One of the challenges when converting old API macros or COLLADA objects is often how to make them  framerate friendly. It is not uncommon for such objects to use many small texture files. If you for example load an object from the Google 3D warehouse, don’t be surprised to find it uses 40 different texture files.

For some time it was on my ModelConverterX wishlist already to add some functionality that will merge all these textures into one texture sheet and automatically adjust the mapping on your object as well. Today I started coding on this.

I am certainly not finished yet, but the first results are very encouraging already. The image on the right shows my test application, where I loaded a bunch of textures from a KMZ file. All these pieces have been combined into one big texture sheet.

What I still have to do is make the code to update the texture mapping on the object. And of course to make a user interface to access this drawcall minimizer functionality. But that should not be the hardest part.

So hopefully later this weekend I can have the first beta version ready. But now I am first going to enjoy the snow outside and have a walk.