Load/Access Time Comparison: Texture Atlas vs Texture Arrays

[dlangdev]

Hi,

Just wondering if there is an easy way for me to write code that will get me these numbers.

Procedure:
1) Write test code for loading textures separately and compare that to a test for loading one big texture atlas. I should be able to generate comparison numbers for that.

2) Write test code for loading one large texture atlas (4K X 4K) and compare that to a test having access to a texture array(8 X 1K).

Now, I read somewhere accessing textures with index in arrays can only be done in DX10? Is that true? If yes, Is there a way for me to do that on Irrlicht?

If these test can be performed on DX9 or OGL, can you give some hints on where texture arrays can be found, I'm referring to sample snippets of code.

Thanks and have a nice day.

Ref:

What is the advantage of DX10 Cloning Factory?

I just got texture tiling with a texture atlas working, they said it was impossible?

[JP]

Of course there's an easy way to get these numbers... just do it

Load 4 textures of, say, 256x256 and see how long that takes and then load one texture of 512x512 and see how long that takes in comparison.

You may not be able to load a texture bigger than 2048x2048... i think that's a limit for some gfx cards or drivers... might be different now though.

[dlangdev]

Hi Halifax,

I think Texture Arrays are featured only in DX10, as this thread shows...

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPo ... 8&SiteID=1

I thought texture arrays are available in DX9, it turned out it wasn't, that's definitely a long shot from here, though. The Irrlicht device will have to be modified to support DX10, only then it is possible to test texture arrays.

Maybe adding a DX10 device can be trivial? I will need time to figure that out. There's a DX9 device code already in there, maybe cloning the code and adding a few function calls may do the trick.

[Halifax]

Hi Halifax,

What?

[BlindSide]

Hi Halifax,

What?

lmao.

What about 3D volume textures dlangdev? (Someone just posted a patch for that for D3D9 in the Code Snippets forum) Just remember that voume textures mipmapping operates in 3 dimensions (So 4x4x4 becomes 2x2x2), so you will probably magically lose a few layers if you enable it.

Cheers

[dlangdev]

sorry, i wrote that reply around 3:30AM, my brain was half functioning and almost dead tired.

5:49AM is 10:52PM here. Do the math and I was really a zombie at that time.

I'll do better next time, it's just this profession (Computer Science background) is a killer, though. It requires one to work hard for little pay. So much stuff to study. But still, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[dlangdev]

Hi Halifax,

What?

lmao.

What about 3D volume textures dlangdev? (Someone just posted a patch for that for D3D9 in the Code Snippets forum) Just remember that voume textures mipmapping operates in 3 dimensions (So 4x4x4 becomes 2x2x2), so you will probably magically lose a few layers if you enable it.

Cheers

Hi Blindside,

Good evening, I'll look into that.

Thanks for letting me know about it.

[JP]

Phew, i thought dlangdev had discovered my double identity!