pixels/m2

Hi,

Does anybody know if there is a fixed ratio of pixels by square meter. What I would like to do is to create some textures so that when applied on faces of a prim of a know size they won't stretch, distort or tile.

Thanks !

bad, bad and good news.

There is no fixed pixels per sqm, it depends on each resi's screen resolution as well as their camera's distance from your object.

So.....
Textures do shrink/stretch as cameras move furthe/closer to the face.
Textures do distort as the angle between the face and the camera changes.
And the good news - by setting repeats per face (U and V) you have full control over tiling.

Thanks Ben,

But since the same resolution also applies to the prim, the ratio (if there's one) would remain constant, no? I undestand that the texture must change depending on the camera position and angle, but what I was thinking about is at zero distance, zero rotation. I may be just splitting hairs, but I think it would be better to start with a texture that matches the prim pefectly.

I'm afraid not. My laptop, for example, has a wide screen, while my desktop machine is 4:3 - so a prim that appears square on both machines, even with the same number of vertical pixels, has a different number of pixels across.

Your texture size constraints are that widths and heights must be 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 or 1024. Width and Height can be different - so 256x64 is valid. If you don't use one of these "powers of two", the SL client will resize to the closest one, without telling you. Trust me, your graphics app (PS, PSP, GIMP, etc) will do a better job of this that SL will.

Above all, you need to balance quality with lag. The larger the texture, the more lag you cause (network lag AND fps lag) and the longer it will take for the texture to even appear. Go as large as you need to - but no larger.

If the sign on top of your shop (for example) is very large, you may be tempted to use a width of 1024 - but remember that most people will only ever see it from 20m away. Rather use 512 or 256 (or even 128 if it works for your image) so that 98% of resis experience low lag while never seeing quality problems, than give everyone grief so that the 2% who zoom in close are pleased.

Ah, I see now. I never thought about the screen aspect ratio. Also didn't know about the size constraints and that texture size introduced lag.

Thanks Ben