Best way to implement full screen image?

[_6_]

There are a few ways of doing this, but i was wondering what the best or easiest method is for creating a texture that would cover the whole of the screen. Textures need to be stored in power of 2, but screen dimensions are not like that.

So, do you create one giant texture and apply it to a quad that is bigger than the screen ( and therefore wastes memory ), or do you break down the image in to seperate smaller images whose individual dimensions add up be exactly the same size as the screen?

Thansks,
6

[Bad Sector]

One giant texture with the "hidden" parts being black or any other solid color. Then compress this texture so the hidden parts eat only a few kb of video memory.

[Savant]

What you can also do is create your image the proper size, say 1024x768, and then scale that image into a 1024x1024 texture. When you draw it, stretch it to the size of the screen and it should look correct.

[luggage]

We check the caps and if it allows non-power of two textures it's straight forward (obviously).

If it's a power of two only card it splices and dices the image. So it would dump one texture out at 512x512 and other textures to fill it out. This can increase the poly count but as it doesn't happen that often it's neglible.

It also takes into account the maximum texture size the card can handle as well.

[_6_]

Hmm, so every one uses a different method. Interesting. Savants method sounds quite promising so I'll try that one and see what happens.

At least I know that what ever method I use isn't considered incorrect.

Thanks all.

[luggage]

If it works it works!

[Nexic]

I make my full screen images at 1024x768, scale up to 1024x1024, then in the game scale it back down to 4x3.

Though the best solution would be to use 16, 256x256 tiles, for ultimate compatibility.

[Anthony Flack]

I tend to go for 512x512 and scale up (for 640x480). Looks fine to me. I don't know why people are so fussy about maintaining 1:1 pixel fidelity when dealing with filtered textures.

[Nexic]

512x512 is alright for 640x480, I can't notice the difference. However if your game can go up to 1024x768 you have no choice but to use 1024x1024, or it will just look really bad.

[Mark Sheeky]

512x512 is alright for 640x480, I can't notice the difference. However if your game can go up to 1024x768 you have no choice but to use 1024x1024, or it will just look really bad.

If the image is for a general background and not a main picture then blurring the image is a good way of making that 512x512 image work at higher resolutions. It will look quite nice because you get a pesudo depth of field.

Mark

[oNyx]

512x512 is alright for 640x480, I can't notice the difference. However if your game can go up to 1024x768 you have no choice but to use 1024x1024, or it will just look really bad.

For 1024x768 you can also use 1024x512. Thats half the texture data and it looks pretty much the same (because its filtered either way).

If possible you should create the texture in that format directly. If its only scaled once (in game) it will be sharper.