In the case of our 8-bit image, the distribution would be 3 bits in the red channel, 3 bits in the green, and 2 bits in the blue.Д¬olor/Bit depth defines the color range of a texture as well as itвЂ™s overall size in memory. This information is usually (but not always) spread across multiple color channels that, when combined, produce the final color. If an image has an 8-bit color depth, this would mean the color value of each pixel is stored inside 8 bits of data. The color depth of an image describes how much memory is being used to store the color data of each pixel. Keep in mind that anything you see here will have an additional unavoidable layer of jpg compression so it wonвЂ™t be 1:1.ДЄll of the screenshots and statistics found in this guide are from my machine thatвЂ™s running DirectX 12. I hope theyвЂ™ll be able to give you an indication of the kind of visual fidelity to expect. Throughout this post IвЂ™ll be using some simple textures to illustrate the different settings weвЂ™ll be exploring. In a game engine this translates to a tradeoff between graphical fidelity and performance.

ДЄs always, with data compression of any kind it will come down to a tradeoff between visual quality and file size. As a general rule, this means that the compression is fast and adaptable, but not lossless. Unlike the kind of image compression that you might get when exporting from image-editing programs like Photoshop, the texture compression formats youвЂ™ll find in game engines are designed specifically for application in real-time. Texture compression is a principal part of the larger sphere of texture optimization, the practice of reducing the amount of texture data that needs to be loaded at any one time to improve performance, and reducing the overall amount of texture data in your game to keep build sizes and loading times down.Д®ssentially, the goal of texture compression is to reduce the amount of data stored in a texture by culling any that can be seen as expendable or less important. Getting the most out of UnrealвЂ™s texture compression tools is just a matter of understanding a little bit about how texture compression works, and how Epic intends their system to be used. These options can be used in a variety of ways to significantly reduce the amount of texture data your game requires with the minimum impact on visual fidelity.

Unreal Engine provides a wide range of texture compression settings and presets in the Texture Properties Editor. If left unchecked this sheer amount of texture data can slow down both your gameвЂ™s performance and your teamвЂ™s production speed вЂ“ especially on larger projects. Texture data commonly represents the bulk of an Unreal projectвЂ™s size, sometimes taking up more disk space than the rest of your gameвЂ™s assets combined.

Unreal engine 4 textures