Techincal question about texture in 3d games
by Scott Turner · in General Discussion · 06/14/2005 (10:28 pm) · 4 replies
If I have a character, what is more efficient in games, having one 1024 texture that covers his body and face, or having two 512, one for his face and the other one for his body. What Im asking is, if someone knows, technically what is more efficient in order to make the game run faster.
another question about textures. If I have a character that requires a texture, lets say a 1024 texture. Lets say that inside that texture, there is a body armor that I would like to use it in another character. would I be saving resources by loading that texture again for my other character, considering that one character already has all the texture? or is it more efficient to give that other character a separate more small texture?
Any info on texture and memory management would be helpfull. thanks
another question about textures. If I have a character that requires a texture, lets say a 1024 texture. Lets say that inside that texture, there is a body armor that I would like to use it in another character. would I be saving resources by loading that texture again for my other character, considering that one character already has all the texture? or is it more efficient to give that other character a separate more small texture?
Any info on texture and memory management would be helpfull. thanks
#2
06/14/2005 (10:36 pm)
Yeah you are right my logic wasnt very good, but anyway you got the point. use less bigger textures, or more smaller textures? that is the question
#3
so as far as video ram goes 1 512x512 for body and anther for the face is the equivalent of a 1024x512 bitmap.
In regards to engines, it really depends on the engine. I havent experimented enough in torque to find out yet.
In the engine I've been using, the fewer seperate textures the more efficient the engine runs. So combining textures into a single texture page is better. One of the main uses for seperateing a character into 2 textures is f you have several face and body skins you want to swap to create a series of characters using the same mesh. Or if your engine has some fancy shader effects that that would waste resources on the entire model, but enhances say specular and bump areas of their equiptment.
Normaly you have to make the design decisions yourself based on what enhances the game, and how much extra resources your willing to allocate to that particular feature. There isn't a sure answer, just the fact that what you do here takes away from somewhere else, or raises the minimum spec required to run your game.
Often its a design decision made when you start planning in this case character stuff, and perhaps inventory. Perhaps having the 2 textures interchangeable on one skin prevents the need for 8 other similar characters being modeled. or you can swap heads and reuse the bodys.
I think too much depends on the game itself, what type and genre it is, and how much of the screen space the characters take up on the screen during regular gameplay.
If it were an RTS where the character is never larger than 1" on the screen a single 256x256 texture may be too large and a waste of video ram. If your character is a giant boss that takes up 2x the screen height he may need a 1024x1024 texture.
06/14/2005 (10:43 pm)
2x 512 doesn't make 1024x1024 so a single 1024 is going to be more expensive as its actualy 4 512x512 textures.so as far as video ram goes 1 512x512 for body and anther for the face is the equivalent of a 1024x512 bitmap.
In regards to engines, it really depends on the engine. I havent experimented enough in torque to find out yet.
In the engine I've been using, the fewer seperate textures the more efficient the engine runs. So combining textures into a single texture page is better. One of the main uses for seperateing a character into 2 textures is f you have several face and body skins you want to swap to create a series of characters using the same mesh. Or if your engine has some fancy shader effects that that would waste resources on the entire model, but enhances say specular and bump areas of their equiptment.
Normaly you have to make the design decisions yourself based on what enhances the game, and how much extra resources your willing to allocate to that particular feature. There isn't a sure answer, just the fact that what you do here takes away from somewhere else, or raises the minimum spec required to run your game.
Often its a design decision made when you start planning in this case character stuff, and perhaps inventory. Perhaps having the 2 textures interchangeable on one skin prevents the need for 8 other similar characters being modeled. or you can swap heads and reuse the bodys.
I think too much depends on the game itself, what type and genre it is, and how much of the screen space the characters take up on the screen during regular gameplay.
If it were an RTS where the character is never larger than 1" on the screen a single 256x256 texture may be too large and a waste of video ram. If your character is a giant boss that takes up 2x the screen height he may need a 1024x1024 texture.
#4
06/14/2005 (11:07 pm)
Cool thanks for your advice. I am good texturing and have done several models, but I ask myself this to iimprove my work, thanks 
Torque Owner Cinder Games