Texture size 512 vs 256 for clothing details

I will preface this question with a disclaimer: I am not a pro when it comes to Photoshop (self taught with the help of a very patient husband)...so this may be a very silly question.

When creating items of clothing, is it still best to use the 256 x 256 size? I have noticed that some of the details (buttons, buckles...etc) which look great in Photoshop lose their finer points when I actually wear the item in SL.

Will enlarging it to 512 x 512 help with this?

I have tried wearing the item while wearing different shapes and I'm aware of the way the texture stretches over the body, but I cannot see any way to adjust the detailing to account for the stretching.

Is this simply something I need to live with, or do I need to learn to work around the constraints?

Best,

~Ari

You'll see a lot more details at 512x512 since the image area is 4 times as large. But not only that:
The SL client combines all body texture layers (skin textures plus clothing) into single textures for head, upper body and lower body. These 3 "baked" textures have a resolution of 512x512 pixels each. Any clothing texture smaller or larger than that will be scaled. The baking process works fastest when the textures already are 512 pixels large and don't need any resizing.

Some prefer to work in larger sizes when in Photoshop, like 1024 or 2048. This is normally saved as the native .PSD format. It makes it easier to work with brushes and such at this resolution, since its not so splotchy.

Right before you upload to SL, downsample it (reduce image size) in Photoshop to 512x512 and do a 'save as'. Upload this smaller version.

Yeah I definitely recommend this process for achieving a good detail level. I usually work in Painter / Photoshop at 1024 x 1024 resolution - and then save a shrunken copy at 512 x 512 for uploading to SL. Even when it is shrunken it will have a subtle indication of details which aren't as easy to achieve if you created it originally at 512x512 resolution.

I don't recommend 256 resolution for clothing at all since as Ishtara said the image will be bumped up to 512 anyway within SL when the clothing is worn.

what they said

Splendid information. Thank you Ishtara, that explains a lot.

And thank you everyone for your responses.

Yes, I too work in the larger sizes then downscale before uploading to SL.

Anything smaller than 1024 x 1024 and I feel like I'm painting on rice

Best,
~Ari

I normally design at 1024 or 2048 on a side, then scale in Photoshop to 512. Given what has been said about how the new texture baking process works, I must concur that 512 is the only size that makes sense for the textures clothes use in-world. While a 256 texture may take fewer resources, scaling it up to 512 as part of the baking process will also take more time, and is certain to make it look worse. I would have to believe we're better off doing them all at 512, where they don't need to be scaled.