# Is it possible to draw main graphics on a PGraphics?
**URL:** https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055
**Category:** Processing
**Created:** [April 7, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055 "2019-04-07T20:09:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@clankill3r](https://discourse.processing.org/u/clankill3r)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/1 "2019-04-07T20:09:06Z")
Is it possible to draw `g` on a PGraphics?
It should be done in P3D and it should be done without using loadPixels();
So something like this:
```auto
PGraphics pg;
void setup() {
size(512, 512, P3D);
pg = createGraphics(256, 256, P3D);
}
void draw() {
background(0);
fill(255,255,0);
circle(width/2, height/2, 256);
pg.beginDraw();
pg.image(g, 0, 0, pg.width, pg.height);
pg.endDraw();
}
```
I tried different things with pre and post and endDraw but so far no luck.
---
### Author:  [@Stanlepunk](https://discourse.processing.org/u/Stanlepunk)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2019, 8:50am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/2 "2019-04-08T08:50:04Z")
I try understand what you want but is not clear, are you expected somethinf like that ?
```auto
PGraphics pg;
PImage img;
void setup() {
size(512, 512, P3D);
pg = createGraphics(256, 256, P3D);
img = createImage(pg.width, pg.height, RGB);
}
void draw() {
background(0);
fill(255,255,0);
circle(width/2, height/2, 256);
g.loadPixels(); // need to load to don't have have null pixels
img.copy(g,0,0,pg.width,pg.height, 0,0,pg.width,pg.height);
fill(255,0,0);
circle(width/2, height/2, 256);
image(img,0,0);
/*
pg.beginDraw();
pg.image(img, 0, 0, pg.width, pg.height);
pg.endDraw();
*/
pg.loadPixels();
println("pg",pg.pixels); // return null
}
```
---
### Author:  [@jeremydouglass](https://discourse.processing.org/u/jeremydouglass)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2019, 4:25am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/3 "2019-04-10T04:25:20Z")
> [@clankill3r](#):
>
> it should be done without using loadPixels()
Can you explain why this is a requirement? This seems odd, since you want to access the pixels array of g – and that is what loadPixels is for.
> **[loadPixels() / Reference](https://processing.org/reference/loadPixels_.html)**
>
> Loads the pixel data of the current display window into the pixels\[\] array. This function must always be called before reading from or writing to pixels\[\]. Subsequent changes to the disp…
You can try to skip this sometimes, but are explicitly warned against it in the reference:
> Certain renderers may or may not seem to require **loadPixels()** or **updatePixels()**. However, the rule is that any time you want to manipulate the **pixels[]** array, you must have previously called **loadPixels()** , and after changes have been made, call **updatePixels()**. Even if the renderer may not seem to use this function in the current Processing release, this will always be subject to change.
---
### Author:  [@hamoid](https://discourse.processing.org/u/hamoid)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2019, 8:18am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/4 "2019-04-10T08:18:24Z")
Hi! What does no luck mean in this case?
I didn’t look at the source, but it could be that Processing automatically calls `beginDraw` and `endDraw` for the default `g` PGraphics at the begining and end of `draw()`. Maybe that means you can’t draw `g` onto something else because `endDraw` hasn’t been called yet?
Knowing why you want to do this may help suggest an alternative 🙂
---
### Author:  [@clankill3r](https://discourse.processing.org/u/clankill3r)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 9:43am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/5 "2019-04-22T09:43:00Z")
I made a renderer for the terminal:
I don’t want to use `loadPixels` on the main graphics cause it can be really slow depending on it’s size.
So what I do now is make a smaller graphics, then I draw `g` on that smaller graphics and load the pixels from that instead. I can only get this working in `post` which is not safe to draw, but it works…
Here is the repository if anyone is interested. If you made something cool then please post a image.
> **[clankill3r/p5\_terminal\_graphics](https://github.com/clankill3r/p5_terminal_graphics)**
>
> Contribute to clankill3r/p5\_terminal\_graphics development by creating an account on GitHub.
---
### Author:  [@hamoid](https://discourse.processing.org/u/hamoid)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 11:05am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/6 "2019-04-22T11:05:51Z")
I really like this kind of hacks that push what’s possible or reasonable 🙂
---
### Author:  [@jeremydouglass](https://discourse.processing.org/u/jeremydouglass)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/7 "2019-04-22T13:29:12Z")
> [@clankill3r](#):
>
> I made a renderer for the terminal
👏 👏 👏
Wild.
Does it also work as system shell output when called from processing-java?
---
### Author:  [@clankill3r](https://discourse.processing.org/u/clankill3r)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/8 "2019-04-22T16:29:35Z")
I will check later, if it doesn’t I can probably make it work.
That will make it also more friendly for PDE users that don’t have additional IDE’s installed.
O yeah the thing is Max / Linux only, this has to do that I put the terminal in character mode. And I’m tired of making things cross platform.
---
### Author:  [@jeremydouglass](https://discourse.processing.org/u/jeremydouglass)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/9 "2019-04-22T17:20:21Z")
> [@clankill3r](#):
>
> I’m tired of making things cross platform.
That is totally fair – I am too. Although a “Terminal Mode” for PDE would be pretty cool.
---
### Author:  [@clankill3r](https://discourse.processing.org/u/clankill3r)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/10 "2019-04-24T07:46:06Z")
Some people wanted to work on the console:
>
Not sure if they started yet, and if they will, not sure if they will follow specification to make a descent terminal (supporting ANSI escapes, single character mode etc.)
---
### Author:  [@neilcsmith](https://discourse.processing.org/u/neilcsmith)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/11 "2019-04-24T16:18:08Z")
It might be worth having a look at the JLine library for this. Should enable it to be fully cross-platform too.
---
### Author:  [@jeremydouglass](https://discourse.processing.org/u/jeremydouglass)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2019, 8:29pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/12 "2019-04-24T20:29:00Z")
I wasn’t familiar with JLine. Looks like it is here:
> **[jline/jline3](https://github.com/jline/jline3)**
>
> JLine is a Java library for handling console input. - jline/jline3
---
### Author:  [@neilcsmith](https://discourse.processing.org/u/neilcsmith)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2019, 1:23pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/13 "2019-04-25T13:23:32Z")
Yes, sorry, should have added a link! It’s also the library used by the Java shell in the JDK.
---
### Author:  [@clankill3r](https://discourse.processing.org/u/clankill3r)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/is-it-possible-to-draw-main-graphics-on-a-pgraphics/10055/14 "2020-07-18T20:55:46Z")
I updated the project, more here:
> [@P5\_terminal\_graphics](https://discourse.processing.org/t/p5-terminal-graphics/22712):
>
> I posted this before in a topic related to a question. The last two days I have spent some time cleaning up the project and getting rid of dependencies. Anyway, what I made is a renderer that can be set using: size(1120, 850, P5\_Terminal\_Graphics.TERMINAL); And then when an external console is used, then that can be used as a display. You need an external editor. VScode is now way easier to get working with processing then it was before. If you like to try it out a…