Question

First here’s the code.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace winform_project
{
  public partial class Form1 : Form
  {
    void movement_correct(PictureBox pic, int i)
    {
        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(25);
        pic.Top += (i - 1);
        pic.Left += (i + 3);
    }

    void movement_up(PictureBox pic, int i)
    {
        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(25);
        pic.Top -= (i - 1);
        pic.Left -= (i + 3);
    }
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
        {
            movement_correct(pictureBox1, i);
            movement_correct(pictureBox2, i);
            movement_correct(pictureBox3, i);
            movement_correct(pictureBox4, i);
            movement_correct(pictureBox5, i);
            movement_correct(pictureBox6, i);
            movement_correct(pictureBox7, i);
            movement_correct(pictureBox8, i);
            movement_correct(pictureBox9, i);
            movement_correct(pictureBox10, i);
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
        {
            movement_up(pictureBox1, i);
            movement_up(pictureBox2, i);
            movement_up(pictureBox3, i);
            movement_up(pictureBox4, i);
            movement_up(pictureBox5, i);
            movement_up(pictureBox6, i);
            movement_up(pictureBox7, i);
            movement_up(pictureBox8, i);
            movement_up(pictureBox9, i);
            movement_up(pictureBox10, i);
        }

    }
 }
}

There are 10 dummy picture boxes. Whenever i click the button they start to move a bit(sort of like the enemies in space invaders).

I am trying to make a smooth animation in winforms. The problem is that the animation in not as smooth as i want it to be. In my code all the boxes aren’t moving simultaneously, there is a little bit of noticeable gap in their movement. What i want is smooth movement.

I was thinking of multi threading it but then realized it would mean one thead for each objects. Is there any other way(Within winforms).

Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

Using Thread.Sleep(n) for timing purposes is a guaranteed way of not getting smooth animation; this is because the value passed to Thread.Sleep is treated by the OS as a minimum sleep time, meaning that the actual duration of the sleep can be (and usually is) a bit longer. You should instead drive your animation using QueryPerformanceCounter.

Even with a proper high-resolution timing engine, you will still have “tearing” effects.