assets

Asset loading, lifetime management, and registry.

This crate is the central hub for all on-disk assets consumed by the engine. It provides:

• AssetHandle — a lightweight identifier (path + type tag) that locates an asset inside the asset tree.
• Handle<T> — a ref-counted, typed wrapper around loaded asset data; the last [drop] triggers an AssetUnloaded event.
• AssetRegistry — scans the asset directory at startup, validates every .dirkasset descriptor, and vends Handle<T>s on demand.

Asset file format

Every asset on disk is described by a JSON file with the .dirkasset extension. The file lives alongside (or near) the source data it references. Example for a model:

{
  "meta": { "asset_type": "Model" },
  "model": { "gltf": "hero.gltf" }
}

The meta.asset_type field determines which config section is used. Each asset type has its own optional config object (currently only "model").

Quick start

use dirk_assets::{AssetRegistry, AssetHandle, AssetType, AssetLoaded, AssetUnloaded, Model};
use dirk_events::EventManager;

# fn test() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
// 1. Initialise — scans ASSETS_PATH and validates all .dirkasset files.
let events = EventManager::new();
let mut registry = AssetRegistry::init(&events)?;

// 2. Load an asset by its handle string (path relative to ASSETS_PATH).
let handle = registry.load_asset::<Model>(
    &AssetHandle::from_raw("models/hero.dirkasset", AssetType::Model))?;

// 3. Subscribe to receive load events for future loads.
let loaded_consumer = events.subscribe::<AssetLoaded<Model>>();
let unloaded_consumer = events.subscribe::<AssetUnloaded>();

// 4. Game loop — call once per frame.
loop {
    events.dispatch_all();
    registry.tick();

    for event in loaded_consumer.consume_all() {
        let data = event.handle.take()?;
        // ... upload data to GPU
    }
    for AssetUnloaded { handle } in unloaded_consumer.consume_all() {
        // ... remove data from the GPU
    }
}
# Ok(()) }