Java3D: How to avoid OutOfMemoryError while using textures

Question

I'm creating several visual objects in loop:

...
Package packet; // a visual packet
for(int i = 0; i < numberOfSteps; i++){
  packet = new Package(packetSize, packetSize, packetSize);

  // position, rotate, etc. and add to scene graph
}
...

The Package is basically just a simple cube with a texture. The constructer of package looks as follows:

public Package(float x, float y, float z) {
    Appearance appear = new Appearance();
    BufferedImage filename = null;

    try {
        filename = ImageIO.read(getClass().getResource("package.jpg"));
    } catch (IOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
        System.exit(1);
    }

    TextureLoader loader = new TextureLoader(filename);
    ImageComponent2D image = loader.getImage();
    Texture2D texture = new Texture2D(Texture.BASE_LEVEL, Texture.RGBA,
            image.getWidth(), image.getHeight());
    texture.setImage(0, image);
    appear.setTexture(texture);
    textureCube = new Box(x, y, z, Box.GENERATE_TEXTURE_COORDS, appear);
}

So I'm loading the same texture over and over again in the loop which eventually causes an OutOfMemoryError. Is there anyway to avoid/optimise that?

Answer 1

The most obvious optimization is to cache your BufferedImage :

class ImageProvider{

   private static Map<String, Image> images = new HashMap<String, Image>();

   public static Image getImage(String filename){
       if(!images.contains(filename))
           try {
              images.put(filename, ImageIO.read(ImageProvider.class.getResource(filename));
           } catch (IOException ignore){
              //will return null if image cannot be loaded
           }

       return images.get(filename);
   }
}

Depending on the manipulations you make later, you could also cache your ImageComponent2D objects and/or your Texture2D objects.

Answer 2

Instead of creating a new Texture over and over again, try rearranging your code so it reuses the same texture. This way, the texture only needs to be loaded once, and uses less memory because of that.

Answer 3

So the short answer is yes. you can optimize, it looks like unless i am mistaken that in theory you could reuse that same "Package" object, and just change some params within it to reduce memory use, you are loading that texture in multiple times into memory for the packages you create