⚡Optimization

Getting the best performance

Runtime performance is always a consideration no matter what platform you are targeting and there are a number of guidelines one can follow to ensure Timeflow performs optimally.

Please note that the following is not a comprehensive list of all possible optimizations in Unity, but the most important ones related to scenes animated with Timeflow.

Guidelines

Use Fewer Components

It is best to be strategic with Timeflow behaviors and use as few as possible to achieve the desired results. There are tools such as Property Link that propagate data across multiple objects and properties using just 1 component. This is more efficient than duplicating behaviors or using Channel Links, which require multiple components per game object.

Remove Unused Components

Any time you have TimeflowObjects or other behaviors which aren't contributing to the animation, it is best to remove them. This is also true for any type of component. The fewer the better.

Forced Framerate

Traditional broadcast and film framerates typically range from 24 to 30 frames per second and most people are quite comfortable watching content at that rate. In many cases, using Force Framerate to 30 to 60 fps on Timeflow can improve performance by reducing update calls with no noticeable affect on the animation itself.

In VR applications 90fps is generally recommended, however this higher framerate mostly has to do with how smoothly the HMD tracks since it occupies the full field of vision, and the human eye refreshes around 60fps. When the framerate is under that, it can cause a noticeable lag which is uncomfortable and can induce nausea. Therefore, setting Timeflow to a forced framerate of 30-60fps reduces the computation time spent on animation and allows for a higher framerate overall.

Use Tracks to Reduce Update Calls

Whenever animation occurs in a specific region of time, you can adjust track sections to span only the areas animated. Whenever time is outside of (or between) track sections, the behaviors no longer update which saves computation time.

In most cases, the On track mode is best for optimal performance. In this mode, the object remains visible and enabled but the Timeflow animations are only processed during track section times.

Use Renderer and Activate modes sparingly

Using Track Modes to toggle renderers or to activate game objects can cause a performance hit when many objects are affected at once. It may be unavoidable in some cases, but often it is better to scale an object group to 0 or move it offscreen to avoid bulk changing states.

Renderer mode is typically more performant than Active mode. For more details, see Track Modes

Use FixedUpdate for Physics

Any behaviors which animate objects with physics should generally use FixedUpdate. This reduces the number of updates per frame and is a minor optimization that can contribute to the overall performance of the scene.

Use the Profiler

The built-in Profiler window is an invaluable tool for monitoring performance and observing spikes in activity. Use the Profiler to investigate where time is being spent most to optimize the scene by making modifications or reducing complexity.

Use Static Objects

Any objects which are not dynamically moving or changing can be marked as Static. This does not always guarantee improved performance but in many cases can reduce runtime calculations for those objects.

Combine Meshes to Reduce Draw Calls

This a general optimization in Unity and should always be considered. Sometimes during the creative process, objects may be created separately or split but end up animated as a group or static. Whenever you have objects which you can reasonably be combined (usually sharing the same material), you can use a mesh combining tool to merge them into a single object.

Timeflow has a mesh combining tool built in for simple operations. To use it, select a parent object containing the meshes you wish to combine and then right click the object to select Timeflow/Mesh/Combine Meshes.

This copies the meshes in their current state to a new mesh asset assigned to a new game object in the scene. The original objects are unmodified and may be removed or saved in a backup.

For more advanced options, see mesh combining tools available in the Unity Asset Store.

Lights, Shadows, and Render Settings

Reducing the number of lights and shadows and adjusting the render quality has a significant impact on performance. Finding the best settings depends on your project and objectives, but is definitely an area to spend time on for optimal results. Most often it comes down to making decisions to find a happy medium between quality and speed.

It is helpful to assess the target platform(s) capabilities and plan accordingly. The more specific you can be about which render features to use and not to use and what the resource allowances are, the better you'll be able to create an optimal experience without a lot of hairpulling later on. Prototype fast and iterate on it.

Test Early and Often

A risk to any project is waiting until later to test performance on target devices. It's easy to get carried away in the creative process and end up with a bloated overly ambitious scene which performs poorly and is difficult to optimize after the fact.

By testing early and often you can identify framerate drops or potential risks to performance and then make creative choice as you go to keep things running optimally. This of course is not only affected by the animations and behaviors in use, but many factors. For example, using a lot of transparent shaders on mobile devices will definitely cause a performance hit. If you are using features such as Post Processing, you may have to make compromises in other areas to arrive at the desired framerate.