Creating New Textures Programatically

Introduction

The easiest way to create a Texture2D is to drop a Texture2D into the FlatRedBall Editor. It generates code for loading the Texture2D.

Alternatively you can load a graphical file and create a Texture2D using FlatRedBallServices as follows:

Texture2D myTextre = FlatRedBallServices.Load<Texture2D>("redball.png");

While this code addresses many common scenarios, you may want to create your own textures programatically. This section discusses various topics on how to create Texture2Ds in code.

Creating a simple Texture2D

The following code creates a Texture2D which is all red, then displays the Texture2D using a Sprite.

Add the following using statement:

Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.Texture2D;

// Define the properties of the to-be-created Texture2D
int textureWidth = 32;
int textureHeight = 32;
int numberOfMipmapLevels = 0;

// Create the Texture
Texture2D texture2D = new Texture2D(
    FlatRedBallServices.GraphicsDevice,
    textureWidth,
    textureHeight,
    numberOfMipmapLevels,
    TextureUsage.AutoGenerateMipMap,
    SurfaceFormat.Color);

// Now let's modify the contents
Color[] colorData = new Color[textureWidth * textureHeight];
texture2D.GetData<Color>(colorData);
for (int i = 0; i < colorData.Length; i++)
{
    colorData[i] = Color.Red;
}
texture2D.SetData<Color>(colorData);

// The Texture should probably be added to a ContentManager
string nameOfTextureInContentManager = "Generated Texture";
string contentManagerName = FlatRedBallServices.GlobalContentManager;
FlatRedBallServices.AddDisposable(
    nameOfTextureInContentManager,
    texture2D,
    contentManagerName);

// Finally create a Sprite to show the Texture2D
SpriteManager.AddSprite(texture2D);

GeneratedTexture.png