Trying to build a marquee control with smooth text animation. Current efforts include: Using

Question

0

Editorial Team

Asked: May 15, 20262026-05-15T04:00:46+00:00 2026-05-15T04:00:46+00:00

Trying to build a marquee control with smooth text animation. Current efforts include: Using

0

Trying to build a marquee control with smooth text animation. Current efforts include:

Using translate transform
Using animation on Canvas dependency properties (Left, Right)
Using animation on custom dependency property (Point) and using drawing visuals (formattedtext)
Using CompositionTarget.Rendering

But the animation is still choppy and resource intensive (2-10% CPU).

Test code used in default wpf window which I assume should produce a smooth animation:

   <TextBlock x:Name="_box" FontSize="64" CacheMode="BitmapCache" Text="lorem ipsum">
        <TextBlock.RenderTransform>
            <TranslateTransform x:Name="AnimatedTranslateTransform" X="0" Y="0" />
        </TextBlock.RenderTransform>
        <TextBlock.Triggers>
            <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="TextBlock.Loaded">
              <BeginStoryboard>
                <Storyboard>
                  <DoubleAnimation
                    Storyboard.TargetName="AnimatedTranslateTransform" 
                    Storyboard.TargetProperty="X"
                    From="-300" To="300" Duration="0:0:5" 
                    AutoReverse="True" RepeatBehavior="Forever" />
                </Storyboard>
              </BeginStoryboard>
            </EventTrigger>
          </TextBlock.Triggers>
    </TextBlock>

Checklist:

Confirmed no software rendering is taking place (ms performance tool and checking RenderCapability.Tier)
Calling freeze on any imaginable object
Disabled any bitmap effect and transparency
Checked all marquee controls out there (same issues)

Tested on:

CPU: Intell core 2 duo (T6600) @2.2Ghz
RAM: 4GB
GPU: NVidia GeForce 9600M GS (latest drivers)
OS: Windows 7 (64bit)

Any ideas (or better yet code example)?

From the responses it seems this is not a wpf issue (other marquee controls work fine for others but not for me), nut I’m getting the same issues on every machine I tested this on.