Improving Avatar Performance With New Avatar API Options
We are introducing new texture format options and a new lod parameter for the Avatar API. Combined, they allow for up to 40% smaller avatar files and 70% lower triangle count – drastically improving the performance of your app.
Last year, we introduced the Avatar API – our biggest step in improving the performance and interoperability of our avatars in your apps and games. In its initial form, you could adjust the meshLOD and texture size – letting you optimize avatars’ quality to fit your specific use case better. With today’s release, we are bringing additional options to the API, allowing reducing avatar file size and bringing even more avatars in a single scene without performance compromises.
Pick from new texture file format options
Texture files are one of the biggest contributors to an avatar’s file size and runtime performance. You now have the option to change the format of the avatar textures. We bring support for JPEG, PNG, and WEBP texture encoding. Support for KTX is coming in the future too.
When using WEBP formatted textures, you can expect up to 40% smaller avatar file sizes without a noticeable quality loss.
More LOD adjustment options
Another way to greatly improve the performance of your app is by reducing the level of detail of avatars, especially if they appear small or they are far from the player’s view.
The existing meshLod parameter of the Avatar REST API allows you to apply automatic triangle count reduction on an avatar’s body. This can reduce the total triangle count by up to 50%. The new lod parameter lets you reduce the triangle count by up to 75% when compared to the highest quality available (lod=0).
Unlike the meshLod parameter, lod triangle count reduction also applies to an avatar’s head model. As a result, you can expect a 17% and 23% improvement in total avatar triangle count reduction when using lod=1 and lod=2 respectively.
You can continue to use the meshLod parameter to reduce the triangle count of equipped assets without affecting the head model.
The new texture file formats and the lod parameter are available now to all Ready Player Me developers and are supported on all assets – including ones uploaded using the Asset Manager. Check out our developer docs to learn more.
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