FasTC: accelerated fixed-rate texture encoding

Abstract

We present a new algorithm for encoding low dynamic range images into fixed-rate texture compression formats. Our approach provides orders of magnitude improvements in speed over existing publicly-available compressors, while generating high quality results. The algorithm is applicable to any fixed-rate texture encoding scheme based on Block Truncation Coding and we use it to compress images into the OpenGL BPTC format. The underlying technique uses an axis-aligned bounding box to estimate the proper partitioning of a texel block and performs a generalized cluster fit to compute the endpoint approximation. This approximation can be further refined using simulated annealing. The algorithm is inherently parallel and scales with the number of processor cores. We highlight its performance on low-frequency game textures and the high frequency Kodak Test Image Suite.