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.