General question about functionalities

[GeraldP]

Hi!

So, I`ve been trying to reach you guys at your support email address...

Anyway, i hope that somebody here can answer my questions about AT2! I'll just copy-paste my Email entry here:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi!

Our company is thinking about purchasing your product "Amplify Texture 2", already downloaded your trial version for testing, if your product is suitable for our product! So far so good, everything works fine after some research in your forum/manual and further testing!

However, we have a few issues still open:

1, How`s AT2 exactly working concerning the VT built if you manually change the quality settings or use the "override for android/etc... in Unity? Will AT2 generate the VT based on the original size of all textures or use one of the mentioned global settings? I'm asking because we would like to use AT2 on mobile devices, thus the actual size of the VT (Virtual Texture) in play mode is an issue for mobile builds! With our first testings it seems that there are differences - any clearification welcome! Edit: We created the VT with "Hardware Level: Mobile", the question is if those global settings mentioned above have any impact on the usage/saving of each texture in VT! Furthermore, if the Virtual Texture is filled up with all ingame textures, i don't need to pack the old textures/materials into our build anymore, is that right?

2, We`re using the Shader Unlit/Transparent for our skyboxes, however, if i`m trying to set up the AT2 Shader - Unlit, none of those shaders seem to work for our skybox.

3, Do you guys have any known issues or additional hints on using AT2 for mobile devices, as there is very little information to be found on your page ( I`ve read that the mobile implementation was a long and tough ride, but maybe you can share a few thoughts on that!)

Looking forward to your reply and thank you very much for your support in advance! (sry for the long post btw)

Cheers,

Gerald
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Ricardo Teixeira]

Hi!

So, I`ve been trying to reach you guys at your support email address...

Anyway, i hope that somebody here can answer my questions about AT2! I'll just copy-paste my Email entry here:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi!

Our company is thinking about purchasing your product "Amplify Texture 2", already downloaded your trial version for testing, if your product is suitable for our product! So far so good, everything works fine after some research in your forum/manual and further testing!

However, we have a few issues still open:

1, How`s AT2 exactly working concerning the VT built if you manually change the quality settings or use the "override for android/etc... in Unity? Will AT2 generate the VT based on the original size of all textures or use one of the mentioned global settings? I'm asking because we would like to use AT2 on mobile devices, thus the actual size of the VT (Virtual Texture) in play mode is an issue for mobile builds! With our first testings it seems that there are differences - any clearification welcome! Edit: We created the VT with "Hardware Level: Mobile", the question is if those global settings mentioned above have any impact on the usage/saving of each texture in VT! Furthermore, if the Virtual Texture is filled up with all ingame textures, i don't need to pack the old textures/materials into our build anymore, is that right?

2, We`re using the Shader Unlit/Transparent for our skyboxes, however, if i`m trying to set up the AT2 Shader - Unlit, none of those shaders seem to work for our skybox.

3, Do you guys have any known issues or additional hints on using AT2 for mobile devices, as there is very little information to be found on your page ( I`ve read that the mobile implementation was a long and tough ride, but maybe you can share a few thoughts on that!)

Looking forward to your reply and thank you very much for your support in advance! (sry for the long post btw)

Cheers,

Gerald
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Gerald,

Thank you for getting in touch, we really appreciate your interest. Did the emails bounce back? We don't see any received emails from your domain on our server.

1. Amplify Texture 2 always uses the maximum texture resolution available to build its Virtual Textures, Unity inspector parameters are mostly ignored. The Hardware Level option in the Virtual Texture inspector will be replaced in upcoming versions, it does not alter any resolutions, it simply defines the tile size for streaming operations. Mobile, or even the Default value, should be sufficient for most projects.

2. Unfortunately, we currently do not offer any Skybox compatible shaders. You would likely have to use a mesh based solution to bypass this limitation.

3. Apologies for the inconvenience, additional information will be made available at a later stage, we are not actively promoting it at the moment. I will send you a PM with additional details.

Be sure to let us know if you have any additional questions, we would be happy to elaborate.

Thanks!

[GeraldP]

Hi Ricardo!

Thank you very much for the quick reply and clearing things up, you have helped us a lot!

For now there`s just one (newbie) question left:
If we`re compiling, for instance a mobile build of our program, do we still need to implement our textures and materials, or is the new generated Virtual Texture sufficient for a stand-alone build version? (I`m asking, because on mobile builds the actual size of any apk is always a pressing matter.)#

cheers, and thanks again
Gerald

[Ricardo Teixeira]

Hi Ricardo!

Thank you very much for the quick reply and clearing things up, you have helped us a lot!

For now there`s just one (newbie) question left:
If we`re compiling, for instance a mobile build of our program, do we still need to implement our textures and materials, or is the new generated Virtual Texture sufficient for a stand-alone build version? (I`m asking, because on mobile builds the actual size of any apk is always a pressing matter.)#
cheers, and thanks again
Gerald

With AT2 your original textures will not add much to the build, they will be simple 64x64 placeholders, so to speak. You can use the same setup for Desktop and Mobile but, should you need to, you could always increase the Virtual Texture compression to reduce the final mobile build size.

I hope that the information above helped, be sure to let me know if that is not the case.

What kind of game is your team working on?

Thanks!

[GeraldP]

Ah, sry, i didn't made myself clear: the thing is, that currently the size of our VT would be around 1,6GB. Question is, can we use the VT instead of our textures? Because, as far as i understand VT, all textures are saved in the VT file, so i guess you wouldn`t need the old textures anymore if you create an apk mobile build... Or do I mix things up?

Sry for bothering you...:-/

Hi Ricardo!

Thank you very much for the quick reply and clearing things up, you have helped us a lot!

For now there`s just one (newbie) question left:
If we`re compiling, for instance a mobile build of our program, do we still need to implement our textures and materials, or is the new generated Virtual Texture sufficient for a stand-alone build version? (I`m asking, because on mobile builds the actual size of any apk is always a pressing matter.)#
cheers, and thanks again
Gerald

With AT2 your original textures will not add much to the build, they will be simple 64x64 placeholders, so to speak. You can use the same setup for Desktop and Mobile but, should you need to, you could always increase the Virtual Texture compression to reduce the final mobile build size.

I hope that the information above helped, be sure to let me know if that is not the case.

What kind of game is your team working on?

Thanks!

[Ricardo Teixeira]

Ah, sry, i didn't made myself clear: the thing is, that currently the size of our VT would be around 1,6GB. Question is, can we use the VT instead of our textures? Because, as far as i understand VT, all textures are saved in the VT file, so i guess you wouldn`t need the old textures anymore if you create an apk mobile build... Or do I mix things up?

Sry for bothering you...:-/

It's not a problem at all, we are happy to help!

When you build a Virtual Texture the original textures will be set to 64x64, they wont add much to the final build size, the actual data used is stored in the Virtual Texture file. Is this not the case on your side? You could be experiencing some sort of issue.

Looking forward to your reply.

[GeraldP]

Ah, ok, now i get it! Thanks for clearing this up!
VT works just fine, in our specific case, i'll think VT would be a great asset, because we`Re using 1300+ Materials and even more textures^^ Thanks again for your help!:-)

All the best,
Gerald

Ah, sry, i didn't made myself clear: the thing is, that currently the size of our VT would be around 1,6GB. Question is, can we use the VT instead of our textures? Because, as far as i understand VT, all textures are saved in the VT file, so i guess you wouldn`t need the old textures anymore if you create an apk mobile build... Or do I mix things up?

Sry for bothering you...:-/

It's not a problem at all, we are happy to help!

When you build a Virtual Texture the original textures will be set to 64x64, they wont add much to the final build size, the actual data used is stored in the Virtual Texture file. Is this not the case on your side? You could be experiencing some sort of issue.

Looking forward to your reply.

[Ricardo Teixeira]

Ah, ok, now i get it! Thanks for clearing this up!
VT works just fine, in our specific case, i'll think VT would be a great asset, because we`Re using 1300+ Materials and even more textures^^ Thanks again for your help!:-)

All the best,
Gerald

Ah, sry, i didn't made myself clear: the thing is, that currently the size of our VT would be around 1,6GB. Question is, can we use the VT instead of our textures? Because, as far as i understand VT, all textures are saved in the VT file, so i guess you wouldn`t need the old textures anymore if you create an apk mobile build... Or do I mix things up?

Sry for bothering you...:-/

It's not a problem at all, we are happy to help!

When you build a Virtual Texture the original textures will be set to 64x64, they wont add much to the final build size, the actual data used is stored in the Virtual Texture file. Is this not the case on your side? You could be experiencing some sort of issue.

Looking forward to your reply.

Happy to hear it. Be sure to keep us posted, we would love to know more about your experience.

For private development discussions, feel to get in touch directly at [email protected]

Thanks!