High-Performance WPF Rendering

High-Performance WPF Rendering

Quick Reference

Technique	Use Case	Performance
DrawingVisual	1K-100K shapes	10-50x faster than Shape
WriteableBitmap	Pixel manipulation, heatmaps	Fastest for raw pixels
CompositionTarget.Rendering	Game loops, real-time animation	~60 FPS frame callback
BitmapCache	Complex static visuals	GPU texture caching

1. DrawingVisual Pattern

Lightweight visual for high-volume rendering without layout overhead.

public class ChartVisual : FrameworkElement
{
    private readonly VisualCollection _visuals;

    public ChartVisual() => _visuals = new VisualCollection(this);

    public void Render(IEnumerable<Point> points)
    {
        _visuals.Clear();
        var visual = new DrawingVisual();

        using (var dc = visual.RenderOpen())
        {
            var pen = new Pen(Brushes.Blue, 1);
            pen.Freeze();

            var prev = points.First();
            foreach (var pt in points.Skip(1))
            {
                dc.DrawLine(pen, prev, pt);
                prev = pt;
            }
        }

        _visuals.Add(visual);
    }

    protected override int VisualChildrenCount => _visuals.Count;
    protected override Visual GetVisualChild(int index) => _visuals[index];
}

Key Points:

• Always Freeze() Brush/Pen for thread safety and performance
• Use StreamGeometry instead of PathGeometry for read-only paths
• Override VisualChildrenCount and GetVisualChild

2. WriteableBitmap Pattern

Direct pixel manipulation for maximum performance.

public class PixelCanvas : Image
{
    private WriteableBitmap _bitmap;

    public void Initialize(int width, int height)
    {
        _bitmap = new WriteableBitmap(width, height, 96, 96, PixelFormats.Bgra32, null);
        Source = _bitmap;
    }

    public unsafe void DrawPixel(int x, int y, Color color)
    {
        _bitmap.Lock();
        try
        {
            var ptr = (byte*)_bitmap.BackBuffer;
            int stride = _bitmap.BackBufferStride;
            int offset = y * stride + x * 4;

            ptr[offset + 0] = color.B;
            ptr[offset + 1] = color.G;
            ptr[offset + 2] = color.R;
            ptr[offset + 3] = color.A;

            _bitmap.AddDirtyRect(new Int32Rect(x, y, 1, 1));
        }
        finally { _bitmap.Unlock(); }
    }
}

Key Points:

• Enable <AllowUnsafeBlocks>true</AllowUnsafeBlocks> in .csproj
• Use AddDirtyRect for partial updates
• BGRA32 format: Blue, Green, Red, Alpha order

3. CompositionTarget.Rendering

Per-frame callback for game loops and real-time updates.

public class GameLoop
{
    private TimeSpan _lastRender;

    public void Start()
    {
        CompositionTarget.Rendering += OnRendering;
    }

    public void Stop()
    {
        CompositionTarget.Rendering -= OnRendering;
    }

    private void OnRendering(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        var args = (RenderingEventArgs)e;

        // Skip duplicate frames
        if (args.RenderingTime == _lastRender) return;

        var deltaTime = (args.RenderingTime - _lastRender).TotalSeconds;
        _lastRender = args.RenderingTime;

        Update(deltaTime);
        Render();
    }

    private void Update(double dt) { /* Physics, AI */ }
    private void Render() { /* Drawing */ }
}

Critical: Always unsubscribe in Unloaded event to prevent memory leaks.

4. BitmapCache

GPU-cached rendering for complex but static visuals.

<Border>
    <Border.CacheMode>
        <BitmapCache RenderAtScale="1" EnableClearType="False"/>
    </Border.CacheMode>
    <!-- Complex content here -->
</Border>

element.CacheMode = new BitmapCache { RenderAtScale = 1.0 };

When to Use:

• ✅ Transform animations (rotate, scale, translate)
• ✅ Complex PathGeometry, DrawingVisual
• ❌ Frequently changing content
• ❌ Simple shapes (Rectangle, Ellipse)

Performance Comparison

Method	10K Points	Use Case
Shape (Ellipse)	~500ms	<100 elements
DrawingVisual	~20ms	1K-100K shapes
WriteableBitmap (managed)	~5ms	Pixel grids
WriteableBitmap (unsafe)	~1ms	Real-time heatmaps

Related References

For detailed implementation patterns, see:

• reference/drawingvisual-advanced.md - Hit testing, transforms
• reference/writeablebitmap-algorithms.md - Bresenham, flood fill
• reference/compositiontarget-examples.md - Particle systems
• reference/bitmapcache-optimization.md - Memory management