TGB - How much textures can it handle?
by cg-sammu · in Torque Game Builder · 11/05/2011 (1:06 am) · 9 replies
Hey guys,
So Ive been working away with my 3D baked to 2D pvp game..
I was wondering how many textures Torque 2d can actually handle
Im currently using 2048x1024 per character animation like a "walk."
Each cell is 128x128
There will be many characters, spells and environment art all over the place
I was just worried if there might be a performance issue..
Is there an estimate on how many textures Torque2D can load up at once?
What do you guys think?
Thanks!!!
-Sam
So Ive been working away with my 3D baked to 2D pvp game..
I was wondering how many textures Torque 2d can actually handle
Im currently using 2048x1024 per character animation like a "walk."
Each cell is 128x128
There will be many characters, spells and environment art all over the place
I was just worried if there might be a performance issue..
Is there an estimate on how many textures Torque2D can load up at once?
What do you guys think?
Thanks!!!
-Sam
#2
I tend not to go over 1024*800 smth. like that for each animated sprite. Have you tried to render each second or each third frame to reduce the output of rendered files. I can guarantee you with each second file you won't see any lags or changes in the aniamtion. Also try to make loops.
Might help if you have lower resolution for aniimated sprites and stretch them out in the editor it might look a bit blurry, but it is a good way out for some animations which are at the background far from the sight, where it tends to be blurry.
You will have tons of animated sprites.. tons
11/06/2011 (12:29 am)
I too make a lot of animations from 3d to 2d (sprites).I tend not to go over 1024*800 smth. like that for each animated sprite. Have you tried to render each second or each third frame to reduce the output of rendered files. I can guarantee you with each second file you won't see any lags or changes in the aniamtion. Also try to make loops.
Might help if you have lower resolution for aniimated sprites and stretch them out in the editor it might look a bit blurry, but it is a good way out for some animations which are at the background far from the sight, where it tends to be blurry.
You will have tons of animated sprites.. tons
#3
The slowest part is loading itself - depending on size and image format it takes around 1/5 of a second to load single texture. Which is not really a problem if your textures can fit in memory all at once or if your game designed in a way that allows loading screens to be inserted here and there. Otherwise you [s]are pretty much screwed[/s] will have to mess with the engine to make it load stuff without freezing your game for tens of seconds.
11/07/2011 (1:35 am)
Amount of texture data is only limited by amount of (graphical) memory your target machines have. Single 1024x1024 RGBA texture takes 4mib, so you can have around 30 of those loaded at the same time and stay within 128mib limit. 2048x1024 per animation is way over the roof though, image like that can hold a good dozen of animations.The slowest part is loading itself - depending on size and image format it takes around 1/5 of a second to load single texture. Which is not really a problem if your textures can fit in memory all at once or if your game designed in a way that allows loading screens to be inserted here and there. Otherwise you [s]are pretty much screwed[/s] will have to mess with the engine to make it load stuff without freezing your game for tens of seconds.
#4
11/07/2011 (2:24 am)
Rpahut what memory does it use ram, video?
#5
Its currently 16 frames per animation horizontal at 128x128
and 8 angles making it 2048x1024
with inbetweens, it will be 2048x2048
Would the performance be better if they were split up?
Like instead of cramming them into 1 animation sheet..
Have several smaller sheets at 512x512 with walkNorth, walkEast...etc?
Or would loading time be the same?
11/07/2011 (10:09 am)
Yeah im making a isometric hack and slash pvp sorta thing..Its currently 16 frames per animation horizontal at 128x128
and 8 angles making it 2048x1024
with inbetweens, it will be 2048x2048
Would the performance be better if they were split up?
Like instead of cramming them into 1 animation sheet..
Have several smaller sheets at 512x512 with walkNorth, walkEast...etc?
Or would loading time be the same?
#6
11/07/2011 (11:02 am)
I'd say dont pile up all animations in one file, e.g. keep separate files for each character. You might unload/upload them as you wish in your game. 
#7
11/07/2011 (6:48 pm)
Check out this write up on 2D art (Learn From My Mistakes). It's something to keep in mind while making your animations. 
#8
Load what you need, keep em as small as you can.
11/09/2011 (10:42 am)
Also keep in mind that the image gets loaded into video memory as a texture map. Older video cards may not be able to manage the larger sizes. Load what you need, keep em as small as you can.
#9
You will save fair amount of loading time by using uncompressed images. Then you can just compress entire game or make installer package and distribute it that way.
11/09/2011 (11:58 am)
@cg-sammu Loading one large file is slightly faster than loading a bunch of smaller ones, but the difference does not really worth splitting or merge the images. Having one texture per character is a good idea, just for convenience.You will save fair amount of loading time by using uncompressed images. Then you can just compress entire game or make installer package and distribute it that way.
Torque 3D Owner Christopher Tauscher
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