Texture size

I have been uploading textures for well over a year now. And yes I did try searching through the forum. I am well aware of SL desire to make any uploaded texture a square (512X512, 1024X1024, etc.). I know I can take a texture and attach it to an object and resize the object. (I saw recently a texture 512 X 1024, so I know they don't have to be squares.)

I have a very nice texture that measures 2048 X 1024. Naturally, when uploaded it turns into a 1024 X 1024. Is there any way to resize a texture once in SL? I can stretch the texture once displayed on my screen but when saved to inventory and pulled back up, it is a square again. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

How big is that texture? 8mb?
That's huge. I believe textures are limited to 1024 now.
And for good reason. No. can't resize the image itself IN SL.

edit: I stand corrected again.
6 Mb and 8 Mb with transparency. Ouch!
I would never see it. I would be gone before it loaded.

You cannot resize a texture after it is uploaded. You resize it on your computer with some program like Photoshop, GIMP, or even MS Paint.

I suggest you make a one 1024x1024, and make another one 256x512. Upload them both, put them on objects, and stretch the objects to the same size. If the objects are really large, you might be able to see the jaggies, but if they are small objects, you probably won't see much difference. The smaller one loads much faster. *MUCH* faster.

lee

If your original is 2048x1024 and you don't want to mess with repeats, scale it to 1024x512 before uploading it. But, like Lee says, and Lee should always be listened to, that kind of resolution is probably serious overkill for SL...

Sorta related and in need of votes: http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-2266

It's a matter of subject.

While simple repeating patterns and basic items can be small, anything that is a feature of a building should be larger. Chances are you will never use more than a few large "key" textures on a building, so if they are important than make them as large as you want.

Try picking one or 2 large textures that provide the bulk of the look, then fill in with low res trims etc.

When you take a large surface and shrink it to a 512x256 Anything with intricate detail will get lost. 256 is really not enough to provide detail, but can only hint on the details. When you build for something to look like its inside a video game then smaller is good. If you want to build to create a acurate looking structure, then you will need to go higher resolution.

There is no categoric answer, it is a matter of balancing what is important and what is not.

Texture quality is also a huge factor. FYI

Thank you Korn, Lee, Sindy and Von. Good advice all the way around. My intent is to just have the texture the size I want, so it looks correct when I share it with friends. Sindy hit on the answer: I took the 2048 X 1024 texture and resized it to 1024 X 512 before uploading. When uploaded it maintained it's 1024 X 512 dimentions. This seems to confirm Korn's comment that 1024 is a limit.

Thank you all again.