Create Texture2D and assign image to it through a script

Questions & Answers
1

Im trying to develope a system where if i enter the name of a texture i have in my assets folder, i can create a texture2d object and apply the string name to that object and have it find and apply the image in my assets folder to it.

Where im getting stuck is, when im trying to define the Texture2D asset in my script, i cant just say something like this:

var showImage : boolean = true;
var stringForNewImageToBeDisplayed : String = "myImage";  //this string will be changing through an XML script periodically
var currentImage : Texture2D; //the Texture that im trying to update

function showImageOverlay()
{
    if(showImage)
    {
        //where im trying to assign the name of an image i have in my asset folder
        currentImage = stringForNewImageToBeDisplayed;
    }
}

function OnGUI()
{
    //shows image on screen
    GUI.DrawTexture (Rect (Screen.width*.1, (Screen.height/2)-(((Screen.width*.8)/1.6)/2)-20, Screen.width*.8, (Screen.width*.8)/1.6), currentImage);   
}

This seems like it should be pretty simple but i dont know my way around JavaScript well enough to figure it out. Am i close? Thanks very much for any tips you can give me here!

2

In Unity you don't access textures by name, you access them through references. This not only speeds up game performance, but it minimizes the size of the compiled game because non-used assets are not included.

Typically what you would do is create a public variable in your script, and then assign its value through the Inspector. You can even have arrays of assets if you choose.

The only way to call an asset by name is to place it inside the special folder Resources/. Any asset inside this folder is automatically included in the game, no matter what (even if you don't use it), so using the Resources folder to load assets exclusively is somewhat dangerous.

Any asset you place inside the Resources folder can be accessed by its name, like this:

var myTexture = Resources.Load("myImage");

but remember that anything you want to call by name needs to be in the Resources/ folder. The preferred way of retrieving assets is by reference through the Inspector, but if this absolutely does not work for you, you can use `Resources.Load();`.

Read more about `Resources.Load();` here:

http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/ScriptReference/Resources.html