Advice on using same image more than once in game

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
1

I am creating a ball game where I display the same ball graphic multiple times.

I had coded it as follows:

  
local ball1= display.newImage("redpoolball.png")  
local ball2= display.newImage("redpoolball.png")  
local ball3= display.newImage("redpoolball.png")  
local ball4= display.newImage("redpoolball.png")  
  
local allBallsGroup = display.newGroup()  
  
allBallsGroup:insert( ball1 )  
allBallsGroup:insert( ball2 )  
allBallsGroup:insert( ball3 )  
allBallsGroup:insert( ball4 )

I was just wondering if I need to load the image in 4 times or is there a more efficient solution loading it only once? [import]uid: 7863 topic_id: 2737 reply_id: 302737[/import]

2

if you don’t need ball1 to ball4, then do it like that:

[lua]local allBallsGroup = display.newGroup()

for i=1,4 do
local ball= display.newImage(“redpoolball.png”)
allBallsGroup:insert( ball )
end[/lua]

Other than this there is nothing that can help you creating instances from the same image. [import]uid: 5712 topic_id: 2737 reply_id: 8181[/import]

3

Thanks Mike

Just wanted to check I wasn’t unnecessarily loading the same image multiple times without needing to do so i.e that I didn’t just need to load it once then reuse it

i.e something like this

  
local allBallsGroup = display.newGroup()  
local ball= display.newImage("redpoolball.png")  
   
for i=1,4 do  
 allBallsGroup:insert( ball )  
end

Thanks

Paul

p.s pleased to read your blog post and hear you have chosen Corona:) [import]uid: 7863 topic_id: 2737 reply_id: 8211[/import]

4

Yes, that’s also a way of doing it. Even shorter. [import]uid: 5712 topic_id: 2737 reply_id: 8217[/import]

5

Thanks Mike - does this shorter way use less resources as it only loads in the image once or is it a case of all the individual balls need to be stored in memory anyway so no real difference? [import]uid: 7863 topic_id: 2737 reply_id: 8225[/import]

6

Not sure the shorter version works.

I tried

  
local allBallsGroup = display.newGroup()  
  
local ball= display.newImage("redpoolball.png")  
  
allBallsGroup:insert( ball )  
allBallsGroup:insert( ball )  
allBallsGroup:insert( ball )  
allBallsGroup:insert( ball )  
  
print ("Number of balls = " .. allBallsGroup.numChildren)

And the result is displaying the following:

Number of balls = 1

[import]uid: 7863 topic_id: 2737 reply_id: 8235[/import]