PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
Developers Conference
March 2001
Silicon Valley Conference Center
March 7 – 9, 2001
Texture Compression
Mike Dean
Mark Breugelmans
SCEE Technology Group
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 2
Agenda
! Maximizing texture efficiency
! Two-pass texture compression
! IPU compression
! Comparisons and conclusions
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 3
Maximizing Texture Efficiency
! 4 MB GS RAM
" Frame buffers, antialiasing
" Z buffer
" Textures - can expect to get ~1.5 MB
! 20 MB/frame bandwidth to GS
" Overheads: DMA arbitration, tags
" Vertex properties
" Streamed textures - can expect to get ~3-4
MB per frame
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 4
Maximizing Texture Efficiency
! Make the megabytes go further by
effective use of:
" 4- or 8-bit palettes
" Tiled textures
" Multi-pass (detail map) textures
! Choose compression technique according
to perception of texture quality
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 5
Maximizing Texture Efficiency
! Monochrome textures can compress well using
4-bit CLUTs
" …but not all textures are monochrome!
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 6
Maximizing Texture Efficiency
! The eye is very sensitive to changes in
luminance
" Restricting range gives noticeable artifacts
" Use GS bilinear filter to interpolate luminance from a
much lower resolution
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 7
Maximizing Texture Efficiency
! A detail map (at low-bit depth) can be applied to
the interpolated low-resolution image
" Sum of data sizes of low resolution image + detail
map can be lower than the combined image
" Detail map could make use of tiling
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 8
Maximizing Texture Efficiency
! Changes in luminance are most noticeable for
darker colors
! This can affect method of color reduction
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 9
Two-pass Compression
Color map
1/16 size
8-bit CLUT up to
32-bit RGBA
Detail map
full-size
Original 24-bit 2-bit or 4-bit
or 32-bit image grayscale
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 10
Two-pass Compression
!
! Detail map CLUT
distribution should be
concentrated around
2.0
center
" Usually,
" Usually, interpolated
interpolated
color
color map
map is
is not
not far
far
wrong
wrong 1.0
" Eye
" Eye is
is sensitive
sensitive to
to
subtle
subtle changes
changes inin
luminance
luminance 0.0
!
! Original
Original pixel/color
pixel/color map
map
pixel
pixel == alpha
alpha multiply
multiply value
value
which
which isis mapped
mapped to to CLUT
CLUT
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 11
Two-pass Compression
2-bit Luminance Textures
CLUT 1
x x 0 0
x x 0 1
x x 1 0
x x 1 1
CLUT 2
0 0 x x
0 1 x x
1 0 x x
1 1 x x
4-bit image
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 12
Two-pass Compression
Decompressing the Texture
! Draw low resolution color map normally
! Draw detail map with alpha multiply
! Two alternatives for detail map drawing
" Decompress to a new texture first
" Draw directly using two passes
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 13
Two-pass Compression
Decompressing the Texture
! Color map can serve as a low-res mipmap
texture
" Detail map need not be transferred if not
necessary
" Detail map can be faded in using the CLUT
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 14
IPU Compression
! Will compress images into a smaller space
than the two-pass technique
! But…
" Awkward path: RAM to IPU to RAM to GS
" Uncompressed image must be sent to the GS
so doesn’t save GS bandwidth
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 15
IPU Compression
! Not generally suitable for in-game texture
use
! But…
" Can be effective for stashed-away sets of
images: loading screens, menu artwork, etc.
" Could unpack the detail and color maps
ahead of time
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 16
Comparisons
! Original image: 128x128 @ 32-bit = 64 KB
! Compressed image
" Color map: 32x32 @ 32-bit = 4 KB
" Detail map: 128x128 @ 4-bit = 8 KB
" Sum: 12 KB
" With 2-bit detail map sum = 8 KB
! (IPU compression: 4KB at Q=~4)
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 17
Conclusions
! ~3-4 MB available per frame for streamed
textures
! This stream can hold > 5 times as many
textures using a 2-pass compression
scheme
! IPU can be used for texture compression,
but only for limited applications
Texture Compression 2001 SCEA CONFIDENTIAL Slide # 18
