20,741
edits
Switching default texture format to DDS: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
Switching default texture format to DDS (view source)
Revision as of 01:53, 5 September 2014
, 5 September 2014→Challenges
m (→DDS Debate in 2012 (points made by Mathias): update with proper cquotes (thanks to User:bigstones for saving us a ton of time here !)) |
m (→Challenges) |
||
| Line 535: | Line 535: | ||
|author=<nowiki>Frederic Bouvier</nowiki> | |author=<nowiki>Frederic Bouvier</nowiki> | ||
|date=<nowiki>2011-12-30</nowiki> | |date=<nowiki>2011-12-30</nowiki> | ||
}} | |||
}} | |||
== Implementation == | |||
{{FGCquote | |||
|As has been previously pointed out, the current DDS texture set is not<br/> | |||
simply the global png texture set converted.<br/> | |||
<br/> | |||
For our own sanity and those of the users, we need to ensure that there's<br/> | |||
an apples-to-apples comparison being made when we change the default. I<br/> | |||
therefore think we need to create a DDS version of the current default<br/> | |||
texture set. | |||
|{{cite web |url=http://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/32797669/ | |||
|title=<nowiki>Re: [Flightgear-devel] .dds textures (was Unused and/or sourceless textures)</nowiki> | |||
|author=<nowiki>Stuart Buchanan</nowiki> | |||
|date=<nowiki>2014-09-04</nowiki> | |||
}} | |||
}} | |||
{{FGCquote | |||
|2) If we go down this path, we probably want to separate the underlying<br/> | |||
texture format from the materials.xml definition entirely. For example, we<br/> | |||
could simply remove the extention from the materials definition, and have<br/> | |||
the C++ code append the appropriate extension based on a separate property.<br/> | |||
This has a couple of advantages:<br/> | |||
a) Makes testing easier and materials definitions less error-prone.<br/> | |||
Assuming we have some batch job in place to generate dds textures, those<br/> | |||
working on materials definitions could continue to work with png textures,<br/> | |||
and only convert to dds as a final step (or indeed as part of the "make<br/> | |||
release" jobs).<br/> | |||
a) Avoids duplication of materials definitions. Having just spent quite a<br/> | |||
bit of time making the materials definitions more efficient, I'd like to<br/> | |||
avoid making it worse again!<br/> | |||
<br/> | |||
I'm quite happy to do the C++ coding required for this in the materials<br/> | |||
loader - it's probably pretty straightforward. | |||
|{{cite web |url=http://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/32797669/ | |||
|title=<nowiki>Re: [Flightgear-devel] .dds textures (was Unused and/or sourceless textures)</nowiki> | |||
|author=<nowiki>Stuart Buchanan</nowiki> | |||
|date=<nowiki>2014-09-04</nowiki> | |||
}} | |||
}} | |||
{{FGCquote | |||
|That does leave the issue of what happens to the existing dds texture<br/> | |||
definitions where there are special mipmap layers. I'd suggest that we<br/> | |||
have some Clever Script (tm) that is able to work out whether the DDS or<br/> | |||
PNG version of a texture is the master, and then generate the other version<br/> | |||
from it. I admit that the PNG conversion of the DDS will lose some<br/> | |||
information in this process, but it would allow those without DDS support<br/> | |||
to at least use the textures. | |||
|{{cite web |url=http://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/32797669/ | |||
|title=<nowiki>Re: [Flightgear-devel] .dds textures (was Unused and/or sourceless textures)</nowiki> | |||
|author=<nowiki>Stuart Buchanan</nowiki> | |||
|date=<nowiki>2014-09-04</nowiki> | |||
}} | |||
}} | |||
{{FGCquote | |||
|3) We need a sensible process for dealing with aircraft, which has been<br/> | |||
identified as a significant issue. Again, I think more aircraft developers<br/> | |||
find .png easier to deal with, and there are a lot of aircraft out there<br/> | |||
that would need conversion. It feels like we need some build scripts to<br/> | |||
"compile" aircraft to use DDS textures.<br/> | |||
<br/> | |||
A more far-fetched idea might be to have a cache of dds textures that are<br/> | |||
generated on-the-fly, or when aircraft are loaded by the aircraft center.<br/> | |||
Clearly that impacts initial load time the first time a new aircraft is<br/> | |||
loaded, and would increase the size of .fgfs/ directories massively, but it<br/> | |||
would remove the need for any work by aircraft/scenery developers and could<br/> | |||
be made optional.<br/> | |||
|{{cite web |url=http://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/32797669/ | |||
|title=<nowiki>Re: [Flightgear-devel] .dds textures (was Unused and/or sourceless textures)</nowiki> | |||
|author=<nowiki>Stuart Buchanan</nowiki> | |||
|date=<nowiki>2014-09-04</nowiki> | |||
}} | }} | ||
}} | }} | ||