[itistoday]

Why do visualizers suck so much on OS X? On Windows with WinAmp one has plenty of great visualizers that look 100x better and use hardware acceleration. They seem to be able to do stuff that actually looks "3D" unlike the iTunes visualizer or even G-Force. At the same time one gets much faster frame rates with them. It seems that all visualizers in iTunes don't use OpenGL, why is this? If visualizers on windows can use DirectX and/or OpenGL, why must we be constrained to the processor's speed only? Or can they and Apple just chooses not to use it?

Edit: Ok, it seems there are a few OpenGL visualizers for iTunes, but they all suck pretty much, and are even less visually appealing than the built-in visualizer. I wish there was something like MilkShape available for iTunes on OS X. It still doesn't make any sense as to why apple would not make its visualizer in OpenGL...

[proton]

Uhm...

The Apple standard visualiser DOES use OpenGL.

• 1. Activate the visualiser in standard mode (not full screen) and hit the options button at the top right of the iTunes window.
  2. Marvel at the Use OpenGL checkbox

- proton

[itistoday]

mmm... you're right... i even had it enabled. But it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I dunno, it just seems like they're not using OpenGL to its full potential. If you take a look at the "Ultragroovealicious" plugin, you can instantly tell it's OpenGL, and see the difference, but that's just not noticible in the iTunes visualizer. And if it's using OpenGL then why is it so slow? Fullscreen on my PowerMac Dual 867 G4 with Radeon 9000 Pro I only get about 30 fps (with capping off mind you); sometimes slower. The same graphics card on a PC will pull off much more impressive results with more complex visualizers at greater FPS.

[goMac]

I think you're confused. OpenGL does not mean 3D. OpenGL is used for both 2D graphics and 3D graphics.

[itistoday]

Originally posted by goMac:
I think you're confused. OpenGL does not mean 3D. OpenGL is used for both 2D graphics and 3D graphics.

I'm aware of this. OpenGL also means hardware accelerated. Why is it so slow, and why do their effects suck so much compared to MilkDrop?

[Apfhex]

I agree, the iTunes visualizer is slower than it should be on even the newest machines. All the 3rd party ones blow it out of the water in terms of performance.