ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Texture atlas

Imagine you have a lot of pictures you want to use in a game, but each picture is small and you need to use a lot of them to create a game. A texture atlas is like a big photo album that puts many small pictures together on one big page.

This way, when the game needs to use a picture, it only has to look on one page instead of searching through many pages to find the picture it needs. It’s like having all your toys in one box instead of scattered all over your room.

In a game, a texture atlas can help make things load faster and run smoother because it reduces the number of pictures the game has to keep track of. It also means the game can use resources more efficiently so you can spend more time playing and having fun.