title: c++ 12bit variable, how can I do this?
body: <p>I'm building a voxel engine so I have concerns about memory usage, using 12bit instead of 16bit block ids could save a lot of memory. I have a 3D array of block ids, each id has a static configuration.</p>
  
  <p>I'm not sure what a good way to achieve this would be. Is there a way to just get a block of raw memory and manage it myself and would this be a good idea; are there any problems I might run into? Is there a better way to do this?</p>
  
  <p>I have some experience with c++, but most of my time was spent with Java and c#.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks for reading!</p>