Atlas Studio

Module: Art · Category: Atlas · Tool ID: AtlasStudio

A two-tab atlas workflow. Utilization measures alpha coverage and waste on existing atlases — telling you how much of each atlas is actually carrying data vs. transparent fill. Packer lays out a set of source textures into a grid atlas and exports per-source UV coordinates.

Studio open on Utilization tab with a sprite atlas analyzed, showing alpha coverage percentage and waste regions.

When to use it

• Auditing existing atlases for waste: many atlases ship with 30–50% transparent space
• Building new atlases from a folder of source textures (icons, decals, detail textures)
• Producing UV coordinate exports to feed material setups
• Pre-cook validation: atlases that pack 4 sprites into a 4096² are usually wrong

What it isn’t for

• Don’t use this for non-uniform atlases. The packer uses a uniform grid layout. For irregular packing, use a dedicated tool.

Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for Atlas (or browse to Art → Atlas).
2. Click the tool card.
3. Use the tab bar to switch between Utilization and Packer.

Tab 1: Utilization Checker

Audits an existing atlas by sampling alpha coverage.

Interface

Section	What it does
Atlas Texture picker	Drop the atlas to analyze
Analyze button	Computes alpha coverage and waste regions
Coverage stats	Percentage of non-zero alpha pixels, waste percentage
Visual heatmap	Visual indicator of where waste lies

Workflow

1. Drop an atlas.
2. Click Analyze.
3. Read the coverage percentage. Anything below ~50% means the atlas is mostly empty space.

Tab 2: Atlas Packer

Packs a set of source textures into a uniform grid atlas.

Interface

Section	What it does
Source textures list	Add source UTexture2D assets to pack
Grid layout settings	Rows / Columns / Padding
Output resolution	Final atlas size
Pack button	Generates the atlas and computes per-source UVs
Export	Save the atlas as a UTexture2D asset and the UV map as JSON

Workflow

1. Add the source textures via the Content Browser picker.
2. Set the grid layout (typically 4×4 or 8×8).
3. Click Pack.
4. Export the result and the UV map.

Packer tab with 12 source textures listed, grid set to 4×4, packed atlas preview visible.

Settings reference

Field	What it does	Default
Grid Rows / Columns	Layout	4 / 4
Padding	Pixels between cells	0
Output Resolution	Final atlas size	1024

Settings are persisted to [Project]/Saved/EQLabs/Settings/AtlasStudio.json.

Output

• Utilization. In-panel stats only, no asset edits.
• Packer. Creates a UTexture2D atlas in the Content Browser and exports a JSON UV map.

Tips and gotchas

• High waste percentage doesn’t always mean repacking is worth it. If the atlas is rarely sampled, the memory cost is negligible. Worry about atlases used in tight inner loops or VFX-heavy scenes.
• Padding prevents bleed at mip levels. Use 2–4 pixels of padding for atlases that will be sampled at multiple mip levels (especially particle atlases).
• Atlas Studio uses a uniform grid. For irregular packing (different-sized sprites), this tool is the wrong choice.

Related tools

• Texture Sheet Splitter — the inverse: split an atlas into individual textures
• Flipbook Maker — purpose-built flipbook (uniform-grid sprite sheet) creator