Clothing template resolution and quality?

Just a quick question ...

Does the resolution of an uploaded clothing template alter the end quality and appearance once rezzed ?

i.e. I've been uploading all of mine at 512 x 512, but it has just occurred to me after seeing Chips templates ( looking forward to using those btw Chip ) that a larger size eg 1024x1024 would give an overall better quality.

Or, do the UV maps depend on it being 512x512.

I almost hope that 512x512 is the maximum supported, as then I won't have to re-make all my clothing in that strive for perfection

Luckily, I have most of the original PSD's ... but it will still be a pain

Thank You

AB

ps : I would check this out in game myself, but I am at work atm

On a related note, is it just me or does there seem to be a lot of poorly designed clothing about at the moment that rely on photoshopped vendor images to sell ?

I've recently created a "junk" folder for clothing I have bought that looked great on the vendor, but on actual wearing are really really bad.

The worst one of late had the alpha textures so horribly wrong, it looked like I was Ill with all the spots over me.

AB

Hi Angelica,

I am far from expert, but I use Chip's 1024x1024 templates (hurrah Chip!). When I'm ready to upload the image, I resize it to 512x512, save to .tga and upload. I keep the working .psd file at 1024x1024.

Saving down to 512 and then using Sharpen gives quite a nice result for some textures.

Buggered if I can remember where I was advised to do this, I've been doing it since I started working on clothing <grin> But I'm sure someone told me at some point to use 512 for clothing, and I've never tried to use the higher resolution.

If someone was unhappy with the quality of an item I sell, I would really appreciate it if they IM'd me, so I could repair it, remove it from sale, or at the very least, learn from my mistakes!

Hope that helps,
Fairge

The UV maps do not depend on 512x512. As long as the canvas is square, it could realy be any size and it would work. However, you should stick with 512x512 anyway. Consider that every 1024x1024 texture takes 16 times as long to rez, and uses 16 times the memory of every 512x512. As it is, avatars are the hardest thing for SL to render. There's no need to add to that burden by increasing the texture sizes. Yes, you'd improve the detail level of your clothing, but the amount of extra lag you'd cause just isn't worth it. Remember, there are thousands upon thousands of highly detailed articals of clothing all over SL that are all 512x512. If it ain't broke...

What they said I always resize my clothing and skin textures to 512x512 before uploading. The reason I like to work at a higher resolution when creating is that doing it larger and then scaling down tends to soften or hide some imperfections. It's also easier to match seam details at higher resolutions. If you're off by a few pixels at 1024, chances are it'll look like a perfect match when resized to 512.

Thanks for the advice all

I'm glad I don't have to rework all my clothing, but I think I will give Chips' templates a go for my next piece. Doing the seams by trial and error is a little time consuming

Take care

AB

Actually I use 128x128 and 256x256 more than I use 512x512. I reserve 512x512 for things that need special details. Lace, readable text, etc. There is no reason ot make a black shirt with a smiley face on it 512x512 for example. Most people you see in SL you don't see for long periods of time. The smaller the texture the faster it will load and the more detail they will see. A fully rezzed 128x128 texture (which is tiny) is more detailed than a blurry 1024x1024 one. Also the thing about them having to be square is technically wrong. SL stretches them fine like most 3d aps do. You could easily use 128x1024 if you had a wild hair in your bum to do so. I recommend squared resolutions for normal clothing but prim based stuff you can very often cut your texture size in half and lose no noticeable detail by just going 256x512 or whatever the case may be and then setting it to .5 repeats on the smaller dimension.


Also, you may want to consider looking for the 3d paint program called tattoo since it is free. Use that for your basic seam outlays and you will save yourself a lot of trouble. THen use chips overlays in your 2d program for detail and content.

The UV templates for the avatars are square. If you create your textures in a different aspect ratio they'll get resized to square which will lead to loss of detail and smudging.