Linux what is compositor

Compositors

Pay special attention to this section if you are experiencing odd visual glitches or slow graphics performance.

As mentioned previously, a compositor is a UI component that applies visual effects to windows before they are rendered on-screen. Many desktop environments integrate a compositor directly into the window manager, making it difficult to switch out or disable. In Regolith, the compositor is defined as a pluggable “extension point” in the packaging system. This means that compositors can be switched out simply by installing the packages that contain them. The underlying packaging system will ensure there are no conflicts and that all the dependencies of a given compositor are also installed.

Finding Available Compositors

The following command will list all compositors configured to work with Regolith:

At least the following three compositors should be available:

Package Name	Backend	Description
regolith-compositor-picom-glx	Picom	The default compositor for Regolith. This compositor is modern, maintained, and handles screen tearing.
regolith-compositor-compton-glx	Compton	Previously the default compositor for Regolith. This is an older version of Picom before it’s name changed.
regolith-compositor-xcompmgr	xcompmgr	An early compositor that may offer more consistent performance if more complex compositors are problematic.
regolith-compositor-none	N/A	A no-op package that does not run a Compositor. Best for absolute UI performance, at the cost of visual effects.

Installing a Compositor

Due to the way that the compositor is managed by i3-wm, you must log out and back in for compositor changes to take effect. Restarting i3 is not sufficient.

Run the following package install command to swap out the compositor. In this case we’ll run xcompmgr :

Log back in and the new compositor should be loaded. You can verify by checking the process list for xcompmgr :

Overriding a Compositor Configuration

Compton/Picom

To provide your own Compton/Picom compositor config, copy the default or create your own and save it as

/.config/regolith/compton/config . Upon next session it will be loaded instead of the default config /etc/regolith/compton/config .

xcompmgr

To provide your own xcompmgr compositor config, copy the default or create your own and save it as

Источник

Linux Desktop Compositors — Performance and Functionality

• 

Desktop performance on Linux can vary with different environments, window managers, compositors, and graphics drivers. Depending on the driver and environment in use, your desktop’s responsiveness and performance can vary wildly. The compositor is among the most vital components for good desktop UX on Linux. Here’s a brief rundown of a few of the most popular compositors.

What is a compositor?

A compositor is an application that gives each window a buffer to render to. Each buffer is put into one final image that the compositor outputs to the display. Each frame of each running application goes through the compositor. A well-written compositor is critical for a smooth desktop experience. Compositing offers two main benefits. Vertical synchronization, or vsync, prevents screen tearing by waiting on the display to update before updating the display. Compositors can also add effects like transparency, animations, and blur.

Windows has used the DWM compositor since Vista, enabled by the Aero theme. MacOS has used the Quartz Compositor since its initial release of 10.0 in 2001.

On Linux, most desktop environments include a compositor, but performance varies on differing hardware.

GNOME 3

Despite its position as the default environment in most major Linux distributions, GNOME still has some serious performance problems. At the heart of these is the design of its window manager, Mutter. Lots of core functionality is done on the same thread as the compositor. This can lead to choppy performance while the system is under load. It can also lead to bugs like the mouse cursor freezing while opening programs.

Fortunately, there are a few possible solutions to try. On NVIDIA graphics, enabling the High Performance mode for PowerMizer seems to improve performance. Using fewer extensions also helps free up resources.

One category that GNOME 3 does well in is unredirecting for full-screen applications. Unredirecting involves allowing specific applications to bypass the compositor for better performance and less latency. The compositor automatically unredirects full-screen games, for example. This can cause tearing in full-screen videos, however, but there is a simple fix.

KDE Plasma 5

Plasma 5 has come a very long way since its initial release in 2014. KWin has become quite solid in terms of stability. Performance is much improved. Unfortunately, it’s still not perfect. On NVIDIA hardware, while there are still some synchronization problems, performance is generally fluid. Intel’s wonderful Linux drivers, along with AMD’s open source drivers, are able to drive KDE very nicely.

Plasma is also one of the few major desktop environments that can run properly with compositing completely disabled. If you do not care for vsync, disabling it can reveal sizeable performance gains.

KDE Plasma 5 also has an option in its settings to unredirect full-screen windows. However, in my testing, I have observed that this only disables again after closing the application. Simply alt-tabbing out does not re-enable compositing like on GNOME 3. Of course, it can be tweaked in the KDE System Settings – your mileage may vary.

XFCE4 and MATE

XFCE4 and MATE both include compositing. Xfwm4 and Marco are XFCE4’s and MATE’s compositors, respectively. Marco does not support OpenGL acceleration or vsync, and as such usually experiences screen tearing. Xfwm4 does support OpenGL and vsync as of version 4.13. Unfortunately, my testing reveals that Xfwm4’s vsync does not function on NVIDIA proprietary drivers.

Fortunately, XFCE4 and MATE use light compositors – performance should be fairly decent. You can disable XFWM4’s compositing in the “Window Manager Tweaks” section of the Settings application. You can disable MATE’s compositing via the following command:-0.01%-0.01%-0.01%

Changing “false” to “true” will have the inverse effect.

UPDATE 4/3/2018 – It has come to my attention that as of MATE 1.20, Marco does in fact support hardware acceleration via DRI3/XPresent. Unfortunately, the NVIDIA drivers do not support these extensions.

Compiz

Compiz, an alternative window manager with built-in compositing, offers an alternative for users of MATE and XFCE4, among other environments. There are two versions – the 0.9 series and the legacy 0.8 series. The 0.9 series is generally recommended as it plays nicely with newer hardware. Canonical implemented Ubuntu’s formerly default desktop environment, Unity, as a Compiz plugin.

Compiz is known for running quite well on most hardware. Keep in mind that it has a reputation for being a little bit unstable in certain scenarios – again, your mileage may vary.

Unfortunately, due to Compiz’s combination of a WM and a compositor, you cannot use it together with standalone WMs like Openbox or i3wm. In situations like this, you can try Compton.

Compton

Compton, a fork of xcompmgr-dana, has evolved into a relatively lightweight compositor for X11. Many configuration files for Compton are available online. Compton is commonly used with i3wm, XFCE4, MATE, and many other environments. Compiz and GNOME 3 require use of their built-in compositor, so Compton is unavailable on those platforms.

Unfortunately, Compton seems to have issues re-drawing windows while dragging/resizing them. As such, it’s generally more pleasurable to use Compton with a tiling window manager. Keep in mind that your experience may vary depending on your video card drivers.

Compton can unredirect full-screen applications when only a single monitor is in use. On a multi-monitor system, the user must manually stop and restart Compton when starting and stopping a game for maximum performance, respectively.

Looking to build a machine to use with device assignment? Check out the VFIO Increments page. Looking for support? Check out our Discord.

Источник

What is compositor in Linux?

What is compositor in Linux?

A compositing window manager, or compositor, is a window manager that provides applications with an off-screen buffer for each window. The window manager composites the window buffers into an image representing the screen and writes the result into the display memory.

In which industry does a compositor work?

What is a compositing software?

Compositing software is used in film and video production to combine multiple images and effects into a single image stream: for example, an actor filmed against a green screen may be combined with a computer-generated city and model robots also filmed against a green screen. …

What is compositing in animation?

Put simply, compositing is the process of combining visual elements from separate sources to create one image. In 3D art, this means combining two or more render passes to enhance the quality of your finished piece.

What is rotoscoping in VFX?

Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. In the visual effects industry, rotoscoping is the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited over another background.

What is advanced compositing?

Advanced Compositing course helps you learn different software for making movies. The course content includes Rotoscopy, 3D camera projection, and Live action compositing. On successful completion, you can work as a production artist or a graphic designer or even as a game developer.

How do I learn to Nuke compositing?

5 Incredible Compositing Tutorials For Nuke

1. At the forefront of this art form is The Foundry’s Nuke: an advanced and sophisticated node-based solution equipped for high-level Hollywood compositing. Though its complexity may be intimidating, it’s just another tool in the box.
2. Keying is obviously a big part of Nuke’s toolset.
3. TunnelvizionTV.
4. ActionVFX.

What is compositing in Nuke?

Nuke is a node-based digital compositing and visual effects application first developed by Digital Domain, and used for television and film post-production. Nuke is available for Microsoft Windows 7, OS X 10.9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, and newer versions of these operating systems.

What is compositing in Photoshop?

What is compositing? Simply, it means to combine two or more images to make a single picture. To produce a composite image in Photoshop, you need to isolate the subjects from the background of your various source photos.

How do you make a composite picture?

Creating Composite Images in Photoshop

1. A composite image is one image made of multiple photos placed and blended together.
2. Cutting Out and Placing an Image.
3. Drag and Drop an Image into Another Image File.
4. Layer Masks.
5. To Add a Layer Mask: Select the part of the image layer you want to keep showing with one of the many options of Selection Tools, such as.

How do you create a digital background?

How to Create a Digital background in Photoshop

1. Step 1: Open a New File. Go to file and select ‘New…’.
2. Step 2: Duplicate Background.
3. Step 3: Set the Foreground Colour.
4. Step 4: Set the Background Colour.
5. Step 5: Add Clouds.
6. Step 6: Add light to the Background.
7. Step 7: Change the Colour of the Digital Background.

How do you blend an image and create a composite in Photoshop?

How to Blend Images in Photoshop to Create a Surreal Composite

1. Step 1 – Removing The Background.
2. Step 2 – Matching The Subject’s Luminosity.
3. Step 3 – Painting Shadows and Highlights.
4. Step 4 – Matching Color.
5. Step 5 – Adding The Foreground Image.
6. Step 6 – Matching Luminosity.
7. Step 7 – Matching Color.

How do you blend composite images?

Open the blend mode menu at the top of the Layers panel. Hover over various blend modes in the menu to preview how each affects the composite image. Click a blend mode to apply it to the selected layer, causing that layer to blend with the layer below.

How do you make composites?

Composite materials are formed by combining two or more materials that have quite different properties. The different materials work together to give the composite unique properties, but within the composite you can easily tell the different materials apart – they do not dissolve or blend into each other.

How do you combine realistic photos?

The first way to merge photos is by using Adobe Photoshop. Here are the steps to follow….Merge Photos Using Adobe Photoshop

1. Step 1: Select Photos.
2. Step 2: Open the Two Images.
3. Step 3: Position the Photos.
4. Step 4: Generate a Layer Mask and Remove.
5. Step 5: Check the Result.

How do you blend in Photoshop CC?

How to preview blend modes in Photoshop CC 2019

1. Step 1: Open the Blend Mode menu in the Layers panel.
2. Step 2: Hover your cursor over a blend mode.
3. Step 3: View the blend mode preview in the document.
4. Step 4: Select the blend mode you need.
5. Step 5: Lower the intensity of the blend mode (optional)

Which blend mode is useful for dropping out the darkest areas of the top layer?

Darken. The Darken Blending Mode looks at the luminance values in each of the RGB channels and selects either the base color or blend color depending on which is darker. Simply put, this Blending Mode does not blend pixels, it only compares the base and blend colors, and it keeps the darkest of the two.

How do you use blend mode?

To use a Layer Blending mode, you need to have a document with at least two layers present. At the top of the Layers palette, you’ll see an option that says Normal. Click the drop-down menu to see all the available modes. Select one of the modes to see the result in your document window.

How do I make an image transparent?

Add a transparent area to a picture

1. Select the picture that you want to create transparent areas in.
2. Click Picture Tools > Recolor > Set Transparent Color.
3. In the picture, click the color you want to make transparent. Notes:
4. Select the picture.
5. Press CTRL+T.

Источник