Module quicksilver::tutorials::_09_animations_and_atlases

When image loading and asset combinators are combined, we can go from loading a simple image and drawing it to the screen to more complex uses of image files, like spritesheets or texture atlases.

An Animation is a linear series of Images that loops when it completes. You can provide either an iterator of images to Animation::new (as well as how many frames Animation ticks) or an image and an iterator of regions to Animation::from_spritesheet. Either way, the Animation will have a linear collection of frames. Each time you draw, you should call the Animation::tick function so that the animation advances; you can access the current frame of the animation with the Animation::current_frame at any time.

An Atlas is a structure that stores animations and images in a single actual image file. This greatly improves GPU performance by reducing the number of texture unit switches. Quicksilver uses the LibGDX file format to load an Atlas, described on Spine's website. You can query from an Atlas with the Atlas::get function which returns an AtlasItem. An AtlasItem is just an enum of Image and Animation.