Where to run logic update in openGL ES?

Question

Using Canvas with Surfaceview I had a run() method where I would essentially do the following:

onDraw();
update();

Where onDraw method would do the rendering and update would update all my game physics / logic etc...

Having switched to openGL ES (2.0) and therefore now using a glSurfaceview, I have the following:

onDrawFrame(){

//Rendering code here

}

Which I don't call myself as it gets called automatically (my rendering is set to continuous).

So where / how do I run my logic updates?

Answer 1

The easiest solution is always nice:

onDrawFrame(){

//Rendering code here

update();

}

Or you could put a break point in your draw code and step out to see if there's an update loop above it you could override.

Answer 2

You can override the run method:

@Override
public void run() 
{
    while(gameRunning) 
    { 
        //logic updates
    }
}

Since the rendering will be performed on a separate thread. You can run inside this while loop on the main thread.

You'll likely want to implement some limiting in there as well, you can find an example of that here.

Answer 3

I've been reading up some more on this and it seems if you want a 2 threaded set up (that being 1 thread for UI and another for rendering and logic updates, then your best bet is the use the onDrawFrame method as something akin to Canvas's 'run()' method. Simply create your own Draw() and update() methods and call them from inside onDrawFrame, this way you can put your limiting / timing code inside onDrawFrame (the stuff that would normally go into run()). I can't see any other way around it, but if anyone has any other ideas for an effective 2 threaded OpenGL ES 2.0 setup, I'd appreciate hearing it!