Texture resolution or sizes now for uploading.

I know it has always been said in the past you can upload any multiple of 2 for your graphic dimensions, but I also thought I remembered SL now adjusts the images to fit 256, 512, or 1024. Which is true? Can you upload something between 512 and 1024 and have it remain that pixel count and aspect ratio?

I need to know this rather quickly. Can't experiment.

Thanks.




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Yes you can upload textures at resolutions other than powers of two (there's a difference in multiples of two and powers of two.........but I'm pretty sure you were speaking of powers). SL will resize the texture down the next power of two size. For instance if you upload a texture at 700 by 600 SL will resize to 512 by 512. I'm not sure but SL will also resize to a size where the pixel count is not equal and size to the next lower size per side. For instance if you want to upload a texture that is 600 by 300 SL will resize to 512 by 256...........but I'm not positive about that (it may resize to 256 by 256 or 512 by 512.

The texture will be distorted but you can, to some degree, fix it by what every prim you may put the texture on and sizing it to the correct preportions. SL's resizing method is less than desirable though......it's much better to resize in an imagining program before uploading.

Thanks for the quick reply. That's what I needed to know. So it's best to upload in 512 x 512, and not go for 400 x 600.

Sigh . . .

To be clear, it was never multiples of two. It has always been powers of two.

So you know, this is not just an SL thing. It's par for the course in 3D graphics. OpenGL, the graphics language that SL is written in, required that all textures be measurable in powers of two for most of its history. That requirement has been relaxed in recent years within the language itself, from what I understand, but a lot of hardware and software still adhere to the original rule set. If I remember correctly, LL did experiment with allowing non-power-of-two textures in SL, and what they discovered was they couldn't suspend the rule because too many graphics cards were crashing instantly upon encountering the unconventional sizes.

So yeah, sizes like 400x600 are not directly usable. They never have been, and probably never will be. SL will end up resizing that to 256x512. As Peggy said, it's better to resize it yourself in a good image editor like Photoshop, since SL's automatic resizings won't always be pretty.

For more information, you'll find a sticky at the top of this forum, entitled Texture Size, Pixel Counts, Video Memory, and File Formats.

Armed with this info it has empowered me to upload my own images in a variety of size options for the end user (assuming there ever is one) with more control.

This also explains why my earlier uploads come across as blurry. They became 256 in at least one dimension. I can hardly wait to see my new 512s.

It was something I needed in a hurry and didn't feel I had time to research. Thanks