Class AssetsClassNamespace

A one stop shop for all Pixi resource management! Super modern and easy to use, with enough flexibility to customize and do what you need!

Memberof

PIXI Assets

Only one Asset Class exists accessed via the Global Asset object.

It has four main responsibilities:

  1. Allows users to map URLs to keys and resolve them according to the user's browser capabilities
  2. Loads the resources and transforms them into assets that developers understand.
  3. Caches the assets and provides a way to access them.
  4. Allow developers to unload assets and clear the cache.

It also has a few advanced features:

  1. Allows developers to provide a manifest upfront of all assets and help manage them via 'bundles'.
  2. Allows users to background load assets. Shortening (or eliminating) load times and improving UX. With this feature, in-game loading bars can be a thing of the past!

Assets Loading

Do not be afraid to load things multiple times - under the hood, it will NEVER load anything more than once.

For example:

import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

promise1 = Assets.load('bunny.png')
promise2 = Assets.load('bunny.png')

// promise1 === promise2

Here both promises will be the same. Once resolved... Forever resolved! It makes for really easy resource management!

Out of the box it supports the following files:

  • textures (avif, webp, png, jpg, gif, svg)
  • sprite sheets (json)
  • bitmap fonts (xml, fnt, txt)
  • web fonts (ttf, woff, woff2)
  • json files (json)
  • text files (txt)

More types can be added fairly easily by creating additional loader parsers.

Textures

  • Textures are loaded as ImageBitmap on a worker thread where possible. Leading to much less janky load + parse times.
  • By default, we will prefer to load AVIF and WebP image files if you specify them. But if the browser doesn't support AVIF or WebP we will fall back to png and jpg.
  • Textures can also be accessed via Texture.from(...) and now use this asset manager under the hood!
  • Don't worry if you set preferences for textures that don't exist (for example you prefer 2x resolutions images but only 1x is available for that texture, the Asset manager will pick that up as a fallback automatically)

Sprite sheets

  • It's hard to know what resolution a sprite sheet is without loading it first, to address this there is a naming convention we have added that will let Pixi understand the image format and resolution of the spritesheet via its file name:

my-spritesheet{resolution}.{imageFormat}.json

For example:

my-spritesheet@2x.webp.json // 2x resolution, WebP sprite sheet my-spritesheet@0.5x.png.json // 0.5x resolution, png sprite sheet

This is optional! You can just load a sprite sheet as normal. This is only useful if you have a bunch of different res / formatted spritesheets.

Fonts

Web fonts will be loaded with all weights. It is possible to load only specific weights by doing the following:

import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

// Load specific weights..
await Assets.load({
data: {
weights: ['normal'], // Only loads the weight
},
src: `outfit.woff2`,
});

// Load everything...
await Assets.load(`outfit.woff2`);

Background Loading

Background loading will load stuff for you passively behind the scenes. To minimize jank, it will only load one asset at a time. As soon as a developer calls Assets.load(...) the background loader is paused and requested assets are loaded as a priority. Don't worry if something is in there that's already loaded, it will just get skipped!

You still need to call Assets.load(...) to get an asset that has been loaded in the background. It's just that this promise will resolve instantly if the asset has already been loaded.

Manifest and Bundles

  • Manifest is a JSON file that contains a list of all assets and their properties.
  • Bundles are a way to group assets together.
import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

// Manifest Example
const manifest = {
bundles: [
{
name: 'load-screen',
assets: [
{
alias: 'background',
src: 'sunset.png',
},
{
alias: 'bar',
src: 'load-bar.{png,webp}',
},
],
},
{
name: 'game-screen',
assets: [
{
alias: 'character',
src: 'robot.png',
},
{
alias: 'enemy',
src: 'bad-guy.png',
},
],
},
]
};

await Assets.init({ manifest });

// Load a bundle...
loadScreenAssets = await Assets.loadBundle('load-screen');
// Load another bundle...
gameScreenAssets = await Assets.loadBundle('game-screen');

Example

import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

const bunny = await Assets.load('bunny.png');

Constructors

Properties

cache: CacheClass

The global cache of all assets within PixiJS

loader: Loader

The loader, loads stuff!

resolver: Resolver

the resolver to map various urls

Accessors

  • get preferWorkers(): boolean
  • Returns boolean

    Deprecated

    since 7.2.0

    See

    Assets.setPreferences

  • set preferWorkers(value): void
  • Parameters

    • value: boolean

    Returns void

Methods

  • Parameters

    • a: ArrayOr<string>
    • Optional s: string | string[]
    • Optional d: unknown
    • Optional f: string
    • Optional lp: string

    Returns void

    Deprecated

  • Allows you to specify how to resolve any assets load requests. There are a few ways to add things here as shown below:

    Parameters

    Returns void

    Example

    import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

    // Simple
    Assets.add({alias: 'bunnyBooBoo', src: 'bunny.png'});
    const bunny = await Assets.load('bunnyBooBoo');

    // Multiple keys:
    Assets.add({alias: ['burger', 'chicken'], src: 'bunny.png'});

    const bunny = await Assets.load('burger');
    const bunny2 = await Assets.load('chicken');

    // passing options to to the object
    Assets.add({
    alias: 'bunnyBooBooSmooth',
    src: 'bunny{png,webp}',
    data: { scaleMode: SCALE_MODES.NEAREST }, // Base texture options
    });

    // Multiple assets

    // The following all do the same thing:

    Assets.add({alias: 'bunnyBooBoo', src: 'bunny{png,webp}'});

    Assets.add({
    alias: 'bunnyBooBoo',
    src: [
    'bunny.png',
    'bunny.webp',
    ],
    });

    const bunny = await Assets.load('bunnyBooBoo'); // Will try to load WebP if available
  • This adds a bundle of assets in one go so that you can load them as a group. For example you could add a bundle for each screen in you pixi app

    Parameters

    • bundleId: string

      the id of the bundle to add

    • assets: UnresolvedAsset<any>[] | Record<string, ArrayOr<string> | UnresolvedAssetObject>

      a record of the asset or assets that will be chosen from when loading via the specified key

    Returns void

    Example

    import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

    Assets.addBundle('animals', {
    bunny: 'bunny.png',
    chicken: 'chicken.png',
    thumper: 'thumper.png',
    });

    const assets = await Assets.loadBundle('animals');
  • Initiate a background load of some assets. It will passively begin to load these assets in the background. So when you actually come to loading them you will get a promise that resolves to the loaded assets immediately

    An example of this might be that you would background load game assets after your inital load. then when you got to actually load your game screen assets when a player goes to the game - the loading would already have stared or may even be complete, saving you having to show an interim load bar.

    Parameters

    • urls: ArrayOr<string>

      the url / urls you want to background load

    Returns Promise<void>

    Example

    import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

    Assets.backgroundLoad('bunny.png');

    // later on in your app...
    await Assets.loadBundle('bunny.png'); // Will resolve quicker as loading may have completed!
  • Initiate a background of a bundle, works exactly like backgroundLoad but for bundles. this can only be used if the loader has been initiated with a manifest

    Parameters

    • bundleIds: ArrayOr<string>

      the bundleId / bundleIds you want to background load

    Returns Promise<void>

    Example

    import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

    await Assets.init({
    manifest: {
    bundles: [
    {
    name: 'load-screen',
    assets: [...],
    },
    ...
    ],
    },
    });

    Assets.backgroundLoadBundle('load-screen');

    // Later on in your app...
    await Assets.loadBundle('load-screen'); // Will resolve quicker as loading may have completed!
  • Instantly gets an asset already loaded from the cache. If the asset has not yet been loaded, it will return undefined. So it's on you! When in doubt just use Assets.load instead. (Remember, the loader will never load things more than once!)

    Type Parameters

    • T = any

    Parameters

    • keys: string

      The key or keys for the assets that you want to access

    Returns T

    • The assets or hash of assets requested
  • Type Parameters

    • T = any

    Parameters

    • keys: string[]

    Returns Record<string, T>

  • Best practice is to call this function before any loading commences Initiating is the best time to add any customization to the way things are loaded.

    you do not need to call this for the Asset class to work, only if you want to set any initial properties

    Parameters

    Returns Promise<void>

  • Loads your assets! You pass in a key or URL and it will return a promise that resolves to the loaded asset. If multiple assets a requested, it will return a hash of assets.

    Don't worry about loading things multiple times, behind the scenes assets are only ever loaded once and the same promise reused behind the scenes so you can safely call this function multiple times with the same key and it will always return the same asset.

    Type Parameters

    • T = any

    Parameters

    • urls: string | UnresolvedAsset<any>

      the urls to load

    • Optional onProgress: ProgressCallback

      optional function that is called when progress on asset loading is made. The function is passed a single parameter, progress, which represents the percentage (0.0 - 1.0) of the assets loaded.

    Returns Promise<T>

    • the assets that were loaded, either a single asset or a hash of assets

    Example

    import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

    // Load a URL:
    const myImageTexture = await Assets.load('http://some.url.com/image.png'); // => returns a texture

    Assets.add('thumper', 'bunny.png');
    Assets.add('chicko', 'chicken.png');

    // Load multiple assets:
    const textures = await Assets.load(['thumper', 'chicko']); // => {thumper: Texture, chicko: Texture}
  • Type Parameters

    • T = any

    Parameters

    Returns Promise<Record<string, T>>

  • Bundles are a way to load multiple assets at once. If a manifest has been provided to the init function then you can load a bundle, or bundles. you can also add bundles via addBundle

    Parameters

    • bundleIds: ArrayOr<string>

      the bundle id or ids to load

    • Optional onProgress: ProgressCallback

      Optional function that is called when progress on asset loading is made. The function is passed a single parameter, progress, which represents the percentage (0.0 - 1.0) of the assets loaded. Do not use this function to detect when assets are complete and available, instead use the Promise returned by this function.

    Returns Promise<any>

    all the bundles assets or a hash of assets for each bundle specified

    Example

    import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

    // Manifest Example
    const manifest = {
    bundles: [
    {
    name: 'load-screen',
    assets: [
    {
    alias: 'background',
    src: 'sunset.png',
    },
    {
    alias: 'bar',
    src: 'load-bar.{png,webp}',
    },
    ],
    },
    {
    name: 'game-screen',
    assets: [
    {
    alias: 'character',
    src: 'robot.png',
    },
    {
    alias: 'enemy',
    src: 'bad-guy.png',
    },
    ],
    },
    ]
    };

    await Assets.init({ manifest });

    // Load a bundle...
    loadScreenAssets = await Assets.loadBundle('load-screen');
    // Load another bundle...
    gameScreenAssets = await Assets.loadBundle('game-screen');
  • Only intended for development purposes. This will wipe the resolver and caches. You will need to reinitialize the Asset

    Returns void

  • General setter for preferences. This is a helper function to set preferences on all parsers.

    Parameters

    Returns void

  • Unload an asset or assets. As the Assets class is responsible for creating the assets via the load function this will make sure to destroy any assets and release them from memory. Once unloaded, you will need to load the asset again.

    Use this to help manage assets if you find that you have a large app and you want to free up memory.

    • it's up to you as the developer to make sure that textures are not actively being used when you unload them, Pixi won't break but you will end up with missing assets. Not a good look for the user!

    Parameters

    Returns Promise<void>

    Example

    import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

    // Load a URL:
    const myImageTexture = await Assets.load('http://some.url.com/image.png'); // => returns a texture

    await Assets.unload('http://some.url.com/image.png')

    // myImageTexture will be destroyed now.

    // Unload multiple assets:
    const textures = await Assets.unload(['thumper', 'chicko']);
  • Bundles are a way to manage multiple assets at once. this will unload all files in a bundle.

    once a bundle has been unloaded, you need to load it again to have access to the assets.

    Parameters

    • bundleIds: ArrayOr<string>

      the bundle id or ids to unload

    Returns Promise<void>

    Example

    import { Assets } from 'pixi.js';

    Assets.addBundle({
    'thumper': 'http://some.url.com/thumper.png',
    })

    const assets = await Assets.loadBundle('thumper');

    // Now to unload...

    await Assets.unloadBundle('thumper');

    // All assets in the assets object will now have been destroyed and purged from the cache

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