Python 2.6.2 performance boost

Hi all!

I wonder if anyone else did performance and compatibility tests with python 2.6.2…
Since i work on WinXP i downloaded the unoptimized Blender build from graphicall - Builder: Brandano, Date: April-28-09.
I tested several of my scripts and they all worked without modifications with python 2.6.2.
To my surprise the computation times dropped by an average of ~20%.
My tests:
Cells (voxelization of cornelius) - computation time dropped from ~5.5s to ~4.4s (-20%)
Espresso (initialization of model with 98k vertices) - computation time dropped from ~0.9s to ~0.7s (-22%)
Remeshing (solve linear system with ~1800 unknowns) - computation time dropped from ~9.5s to ~7.5s (-17%)
ConvexHull (compute hull from model with 95k vertices) - computation time dropped from ~5.4s to ~4.2s (-22%)

Wow - not bad is it?
Has anyone else done tests and can report his/her findings (especially on possible incompatibilities)?

Michael

hi Michael.
I too have had good results.
However the optimized builds are still a little faster.
Some external Python modules are not compatible with 2.6
This only affects a few scripts.
Modules like PIL, Psyco & others that some scripts call needs to be documented.
I remember I installed several packages recently & not all installers supported py 2.6.
This requires some further testing.
If you would like to help with this, please post your results here.
thanks.
Brendon.

Thanks for your answer.
I haven’t built Blender from source for at least a year - i don’t know if i can still get it to compile. Usually i just download a compiled version from graphicall, but unfortunately there’s no optimized build for windows with python 2.6.
In the tests i mentioned, i therefore compared the optimized python2.5 build from Zebulon (rev. 20029 May-02-09 SSE2, LAA) with the unoptimized python2.6 build from Brandano (April-28-09).
It may be true, that some external modules are not available for python2.6.
But for the two modules you mentioned:
Psyco is compatible with py2.6 (download of compiled win-version from link on psyco homepage - works for me)
Also PIL seems to be available for py2.6 (at least for win - there’s a download for PIL v1.1.6 on the PIL-homepage - but i haven’t tried)

Greetings, Michael