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Author Topic: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?  (Read 17948 times)

jberkhout

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FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« on: September 12, 2018, 01:24:58 PM »

Hi,
we use a lot of bitmaps, and when bitmaps are displayed, they have to stay in GRAM, so removing them while displaying content is not possible.
Or to do this, we may need to blank the display for a moment, every time we show a new page.
Of course we try to optimize bitmaps and load first what we always need, so we can keep them, while reloading a part of GRAM.
But 1MB of GRAM is a limiting factor to use this display for all our applications.
Is there a chance a new controller will be developed with more GRAM, say 4MB?
Regards,
Jack.
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Re: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2018, 03:40:41 PM »

Hello,

Our upcoming BT815/6 series of EVE ICs will also only include 1MByte of internal graphics RAM. However these new ICs include support for external flash memory which can be used to store/offload graphics elements such as images, custom fonts and widgets from the integrated RAM.
You can find out more about the BT815/6 at the following page:
http://brtchip.com/bt81x/

Best Regards,
FTDI Community
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jberkhout

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Re: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2018, 10:28:05 AM »

Hi, we also have (16GB) eMMC memory on the (STM32) MCU board, to store images and fonts, however that does not solve the issue of the small amount of available GRAM.
The problem and limitation of this solution is, at the moment we start overwriting parts of the contents of GRAM, we overwrite what is currently shown on the display.
Does the external flash overcome this and directly display the stored bitmaps on it without the need to load it in GRAM first?
Otherwise it is not a solution to the problem. 2MB or 4MB of GRAM would be so much better then.
Today we started looking for competitive solutions for the screen, because of this limitation.
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Re: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2018, 03:02:23 PM »

Hello,

It is possible with the BT81x to display an image directly from flash memory without loading it into GRAM first, when the image is in the ASTC format. There is a slight speed penalty when reading image data in from flash via GRAM.

Best Regards,
FTDI Community
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jberkhout

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Re: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2018, 10:29:47 AM »

Does this mean, I can load multiple images in one screen page, with a total of more than 1MB?
Below I explain the problem:
For a gauge, we like to use several bitmaps:
- the indicator surface plate (800x480 16-bit = 768k),
- two gauge needles (different colors), need to be rotated (480x480 8 bit),
- and a "shiny glass" overlay with opacity (800x480 8-bit).
This would, I think require 1382400 bytes of G_RAM for the FT813 under test.
With the FT813 this is not possible, right?
Would that be possible with BT815/6 series?
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Re: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2018, 12:06:09 PM »

Hello,

Yes, assuming the images are in the aforementioned ASTC these would be able to be loaded directly from flash memory and not into GRAM.

Best Regards,
FTDI Community
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jberkhout

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Re: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2018, 12:57:00 PM »

The images are first stored on eMMC as .bin files, converted using img_cvt.exe, so I assume they are in ASTC.
So loading saves time, but once loaded into G_RAM, they are inflated, and all we need at the same time does not fit into just 1MB of G_RAM.
We may need several MBs worth of bitmap data to be used on a screen page (it being updated with different images).
With the FT813 this is not possible, right, so we need to wait for the new display to become available?
« Last Edit: September 21, 2018, 02:39:20 PM by jberkhout »
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Re: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2018, 10:59:21 AM »

Hello,

The img_cvt.exe cannot produce ASTC files, we have a upcoming asset convertor which will support this.
And yes, in your situation this is not possible with the FT813.

Best Regards,
FTDI Community
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jberkhout

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Re: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« Reply #8 on: September 26, 2018, 02:09:16 PM »

So, the BT815/6 is the solution for that problem?
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Re: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2018, 03:10:47 PM »

Hello,

Yes, I believe for what you are trying to achieve the BT815/6 would be a solution.

Best Regards,
FTDI Community
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jberkhout

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Re: FT813 GRAM size 1MB to be increased soon?
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2018, 09:33:33 AM »

Thank you very much, for the information. The limited 1MB of RAM_G is a deal breaker for us.
We will investigate alternative solutions, as we need to finish the product very soon.
But I'm looking forward to see a new FT82x? product in the future, with more capacity (2MB would probably be sufficient for 800x480 display) of RAM_G, then it would be an amazing display (and unmatched solution)!
« Last Edit: October 05, 2018, 07:26:14 AM by jberkhout »
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