Image takes up a lot of FLASH space

[MMerc.1]

Hi,

I want to use an image but it takes up a lot of space in FLASH memory when I add it.

Example:

Image size ------ (no image) ---- 7.55 KB -------- 2.38 KB (same picture but compressed)

FLASH (free) ---- 811.97KB ----- 385.55 KB ----- 385.55 KB

(Instead of) -------------------------- 804.42 KB ----- 809.59 KB

I don't understand why...

Do you have the same problem?

Best Regards

[Ozone]

Check the linker-generated map file.

[MMerc.1]

Where is this file?

Could you explain me?

[Ozone]

Read the documentation/tutorials of your unnamed toolchain.

Map file generation is an optional linker feature. Often set (enabled) with the project setting.

Know your tools.

[MMerc.1]

UP ! :smirking_face:

[Martin KJELDSEN]

Did you do what @Ozone​ asked you to do? Find your map file and check the size of the object for that image. Or just post it here and we can tell you.

Images contain pixels and depending on the quality of your image, the image will take up a pre-defined amount of space in flash. It's unrelated to TouchGFX. We simply read the image and write the value for each pixel.

/Martin

[MMerc.1]

Hi,

Here is the map file :

"FLASH";"0x08000000";"";"1024 KB"

".isr_vector";"0x08000000";"0x08000000";"456 B"

".text";"0x080001d0";"0x080001d0";"131,02 KB"

".rodata";"0x08020de4";"0x08020de4";"14,42 KB"

"FontFlashSection";"0x08024794";"0x08024794";"2,24 KB"

"ExtFlashSection";"0x0802508c";"0x0802508c";"518,43 KB"

"_bassin";"0x0802508c";"0x0802508c";"177,25 KB"

"_bidon_base";"0x08051588";"0x08051588";"4,6 KB"

"_bonde_fond";"0x080527f0";"0x080527f0";"2,64 KB"

"_bouton_retour";"0x08053280";"0x08053280";"21,97 KB"

"_filtre";"0x08058a64";"0x08058a64";"94,06 KB"

"_helice";"0x080702a4";"0x080702a4";"33,79 KB"

"_pac_inactif";"0x080789c8";"0x080789c8";"77,44 KB"

"_pompe_filtration_inactif";"0x0808bf88";"0x0808bf88";"53,16 KB"

"_pomperegulation_inactif";"0x08099428";"0x08099428";"12,63 KB"

"_refoulements";"0x0809c6ac";"0x0809c6ac";"2,52 KB"

"_sonde_inactif";"0x0809d0bc";"0x0809d0bc";"3,39 KB"

"_tuyau_3_12_inactif";"0x0809de48";"0x0809de48";"2,64 KB"

"_tuyau_3_6_12_inactif";"0x0809e8d8";"0x0809e8d8";"3,66 KB"

"_tuyau_3_6_9_12_inactif";"0x0809f778";"0x0809f778";"5,06 KB"

"_tuyau_3_6_9_inactif";"0x080a0bb8";"0x080a0bb8";"3,66 KB"

"_tuyau_3_6_inactif";"0x080a1a58";"0x080a1a58";"2,64 KB"

"_tuyau_3_9_12_inactif";"0x080a24e8";"0x080a24e8";"3,66 KB"

"_tuyau_6_9_12_inactif";"0x080a3388";"0x080a3388";"3,66 KB"

"_tuyau_6_9_inactif";"0x080a4228";"0x080a4228";"2,64 KB"

"_tuyau_9_12_inactif";"0x080a4cb8";"0x080a4cb8";"2,64 KB"

"_tuyau_horizontal_inactif";"0x080a5748";"0x080a5748";"588 B"

"_tuyau_vertical_inactif";"0x080a5994";"0x080a5994";"588 B"

"_vanne_horizontal_actif";"0x080a5be0";"0x080a5be0";"1,8 KB"

"_vanne_vertical_actif";"0x080a6310";"0x080a6310";"1,8 KB"

"TextFlashSection";"0x080a6a40";"0x080a6a40";"164 B"

".ARM";"0x080a6ae4";"0x080a6ae4";"8 B"

".preinit_array";"0x080a6aec";"0x080a6aec";"0 B"

".init_array";"0x080a6aec";"0x080a6aec";"20 B"

".fini_array";"0x080a6b00";"0x080a6b00";"8 B"

".data";"0x20000000";"0x080a6b08";"268 B"

"RAM";"0x20000000";"";"320 KB"

".data";"0x20000000";"0x080a6b08";"268 B"

".bss";"0x2000010c";"";"42,65 KB"

"._user_heap_stack";"0x2000aba4";"";"1,5 KB"

The size of the "_bassin" file is 177,25 KB but on my computer it is 26,5 Ko...

The problem is the same for all files.

[MMerc.1]

HI,

I have attached an image file. The size of this image is 157,8KB in the linker (Build Analyzer - Memory Details - FLASH - ExtFlashSection) but the size is 4.46KB on my computer.

Could you explain to me how can I have the same size between flash memory and my computer?

[chaaalyy]

203x199 Pixels with 24 bit/Pixel + Alpha = how many Bytes ? ... Images in TouchGFX are not compressed, they are just simple Bitmap Arrays ;) Maybe there´s a way to use some kind of JPEG-compression, but i fear, this will have heavy impact on performance ...

[MMerc.1]

Hi chaaalyy,

Thank you for your advice.

I created another subject where I want to use a µSD to store all my images : https://community.st.com/s/feed/0D50X0000CAuoHJ

Do you have any ideas ?

[chaaalyy]

Maybe not from uSD, but as far, as i could see, you use the f746 discovery board ... It has 16MB QSPI flash, you can use ... There are some good videos and tuts out there, i can check them out and provide links later (i´m at work atm and don´t have my toolchain here...)

[MMerc.1]

Hi,

Thanks to @Karl Hönemann for giving me explanations on QSPI : I can store all my images there.

But the end goal is to use the uSD. So if you have information about it, you can send me a message.

I have a few questions about QSPI : is it a component ? Where is it ?

An off topic question : how can I update the program with a USB device ?

See my subject : https://community.st.com/s/question/0D50X0000C9f4YmSQI/how-can-i-load-the-binary-file-via-usb

[AndrewM]

FWIW I faced a somewhat similar situation recently and found I couldn't use all the png's supplied by the graphical artist because the space required was too large. Luckily the images contain lots of similarity and large portions of identically coloured areas (as I see your image does as well). So I was able to use gimp to eg snip the corners from the image and use these as the graphical assets then programatically fill in the internal areas using touchgfx::Box etc.