Libgdx packing a NinePatch into TextureAtlas

Question

I have seen, that you can pack NinePatches into TextureAtlas by using TexturePacker2. I have also seen this and this. But i am not sure if understood it correct. I want to pack all my GUI-stuff into one TextureAtlas and my GUI-stuff is not only made of NinePatchs but also of some TextureRegions. Is it possible to combine NinePatchs and TextureRegions in one TextureAtlas? Can i use the deffault settings or do i have to make some custom settings like paddingX, paddingY in the .JSON file? And in my game can i load the NinePatch by using atlas.createPatch("patchimagename"); or would it be better to safe everything as TextureRegions and create the NinePatch out of it?

Answer 1

Lets imagine you have that files structure you use for TexturePacker2:

images/
  image1.png
  image2-ninepatch.png   <-- this is NinePatch
  image3.png

Just change your extention of NinePatch files from .png (for example) to .9.png (and add 1px border to it, if needed).

images/
  ...
  image2-ninepatch.9.png
  ...

After this you could use Skin to wrap your textures and easly extract NinePatch and TextureRegion from Atlas:

TextureAtlas atlas = ... // load the Atlas
Skin skin = ... // create some root skin or use created one
skin.addRegion(atlas); // register atlas in skin

Furthermore, you could add many atlases to one skin!

Now you could do these:

1. Get TextureRegion by name:

   public TextureRegion getRegion(String region)
   {
       return skin.getRegion(region);
   }
   

2. Get NinePatch by name:

   public NinePatch getNinePatch(String region)
   {
       return skin.getPatch(region);
   }
   

3. Even use your images (TextureRegion or NinePatch) in your UI components (like button background etc) that use this skin.

I hope it helps you!