Spine Atlas Says Linear, but Looks Different? Check the Loader
An atlas filter declaration is not proof of the active sampler. Compare page metadata with what the receiving loader actually uses.
The same Spine export looks different in two projects even though the atlas includes a filter line. Keep the PNG unchanged first. Written metadata and the sampler actually used by a renderer are separate evidence.
Read the two page-level values in order
The official atlas format guide lists filter values for minification followed by magnification, including Nearest, Linear and mipmap variants. It also says a loader may ignore this property.
Consequently, filter: Linear, Linear establishes the contents of a page header, not the active runtime state. Audit each page in a multi-page atlas rather than treating a region name as page metadata.
Compare declaration with implementation
- Keep one skeleton, atlas and complete set of page images, with versions or hashes.
- Record each header's filter and the actual loader and version.
- Have the integration owner inspect texture import and sampler state, including overrides or ignored fields.
- Fix content, background and scale; change only one confirmed variable before reviewing again.
Minified and magnified results should not be collapsed into one report of blur. Record the displayed scale and mark uninspected runtime settings as pending.
A mode name is not a deployment recipe
For a mipmap-related value, consult the installed runtime and graphics backend about support and texture preparation. Editing one string in an unknown project does not validate the whole configuration. No universal material recipe or zero-cost quality improvement is promised.
Pixel-art edges and painted gradients may have different acceptance criteria. Sampling also cannot restore detail already absent from the source.
Distinguish the web preview from game textures
The source pixels and preview scaling checklist concerns display conditions. Browser CSS does not establish a game engine's sampler state. Compare the same original under controlled conditions.
Keep complete exports from Spine Workbench with its guide, then accept them in the target project. No cross-engine quality or performance experiment was run for this article; the cover is not a Nearest-versus-Linear comparison.
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