3DWorld (6/13)

From:Thomas Frieden
Date:16 Sep 2001 at 13:55:03
Subject:Re: [3DWorld] Textures.

Hi,

Sorry, I'm just now catching up with the postings here. I couldn't post
because I was still subscribed with my old address...

Michal Wozniak wrote:

> Some question about textures. I have noticed that they
> eat some memory when they are first used. Why?
> I thought it's about conversion and stuff, but
> I checked and R5G5B5 textures are directly supported
> by hardware.
>

The first time a texture is used, memory of it is allocated *on the
graphics board*. Graphcs board memory is normally allocated as bitmaps
through the underlying graphics board software, so the first time a
texture is used, there might be a bitmap allocated, which accounts for
the additional memory. Additional textures should not allocated
additional bitmaps as long as they still fit into the bitmap that's
already been allocated.

Regards,



Thomas Frieden
Senior Developer, Hyperion Entertainment
ThomasF@hyperion-entertainment.com
http://www.hyperion-entertainment.com