Texture Swapping FTW

Working in Home on the PS3 has been quite interesting because of it's restrictions as much as anything else.

Ya see, to get the best from a next gen machine you really have to push some major buttons. You have to work quite hard to make the machine actually sweat. Managed languages put an amazing strain on the systems that they exist on. Even the most efficient ones do.

Then we have working within this managed language, it is like you have a machine but it has had restrictions placed on it, making it less of what it was. This means it is easier to work with, but also easier to reach it's limits. It works out like this on both the PS3 through Home and the Xbox through Xna. Whenever there is an update to the SDKs i get excited. What kind of new goodies have they brought me? Avatar support for Xna?  Rendering control for Home?

So today i tried one of the new features expanded in the last Home HDK, the power to Texture swap. This is an amazing thing and opens up so many possibilities. It also makes art pipelines much more streamlined for replacement of stuff, such as the digits on a digital clock. Now with texture swapping it is real easy. Less work for the programmer and artist both.

It may seem like small step for some, but to me it is very exciting. What amazing things am i goign to do with an artist and this new found power... Only time will tell,

Laters

ps. My family is now back with me, Woohoo! I am soo excited.