ZWOPTEX v1.0 Alpha Released ( Texture Atlas Creator )

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ZWOPTEX v1.0 Alpha Released ( Texture Atlas Creator )

(46 posts) (19 voices)

Started 2 years ago by Robert Payne
Latest reply from patrickC

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Robert Payne
Member

Hi Everyone,

I released a new tool for creating and laying out textures into a texture atlas. It is very similar to the old one found at http://robertjpayne.com/textureatlascreator/ with optimizations, bug fixes and new features.

All old project files created with the Texture Atlas Creator are compatible with Zwoptex. Note it will take a little longer to load them in the first time as it converts the file formats.

use it here: http://zwoptex.zwopple.com

What’s new:

GENERAL FEATURES:
+ UI has been redone and compacted into a more standard application MenuBar
+ Fixed a bug where offsetX was opposite what it was supposed to be on exporting

PROJECT FEATURES:
+ file format has changed but will convert old projects ( it will take awhile on first load )
+ file format saves lots of variables specific to the project rather than using a web cookie like the old version

CANVAS FEATURES:
+ canvas sporting a new 32×32px grid. ( can’t change the size or snap-to-grid yet )
+ canvas width and height can be changed to 64,128,256,512 or 1024 pixels. It does not have to be square
+ canvas now locks images into it. If you drag an image outside of bounds or resize the canvas it will push images in with it

IMAGE FEATURES:
+ images can now be trimmed or untrimmed directly without having to reload the images ( by default they will load in trimmed )
+ images load in faster and use less memory so load times should be improved a bit
+ new interface that is condensed and allows for expansion / features easier
+ select all images button
+ adjustable canvas width/height ( 64px,128px,256px,512px,1024px only )
+ canvas has 32×32px grid
+ images cannot be positioned outside of canvas

ARRANGING FEATURES:
+ arrange by name and width has been added ( sorts on name then positions left to right top to bottom )
+ arrange by name and height has been added ( sorts on name then positions top to bottom left to right )
+ arrange by width ( sorts on height then positions left to right top to bottom )
+ arrange by height ( sorts on width then positions top to bottom left to right )
+ all arrange options are “toggles” and will reverse their sorting every other time
+ arrange min spacing has been added so you can specifiy a 1-5px minimum spacing between images getting arranged

Posted 2 years ago #
thesmileman
Member

Is the tool online only or can you use it offline?

Thanks,

Jim

Posted 2 years ago #
Cypher
Member

It's a Flash application, so technically meant for online use. You could ask for the file and run it locally through a Flash Player..but it isn't a standalone application..

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

Any modern web browser should be able to download the page and the css files / swf files to run it! I'd zip it but I prefer people use it online so I can track the statistics.

-R

Posted 2 years ago #
riq
Key Master

useful tool! thanks.

Posted 2 years ago #
jd
Member

Thank you for the nice new features. I used the old one the other day and it was good but the features you added are exactly what it needed - especially canvas size.

Posted 2 years ago #
Nicke
Member

An awesome successor to an awesome tool. Thanks Robert, know that it is appreciated by many, including me :)

Posted 2 years ago #
Joao Caxaria
Member

Very cool! I use your old tool almost everyday, thanks for the upgrade :)

Posted 2 years ago #
Clain
Member

Thanks for this nice Flash app. I really like the (re)arrange features. Why can't the minimum spacing between images be zero pixel ?

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

Hi Clain,

Using 0px spacing always resulted in some bleeding of textures onto others since the coordinates are calculated into 0-1 floats at run time there always tends to be rounding errors.

I guess that's the only reason I set the lowest to 1px.

-Robert

Posted 2 years ago #
privateson
Member

The tool looks awesome.

By the way,
is it possible to add this feature:

Arrange all images just By Name?

Or at least,
the Plist file will list all image ordered by name:
for example:
A01..
A02..
A03..

So it will be easy for us to do editing.

Thanks for the tool again!!

:>

Posted 2 years ago #
zombie
Member

Nice tool, but why is it needed to layout an atlas by hand? The mkatlas.pl script included now in Cocos is doing this automatically.
Handcrafting should only be needed if the automatic process results in too much gaps.

Do not take this as offense against this too. Thx for sharing.

- zombie

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

Hi Zombie, this is true.. this tool will also crop any empty pixel data and provide a coordinates list with offsets.

For example I can layout all my UI in photoshop at 480x320 pixels ( place buttons where they need to be ). The tool will crop the empty pixels so I don't get wasted memory but provide how much I need to alter the vertices to get the button back to the correct position.

That is just one example. It saves a lot of time for complex layered 2D animation sheets and more complex texturing for some of the projects I work on.

Obviously if you have just basic texture needs use whatever is easiest and fastest. The tool isn't here to take over anything Cocos has created but build upon it.

In reference to Privateson, the images are SORTED by Name only when using the name arrange. They are then either laid out by cols->rows or rows->cols depending whether you choose width or height. It is a bit confusing but I assure you it is only sorting on names. Remember Alphabetical sorting does have errors when numbers are involved. 002 will evaluate as less than 0001. If this isn't working properly please send bug report to suggestions[at]zwopple[dot]com. Include the project file if you can.

-Robert

Posted 2 years ago #
privateson
Member

Hi Zwopple,

The tool is so awesome now! Wo~~~
But there is an error.

I got some 80X80 images. I untrim them and order them by name or whatever.
They look totally fine on the screen.
However, the texture exported doesn't look fine. Some of the images' positions change (up/down or left/right by 10 to 20 pix).

If you can't reproduce this, let me know.
I can send you the images I use.

Thans :>

Posted 2 years ago #
privateson
Member

Hi Zwopple,

I just sent you the files I use to produce the bug.
I sent it to suggestions@zwopple.com.

Thanks:>

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

Fixed the issue :) Thanks Privateson for the report!

Posted 2 years ago #
privateson
Member

Hi Zwopple,

Woo~~~
You are working very fast!!!

Thanks for your work again!
It's just Awesome!!!!!!

:D

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

Bump!

Plus I will be releasing some Open-Source code to make using the textures/coordinates MUCH easier with Cocos2D! This should be coming out tonight or tomorrow!

-Robert

Posted 2 years ago #
yangfun
Member

Hi, zwopple!

how to make .tga file?

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

Hey Yangfun,

The tool doesn't support .tga's you'll have to convert it with photoshop or another imaging tool.

-Robert

Posted 2 years ago #
Joao Caxaria
Member
Hi guys,

wanted to share some code I did to automatically load sprites packed with ZWOPTEX.

Implementation here: http://www.copypastecode.com/8695/

usage:
Create a AtlasTextureReader:
```
textureReader = [[AtlasTextureReader alloc] initWithAtlasManager:spriteManager :@"cloud_coordinates.plist"];
```
Get sprites from it:
```
*AtlasSprite* sprite = [textureReader getSprite:@"cloud1.png"];
```
This allow us to do the spritesheet as many times we want and reorder the sprites inside everytime, without having to recheck every coordinate in every atlas sprite we make.

The code is so simple that I'm sure most of you already use something like this.. if not, here you go :)

@zwopple: Thanks again for a great tool.
Posted 2 years ago #
Clain
Member

@Joao :
Thanks, I was about to write something like that, I don't have to now ;)
I have a question though, in the following method :
-(AtlasSprite*) getSprite:(NSString*) name
shouldn't the returned sprite be retained and autoreleased ?
return [[sprite retain] autorelease]; instead of return sprite;

@zwopple :
This is definitely a useful app (did you build it with Flex ?). It would be even more useful If you could implement the algorithm zombie used in his mkatlas.pl tool (see this thread). Or allow zooming on the canvas (when you manually move an image, it's so small it's hard to tell if it's well aligned or if there's enough spacing). Thanks anyway for sharing this tool.

Posted 2 years ago #
Joao Caxaria
Member

Well, I don't think so. The spriteWithRect method of atlas sprite does that.. alloc and autorelease.

Posted 2 years ago #
Nicke
Member

Nice work Joao!

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

@Joao

Very nice! I love it. I've been pre-parsing all the objects into memory ( quads etc.. ) instead of on-the-fly. I wonder how the memory vs performance trade off is!

I have some support in the code I'll be releasing for some complex rendering when using multi-layered trimmed frames. Something I doubt very many people at all will ever need but for most the games I work on we have so much animation we need preloaded we have to do it this way.

@Clain

I should look a tthe mkatlas.pl and implement that algorithm. It is probably MUCH MUCH better than mine. It was built in Flex :) I tried to build the second revision with Cocoa but I had some memory management problems and didn't have time to delve into the problems. As far as the zooming that may have to wait for a little bit. I can try to get it in but no promises.

-Robert

Posted 2 years ago #
Clain
Member

@zwopple :
If you implement that algorithm, zooming won't be necessary any more since all the images would be optimally placed on the canvas and there would be no need to move them manually. I also forgot there's a built-in zoom in OS X (default shortcut is Ctrl + mouse wheel). I just tried it with Zwoptex and it works great. You don't have to worry about the zooming option then.

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

I have uploaded some code that includes a variety of classes to work with the Textures & Texture Coordinates.

you can get it here:

http://zwoptex.zwopple.com/zwoptex-code.zip

It is open-source under the MIT License.

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

@clain :

I'll try to get this integrated. I'm not familiar at all with perl and I'll need to convert it to ActionScript. It shouldn't be too hard but may take me a little bit :)

I'll see what I can do

-Robert

Posted 2 years ago #
Clain
Member

@zwopple :
I'm not familiar with perl either, that's why I prefer the C++ pseudo-code describing the algorithm on this page. It should be easier to implement it in AS from there. And I'd like to say I'm not trying to press you to do it or anything. I've already made my atlas texture with your tool anyway. I just think this would be a great addition to Zwoptex and hope you'll find some time to do it.

Thanks for your efforts.

Posted 2 years ago #
Robert Payne
Member

@clain :

I agree! I took a look at both the mkatlas.pl and the pseudo code on the site. The problem I forsee with that is it starts to split up images. Piecing that back together at runtime would be a bit time consuming.

I may look into it but I'm curious to see how the mkatlas creators pieced the texture map back together in their code.

-Robert

Posted 2 years ago #

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