Alpha and Transparency in Images

Since much of a Storyboard UI is composed of images, the format and organization of those images can have a dramatic impact on performance. One of the key performance issues related to image rendering and composition is the use of full or partial transparency. Large areas of full transparency can result in may CPU or GPU cycles consumed needlessly traversing pixel areas. Similarly images that are fully opaque but in a format that indicates they may have some level of per pixel level transparency can be optimized at Design into a different format. Image format optimization and consolidation is covered in more detail in the optimization chapter of this manual.