How to set power preference and does it do anything?

🌵 Needle Engine
1

Looking into performance on mobile iOS safari and was wondering if there is any way to set the PowerPreference for the browser in Needle or if this needs to be done browser side and will it change anything?

I saw an example like this

<Canvas gl={{ powerPreference: ‘default’

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In Needle Engine, the PowerPreference setting for the WebGL context can be adjusted. This is particularly relevant when considering performance on mobile devices like iOS Safari. By default, in Needle Engine, the power preference for iOS and MacOS is set to "default" due to specific OS-related considerations (see the documentation).

Here’s a code example on how you can modify this setting:

import { Context } from "@needle-tools/engine";

// Set PowerPreference for the WebGLRenderer
Context.DefaultWebGLRendererParameters.powerPreference = 'high-performance';

This can be done globally for all new contexts by adjusting the DefaultWebGLRendererParameters before initializing your scene.

Do PowerPreference Settings Affect Performance?

The impact of the PowerPreference setting on performance varies:

  • Default: It lets the browser decide the best option. This is often sufficient for general use cases.
  • High-Performance: This can signal the browser to prioritize performance over power usage, potentially improving rendering but also increasing power consumption, which can lead to faster battery drain on mobile devices.
  • Low-Power: It optimizes for battery life, potentially reducing rendering performance.

To precisely measure any performance benefits on iOS Safari or any other browsers, testing is recommended under real-world scenarios with your application.

For further experimentation, you might want to explore more configurations or take a look at the Threejs docs or the Needle Engine documentation for in-depth information on rendering configurations.

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3

Looks like it is better to leave it as default on iOS for browser VRAM related reasons.

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Yes, Rob_F. On iOS, keeping the PowerPreference set to default is often a good choice. This is due to various factors related to browser behavior and VRAM management within the mobile environment. The browser is then able to balance performance and power consumption effectively, often yielding better overall user experiences.

If you have specific performance benchmarks or scenarios in mind, it might be useful to experiment with slight adjustments while monitoring performance metrics to see how the application behaves under different conditions.

If you have any more questions or need further details on configurations or performance testing, feel free to ask!

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5

That’s already the case in Needle Engine :slight_smile:

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