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https://github.com/krasjet/imgui_juce

JUCE backend for Dear ImGui
https://github.com/krasjet/imgui_juce

audio cpp gui imgui juce juce-framework opengl vst vst3

Last synced: 2 months ago
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JUCE backend for Dear ImGui

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README 

        
imgui_juce

==========



JUCE [1] backend for Dear ImGui [2].



I don't recommend using JUCE for prototyping DSP code, but

if you have no better options, using ImGui with this library

should make your life a lot easier.



Pros:

  + No more listener/attachment/callback bullshit (you won't

    believe how many layers of callbacks are used just to

    set a single parameter using APVTS's SliderAttachment).



    You can write declarative code for GUI now:



        ImGui::Text("Hello, world %d", 123);

        if (ImGui::Button("Save"))

          DoStuff();



  + No more GUI layout positioning bullshit. Spend your time

    on DSP code.



  + It's much easier now to integrate custom non-float

    parameters into your plugin.



  + There are a ton of useful extensions for ImGui you can

    use for easier debugging. See imnodes [3], implot [4],

    and the list on ImGui wiki [5].



  + You can mix JUCE GUI components and ImGui. ImGui only

    needs a Component for mouse/keyboard input and a

    OpenGLContext for rendering. You can, for example, only

    enable the ImGui component for debugging and disable it

    in the final release.



Cons:

  - GUI is recomputed each frame at 60 FPS, probably less

    efficient than JUCE, but at least it's using OpenGL.



  - JUCE's keypress callbacks are extremely inefficient for

    ImGui, though you can disable it by setting



        setWantsKeyboardFocus(false);



  - Component and layout can be less customizable than JUCE.

    You probably only want to use it for prototyping.



  - Slider skew not supported by default. You need to write

    your own component for that (contributions welcome).

    ImGui do have logarithmic slider built-in though.



  - You need a patched version of ImGui for use in audio

    plugins (see Note below).



Usage

-----



The backend exposes three functions



    #include 



    void ImGui_ImplJuce_Init(juce::Component&, juce::OpenGLContext&);

    void ImGui_ImplJuce_Shutdown();

    void ImGui_ImplJuce_NewFrame();



You need to create a juce::OpenGLRenderer and call the three

functions in



    void newOpenGLContextCreated();

    void openGLContextClosing();

    void renderOpenGL();



respectively. See



    ./examples/mwe/src/ImGuiComponent.h



for a complete minimal working example.



If you need an audio plugin example, see



    ./examples/sine/



CMake Usage

-----------



If you are using CMake, call `add_subdirectory` on the

current directory after JUCE directory is added. Then link

your application target to `imgui_imple_juce`. For example,



    target_link_libraries(app

      # other stuff libs

      PRIVATE

        imgui_impl_juce)



See



    ./examples/mwe/CMakeLists.txt



for a complete example.



Note

----



By default ImGui only support a single instance running

because it uses a global state



    ImGuiContext* GImGui = NULL;



This is probably fine if you are writing a GUI application,

but if you are writing an audio plugin, the plugin will

crash if you add multiple instances of the plugin in DAW and

open two GUIs at the same time.



You need to patch ImGui and make the global state thread local



    thread_local ImGuiContext* GImGui = NULL;



in order to support multiple instances of ImGui running at

the same time on different threads. See



    ./examples/sine/patches/imgui/multi_instance.patch



for details.



You need a similar patch if you want to use imnodes or

ImPlot in your plugin. For a ImPlot example, see



    ./examples/scope/patches/implot/multi_instance.patch



License

-------



The imgui_juce library is licensed under the GNU Lesser

General Public License v3.0 (LGPLv3).



Examples are placed under public domain.



Donate

------



If this library saves valuable development time for you,

consider donate to support this project:



    https://ko-fi.com/krjst



--------------------------



[1]: https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE

[2]: https://github.com/ocornut/imgui

[3]: https://github.com/Nelarius/imnodes

[4]: https://github.com/epezent/implot

[5]: https://github.com/ocornut/imgui/wiki/Useful-Extensions