MipMap

MipMaps (also called MIP maps and mipmaps) are different sizes of a main texture. These are used by 3D engines when the camera moves further away from objects. The advantage of mipmaps is that much less processing power is needed to use a smaller texture, and the level of detail is not needed when the camera is further away. Mipmaps tend to be in powers of two, so as well as the main texture there may one half the size of that, one a quarter of the size and one an eight of the size. The .dds file format used much in DirectX, and by extension DarkGDK, to store textures natively has support for control over mipmaps, but other formats need to have mipmaps generated by 3D engines. This gives the artist less control.