ok, lets see if i got it right : the pd-gui starts up, it then starts the audio-engine, which will then send drawing commands to the gui ?
right....
i.e. the drawing instructions reside in the audio-engine ? so, the gui is then only a canvas where the objects draw on ? if so, it would mean that even if the gui would run on a second machine, that the audio engine still has to issue the drawing commands, thus taking away cpu time from the audio process ....
yep, that's why in case of a big and greedy update, you have to start a thread for sending graphic commands.
are the objects (externals) loaded in the audio-engine or the gui ?
in the audio-engine for PD, and in the gui for Jmax. That's a real big difference.
well, i think not. even with these differences. i mean, if it is only about drawing lines, text, etc. the (new) gui can be equipped with some drawing functions to achieve that. since it will be programmed in c, there could even a (stripped down) tcl/tk interpreter integrated, which translates tk-commands to the native c-drawing-functions of the toolkit .....
yes, it could, but when used for jmax, it should allow native drawing as well which really means it would have 2 modes. it's not impossible, just doubles the work.
good luck anyway.
yves.