Question

Please answer these questions:

1. Is it true that if a BufferedImage is of type INT_ARGB it will be rendered at the same speed as a Toolkit generated Image object?
2. Are BufferedImages and Images “equal” for games? (speed & memory efficiency wise)
3. Is it correct that BufferedImages will not play an animated *.gif because the image data is buffered?
4. Will the animated image data stored in an Image object be lost if the Image is drawn to a BufferedImage which is then rendered to the screen through a Graphics object?

Answer 1

While BufferedImage is not intrinsically animated, they are frequently used to pre-load or pre-render complex images in order to speed up animation. This KineticModel is an example. This AnimationTest shows one way to examine rendering time.