recalculateFPS();
    int _currentFPS;
    int _cacheCount;
    QVector<qint64> _times;
};

FPSText::FPSText(QQuickItem *parent): QQuickPaintedItem(parent), _currentFPS(0), _cacheCount(0)
{
    _times.clear();
    setFlag(QQuickItem::ItemHasContents);
}

FPSText::~FPSText()
{
}

void FPSText::recalculateFPS()
{
    qint64 currentTime = QDateTime::currentDateTime().toMSecsSinceEpoch();
    _times.push_back(currentTime);

    while (_times[0] < currentTime - 1000) {
        _times.pop_front();
    }

    int currentCount = _times.length();
    _currentFPS = (currentCount + _cacheCount) / 2;
    qDebug() << _currentFPS;

    if (currentCount != _cacheCount) fpsChanged(_currentFPS);

    _cacheCount = currentCount;
}

int FPSText::fps()const
{
    return _currentFPS;
}

void FPSText::paint(QPainter *painter)
{
    recalculateFPS();
    //qDebug() << __FUNCTION__;
    QBrush brush(Qt::yellow);

    painter->setBrush(brush);
    painter->setPen(Qt::NoPen);
    painter->setRenderHint(QPainter::Antialiasing);
    painter->drawRoundedRect(0, 0, boundingRect().width(), boundingRect().height(), 0, 0);
    update();
}

qml:

FPSText{
        id: fps_text
        x:0
        y: 0;
        width: 200
        height: 100
        Text {
                anchors.centerIn: parent
                text: fps_text.fps.toFixed(2)
            }
    }

You can get any other implementation in Internet with a quick search.

Answer 3

QML FPS Counter, without affecting performance.

Project of QNanoPainter and others in qt-labs are using the refresh of an animation of a QML Item to create an FPS counter. It's so easy to being done, attached a project that uses this technique ( modified from QNanoPainter FPS counter ).

FpsItem code:

import QtQuick 2.0
import QtQuick.Window 2.2

Rectangle {
    id: root
    property int frameCounter: 0
    property int frameCounterAvg: 0
    property int counter: 0
    property int fps: 0
    property int fpsAvg: 0

    readonly property real dp: Screen.pixelDensity * 25.4/160

    color: "black"
    width:  childrenRect.width + 10*dp;
    height: childrenRect.height + 10*dp;

    Image {
        id: spinnerImage
        anchors.verticalCenter: parent.verticalCenter
        x: 4 * dp
        width: 36 * dp
        height: width
        source: "images/spinner.png"
        NumberAnimation on rotation {
            from:0
            to: 360
            duration: 800
            loops: Animation.Infinite
        }
        onRotationChanged: frameCounter++;
    }

    Text {
        anchors.left: spinnerImage.right
        anchors.leftMargin: 8 * dp
        anchors.verticalCenter: spinnerImage.verticalCenter
        color: "#c0c0c0"
        font.pixelSize: 18 * dp
        text: "Ø " + root.fpsAvg + " | " + root.fps + " fps"
    }

    Timer {
        interval: 2000
        repeat: true
        running: true
        onTriggered: {
            frameCounterAvg += frameCounter;
            root.fps = frameCounter/2;
            counter++;
            frameCounter = 0;
            if (counter >= 3) {
                root.fpsAvg = frameCounterAvg/(2*counter)
                frameCounterAvg = 0;
                counter = 0;
            }
        }
    }
}

Using it as:

import QtQuick 2.9
import QtQuick.Window 2.2

Window {
    visible: true
    width: 640
    height: 480
    title: qsTr("Hello World")

    FpsItem {
        id: fpsItem
        anchors.centerIn: parent
    }

}