# Open CAD Studio — File Open & Render Speed Roadmap This document lists the planned improvements for cutting **file open time** and **on-screen draw (render) time**. It builds on the already-landed **Rendering Optimization** work (Phase 1-4); what is left now sits on the open-time, allocation, and draw-call sides. Source-scan summary (references): - File open flow: [`src/io/mod.rs`](src/io/mod.rs) (`open_path_with_phase`, `load_file`, `purge_corrupt_entities`). - Post-open UI work: [`src/app/update.rs:90-192`](src/app/update.rs#L90-L192) (`FileOpened` handler — xref resolve, second purge, linetype populate, etc.). - Derived-cache build: [`src/scene/mod.rs:90-212`](src/scene/mod.rs#L90-L212) (`build_derived_caches` — rayon-parallel for hatch / image / mesh). - Wire tessellation: [`src/scene/mod.rs:1328-1402`](src/scene/mod.rs#L1328-L1402) (rayon, zoom-adaptive curve tol). - Block defn cache: [`src/scene/block_cache.rs:238`](src/scene/block_cache.rs#L238) (`build_defn` — single-threaded today; nested expansion is topological). - Pipeline: [`src/scene/pipeline/mod.rs`](src/scene/pipeline/mod.rs) (batched hatch, frustum cull, LOD — Phase 1-4 done). --- ## Phase 1 — File Open Time **Goal:** measurably halve the wall time between "Open" click and "first frame" for a 50 MB DWG. ### 1.1 Drop the second `purge_corrupt_entities` Today `purge_corrupt_entities` runs once on the [background thread](src/io/mod.rs#L62-L74) and again in the [`FileOpened` handler after xref resolve](src/app/update.rs#L138-L145). XREF content already comes from a separate document — fold the purge **inline** into xref resolve and delete the outer one. On large files walking `doc.entities()` again is a measurable cost. **Work:** make `resolve_xrefs` call purge as it merges each xref; remove [`update.rs:138`](src/app/update.rs#L138). ### 1.2 Move XREF resolution to the background thread [`resolve_xrefs`](src/app/update.rs#L132-L166) runs on the UI thread today — large external references freeze the UI. Move it into the `open_path_with_phase` worker; have `DerivedCaches` carry the resolved-xref list back. The UI thread only emits log lines. **New phase tag:** `PHASE_XREFS` (we already have 3 phases; this is the 4th). ### 1.3 Single-pass entity walk (parse + purge + cache planning) `load_file` → `purge` → `build_derived_caches` does three separate `entities()` walks. A single pass can produce: - corrupt-entity detection, - hatch / image / mesh handle lists, - AABB accumulation for `world_offset` (currently a separate pass inside `compute_world_offset`). Target: three `O(N)` passes → one. ### 1.4 Memory-mapped file reads (DWG / DXF) `DwgReader::from_file` / `DxfReader::from_file` likely load the whole file into RAM with `std::fs::read`. Switching to `memmap2`: - eliminates the cold-cache read syscall on large files, - lets the DWG section index be walked on disk (if the acadrust API supports it). **Dependency:** acadrust upstream may need a `from_reader` / `from_slice` API; add it in our patched fork (`hakanaktt/acadrust`). ### 1.5 Parallelize the acadrust parser (long-term) acadrust's DWG parser is single-threaded. Section-based parallelism (header / classes / objects / blocks / entities — independent offsets) is the biggest unrealized win. Lives in the upstream fork. **Order:** profile first — is this really the largest slice? Measure with `puffin`. ### 1.6 Defer raster image decode [`build_derived_caches`](src/scene/mod.rs#L177-L186) calls `ImageModel::from_raster_image` for every `RasterImage` entity — pixel decode happens up front. Wasted if the entity is off-screen. Defer the decode until **first render** (per-handle lazy `OnceCell`). ### 1.7 File-hash cache (warm re-open) When re-opening the same file (`(path, mtime, size)` key) keep a disk snapshot of `CadDocument` + `DerivedCaches` (e.g. `~/.cache/OpenCADStudio/`). Skip DWG parse entirely. **Win:** most-recently-opened file goes from 1-2 s to sub-100 ms. **Risk:** cache invalidation. Stay conservative — load only on exact `mtime + size` match, otherwise normal parse. --- ## Phase 2 — First-Frame Wire Tessellation After `FileOpened`, `bump_geometry()` fires; the first frame tessellates **every** model-space wire. Measurable hitch at ~100 k entities. ### 2.1 Parallelize block-definition build [`block_cache::build`](src/scene/block_cache.rs#L238) is single-threaded — the comment says "nested expansion is fiddly". Fix: stratify blocks in **topological order** (leaf blocks → callers → …) and build each layer in parallel via rayon. Dependency order is preserved. ### 2.2 Incremental wire cache (delta tessellation) `bump_geometry()` invalidates the whole wire cache today ([`scene/mod.rs:650`](src/scene/mod.rs#L650)). Edits usually touch 1-2 entities — re-tessellating the whole doc is waste. **Fix:** wire cache becomes `HashMap)>`. The editing command bumps the version of the affected handles; the render path re-tessellates only those, reusing the rest. Also useful on open: any partial cache (e.g. from block defns) can be re-used. ### 2.3 Progressive first render On the first frame emit a **coarse**-tol wire pass (e.g. 4× the normal tol); refine to full tol on the second frame. The user sees *something* within 16 ms; detail snaps in smoothly afterwards. ### 2.4 Merge the world-offset scan into the single-pass walk [`compute_world_offset`](src/scene/mod.rs#L128) walks the whole MSPACE AABB when the header is unreliable. That scan should join the single-pass walk from 1.3 (we are already iterating `entities()`). --- ## Phase 3 — Per-Frame Render Cost After Phase 1-4 culling/LOD, what's left is **upload bytes** and **draw call count**. ### 3.1 Camera-only invalidation: don't re-tessellate The wire cache key today is `(geometry_epoch, camera_generation)` ([`scene/mod.rs:414`](src/scene/mod.rs#L414)). A camera change should not force re-tessellation — only zoom-adaptive curve-tol changes need resampling, and only for curve entities (Arc / Spline / Ellipse). Straight geometry is camera-invariant. **Practical:** split the wire cache in two: - `tess_cache[handle] → WireModel` (rebuild only if tol-invariant content changed), - `frame_visible[handle] → bool` (recomputed per `camera_generation`). ### 3.2 Persistent GPU buffer pool — diff upload Today every wire GPU buffer is re-uploaded when [`cached_epoch`](src/scene/pipeline/mod.rs#L101) changes. A persistent pool — `HashMap` — uploads only the slots that actually changed. Big win in CAD-edit scenarios. ### 3.3 Single-draw batched wire pipeline (Phase 4-B-style) Every `WireModel` today costs one draw call plus a bind-group swap. Port the batched hatch pipeline (`hatch_batched_gpu.rs`) to wires: - pack all wire vertices into one storage buffer, - per-instance `(color, pattern_id, lw_px, visibility)` in a side buffer, - vertex shader pulls instance data via `instance_index`, - a single `pass.draw(0..V, 0..N)` covers everything. At 100 k wires that collapses thousands of draw calls into one. If iced 0.14's widget-pipeline limits allow, immediate win. ### 3.4 Hardware instancing for repeated block inserts When the same block defn is `INSERT`-ed N times (every door / window in an architectural drawing) each instance currently renders as its own wire set. Hardware instancing: - upload the block defn vertex buffer once, - one 4×4 transform row per Insert in an instance buffer, - `pass.draw_indexed(0..V, 0..N_instances)`. Typical architectural DWGs: 10-100× faster. ### 3.5 Glyph-stroke batching `tessellate.rs` produces one `WireModel` per glyph stroke today — one text entity = dozens of models. Cache stroke geometry per font once (`HashMap<(font, glyph), Vec>`), then per-text only a transform matters. --- ## Phase 4 — Allocation & Memory ### 4.1 Swap `HashMap` for `rustc-hash::FxHashMap` `Handle` is an integer wrapper; the default `SipHash` is overkill. `FxHashMap` gives 20-40 % in hash-heavy sites (block_cache, hatches / images / meshes, viewport_wire_cache). ### 4.2 Arena (`bumpalo`) for transient wire vertices Tessellation allocates millions of small `Vec`s. A bump arena — single allocation, frame-end reset — kills the per-vertex malloc cost. `bumpalo` plays well with rayon (per-thread arenas). ### 4.3 `SmallVec` for small collections `Polyline.vertices`, `Hatch.boundary_paths`, glyph-stroke lists are typically < 8-16 entries. `SmallVec<[T; 8]>` skips the heap on the common case. ### 4.4 Compact entity-ID representation `Handle` is 8 bytes. 100 k entities → 800 KB just in keys. Hot handle HashSet / HashMap usage can be flattened to `Vec` indices plus a single `FxHashMap` translation table — cache-friendlier. --- ## Phase 5 — Profiling Infrastructure (prerequisite) Don't start any of the above **without measuring first**. ### 5.1 Add `puffin` or `tracy` spans - `io::open_path_with_phase` → `parse`, `purge`, `caches` spans. - `Scene::wires_for_block` → `block_cache`, `tess`, `sort` spans. - `Pipeline::prepare` → `upload`, `cull`, `draw` spans. Gate behind `debug_assertions` or a `--features profile` flag. ### 5.2 Open-time breakdown log When open completes, push to the command line: ``` Opened "x.dwg" — 84321 entities — parse 1.2s, purge 80ms, caches 340ms, xref 60ms, first frame 210ms ``` Regressions are visible immediately. ### 5.3 Frame-budget HUD Add a CLI `PERF` toggle (or F12) that shows per-frame breakdown: tess ms, upload ms, draw ms, GPU wait ms. Makes PR-to-PR comparison trivial. --- ## Priority Order **Phase 5 first** (profiling) — avoids speculation. Then, measurement-guided: 1. **Phase 1.1 + 1.2** (cheap, low-risk, certain win). 2. **Phase 1.3 + 1.6** (single-pass + lazy image). 3. **Phase 2.2** (incremental wire cache — wins on both edit and open). 4. **Phase 3.1** (camera-only invalidation — users pan/zoom constantly). 5. **Phase 3.3** (batched wire pipeline) and **Phase 3.4** (instancing) — biggest render win, highest complexity. 6. **Phase 1.7** (warm cache) — dramatic UX, but invalidation must be correct or it creates nasty bugs. 7. **Phase 1.5** (acadrust parallel parse) — hardest, longest-term; only worth it if profiling confirms it is the dominant slice. ## Deliberate non-goals (for now) - **GPU compute culling:** for orthographic 2D CAD the CPU quadtree is enough. Already covered by Phase 1-4. - **Out-of-core entity streaming:** meaningful for 100 MB+ single files; typical Open CAD Studio files are not there yet. - **Multi-frame async tessellation pipeline:** if 2.3 progressive render works cleanly, this isn't needed.