In one of my project I need to reduce the app size. So I was thinking of removing all of PNG images from the source and replace them with SVG or UIBezierPath icons ( created by PaintCode ).
So I was wondering does it help to reduce the app size ?
And also will it also help to improve app performance by any chances ?
Meanwhile, please don't recommend to compress my images, cuz all of them are already compressed to the maximum. I'm just thinking of some other option rather than using png icons.
Related
I am having an issue where the images are rendered with a strange glowing effect around them, pictured here:
It is tough to see from this close but is extremely noticeable when viewing the app. Also, taking these screenshots into a design program and using the color dropper will prove that there is a glow around these images. Each of these images are PDF files, rendered as a template image so that I can change the tintColor instead of adding more images to my assets folder for each color.
I have read some other articles and questions that says there isn't full support for vector graphics yet (here). However, that is outdated as it specifies iOS 7 as the latest version at the time of writing. Now in iOS 13, I assume there have been changes. Another article I read said to never use vector graphics as they can get messed up when Xcode generates PNGs from the PDFs (here).
Information about the assets in my Images.xcassets:
Render as: Template Image
Resizing: Preserve Vector Data
Scales: Single Scale
I also tried to implement 3 PNGs at different sizes (#1x, #2x, #3x) for each image but got the same effect.
Creating new images with a smaller border size got rid of the glow but obviously, that doesn't fit the design style style that I want in an app. I designed these Icons in Sketch and used a border size of 3, then exported as PDF.
So, as I was writing this question I seemed to have found an answer.
It turns out it had nothing to do with anything in Xcode. The problem lies with Sketch. I redesigned each element in Adobe Illustrator, exported them as PDFs, set the same settings in the assets folder like so:
Render as: Template Image
Resizing: Preserve Vector Data
Scales: Single Scale
Here are the updated screenshots:
I am using:
Sketch (Version 52.5)
Adobe Illustrator (Version 24.2.1)
I don't know why this is an issue, but I hope it can help someone who has this issue down the road. If anyone has any more information on this, please write a comment :).
One of our team member is urging to use SVGs using github.com/pocketsvg/PocketSVG, instead of regular assets #1x #2x #3x. We have over a hundred image sets.
I have 2 questions:
1) 100s of SVG data rendered using PocketSVG or even another library, is that gonna be a performance kill?
2) Using SVGs over regular assets, going to make any different visually, though our designer have these all images extracted properly using vectors.
Thanks in advance.
Answer for first Question : Yes, Whenever trying to show an image on the screen, it will process your SVG file and create a new image assets. May be the library can cache the image to avoid second time processing.
You no need to use PocketSVG if you have all SVG images on your Asset Catalog. Because Xcode Asset catalog itself able to handle the SVG images.
Xcode will create #1x #2x #3x images from SVG file at the time of compilation.
Answer for second Question : SVG is a vector image. You can extract good quality image from svg. You will not get any different by using #1x #2x #3x images or SVG image.
The advantage of using SVG is no need to create one more asset #4x if Apple introduced another different screen resolution devices. Just recompile the code Xcode will create on behalf of you
Refer the link : How to use vector in Xcode
I have been looking at SVGKit and I am finding conflicting ideas. Some say it's slower than PNG and others saying it is fast.
I was hoping to get a recommendation and which route I should take. When I am exporting my vector graphics to PNG for display, would it not make sense to use an SVG instead ?
Of course this gives the added value that it remains a vector.
Or is it still recommended in exporting everything to a PNG ?
You might consider the middle-way introduced in Xcode 7. Here you add your assets to the project as vector images (PDF) and at build-time Xcode automatically generates the PNGs in all needed sizes (1x, 2x, 3x).
Personally, I only use SVGs when necessary, like if I need to be able to change the color of the (parts of the) image. I believe there can be a performance hit when resizing vector images at run-time, although Android uses vectors as default, so it might be insignificant.
SVG is most resource intensive and can be used if you need to display something that can be zoomed in and out while PNG should be preferred for most UI graphics (logos, icons, etc.), as it is crisp yet remains lightweight and fast to display so there is no way to compare SVG with PNG in term of Performance.
if you are going after a Crystal clear images you can use pdf based graphics, which are supported by Xcode Using Vector Images in Xcode
if you still need to implement SVGKit i always suggest using some tools (like SVGCleaner) to clean and simplify SVG in order to enhance performance.
My app requires that each user has a profile picture of around 140*140px. Right now I am using jpgs, I am wondering if performance wise it will be better to use pngs. I read pngs are good for small UI elements and images, jpg for large images with detail such as photos. Obviously my profile pics are photos but they are small. Would it make much difference switching to png? Thanks
JPEG is best for small file sizes of photos, even for low resolutions.
PNG makes sense when there are many pixels of the exact same color next to each other. This is not the case with photos.
These should be helpful for you.
When to use PNG or JPG in iPhone development?
PNG vs. GIF vs. JPEG vs. SVG - When best to use?
Apple optimizes PNG images that are included in your iPhone app bundle. In fact, the iPhone uses a special encoding in which the color bytes are optimized for the hardware. XCode handles this special encoding for you when you build your project. So, you do see additional benefits to using PNG's on an iPhone other than their size consideration. For this reason it is definitely recommended to use PNG's for any images that appear as part of the interface (in a table view, labels, etc).
As for displaying a full screen image such as a photograph you may still reap benefits with PNG's since they are non-lossy and the visual quality should be better than a JPG not to mention resource usage with decoding the image. You may need to decrease the quality of your JPG's in order to see a real benefit in file size but then you are displaying non-optimal images.
File size is certainly a factor but there are other considerations at play as well when choosing an image format.
I am going to work on client application, in which he need to have whole app locally resources loading, and I have almost 70mb images files for iPad. I am going to start development soon but before that I need healthy suggestion and guidelines to reduce my app size with these images use locally. I don't want to make this heavy size like any 3d game? So I am looking for suggestion what should I do? Thanks in advance.
There are few ways:
zip all the image resources in the bundle. On first launch, extract that zip folder into documents directory and refer the image from there only. You will have to do it on first launch only.
create jpeg version of your images with some reduced quality. Apart from icon and splash, you can use jpeg version of images.
If possible, use 1 pixel width/height images for repetitive gradients.