fastobjects 0.3.0

The fastest 2D object rendering library for Python

FastObjects

The fastest 2D object rendering library for Python.

FastObjects renders thousands of 2D sprites and shapes per frame with a single OpenGL draw call per batch. State lives in flat NumPy arrays instead of per-object Python instances, so you mutate positions with array slicing and let the GPU do the rest.

Installation

pip install fastobjects

Quick start

import fastobjects as fo

win = fo.Window(800, 600, title="FastObjects demo")

sprites = fo.SpriteBatch("player.png", capacity=1000)
group = sprites.spawn(1, x=400, y=300)

@win.frame
def update(dt: float) -> None:
    if win.keys[fo.KEY_RIGHT]:
        group.pos[:, 0] += 200 * dt

    win.clear(0.1, 0.1, 0.1)
    win.draw(sprites)

    if win.keys[fo.KEY_ESCAPE]:
        win.request_close()

win.run()

• Window opens a native GLFW window with an OpenGL 3.3 core context and drives the frame loop (run() calls your @win.frame callback every frame with dt). win.keys[fo.KEY_X] and win.mouse expose polled input state.
• SpriteBatch holds up to capacity textured sprites; spawn() returns a SpriteGroup whose .pos, .size, .rot, and .color are NumPy views into the batch — writing to them updates the sprites directly, no per-object overhead.
• ShapeBatch works the same way for rectangles, circles, and lines (batch.rects(...), batch.circles(...), batch.lines(...)), useful for debug overlays or non-textured geometry.
• win.draw(*batches) issues one draw call per batch, in the order given.

Why it's fast

FastObjects is written in Python, but the hot path isn't: sprite/shape state lives in flat NumPy arrays, and each batch.draw() uploads the whole array and issues a single OpenGL draw call (via moderngl) for the entire batch — no per-object Python loop, no per-object GPU call. The interpreter overhead that usually kills naive Python renderers never touches the per-sprite path.

Benchmarks

Sprites sustained at 60 fps, measured on the same machine (AMD Radeon RX 580, Python 3.13) against other Python rendering libraries — see benchmarks/RESULTS.md for methodology and full history:

Framework	Sprites @ 60 fps
fastobjects	218,809
arcade	5,692
raylib	5,692
pyglet	3,795
pygame-ce	1,687

Note: raylib and pygame-ce numbers above reflect a specific run in that history file — check benchmarks/RESULTS.md for the full, dated series and hardware details before quoting a number as "current".

Development

Install with development dependencies:

pip install -e ".[dev,bench]"