design issues, suggestions anyone?

I made this really great
building texture.
The deck has very
interesting effect I stumbled
upon as I was creating but I
also ran into same problem
that I don't know how to
resolve.
I am not even sure who ask,
so I thought try to ask in
the texture forums.
I don't want to do transparent
images with these textures
if possible to avoid glitches.
But I want something in windows
and doors
that resembles glass like texture.
If I added to many details to room
the image is blurry or hard to see since I am doing
very small images to fit it all into 512 by 512 texture..
I have experimented with different affects but sadly
this all I keep hitting a wall.
If I increase the size of texture about 512 by 512 to add more
detail and upload
into Second Life often that doesn't correct the blurriness.
Here its grey the windows but if I uploaded the windows are
white the effect
I wanted to do shiny but now some how
that look shiny is gone..
Anyone out there have a clue what I am trying to do?
Any suggestion in how to create this effect I am trying to do
better?

32 read this no response.

/me doesn't quite get it..

You want a texture that looks like a window but doesn't use transparancy?

Sorta like a canned inside image that's maybe blurred and a little shiny which you stick on the outside and a a canned outside image that's blurred and a little shiny which you stick on the inside wall?

Question one: No
Question two: No clue what you're trying to do so it's not applicable.

Sorry I couldn't be more help, but you made it clear you wanted a response.

Assuming you're trying to do the whole wall with one texture to have the effect of windows and a door, I personally would rather deal with extra prims for the windows and doors than have a wall with alpha glitch problems.

If that's not what you're talking about, perhaps if you explained in more detail what you're doing, as from the picture I can't see what you're talking about. Maybe take a high rez photo and post it to flickr (with a link here) for us to look at closer?

A

I can't see how you'd get a realistic glass texture in SL and not have it transparent. because from one angle it'll look ok, and from another, it'll be way off....

even if you're only trying to add a pale reflection you'll have the same problem, and yes it will be blurry instead of sharp like RL glass... no way around that that I know of.

JSYK, 32 views doesn't mean anything, just that the page link was clicked 32 times (but more likely only seen 16 o.0), and doesn't mean the peopl that know your answer saw it.... and it is kind of hard to understand what you're describing.

The only thing I can imagine is a textured glass look... like a mottled glass. Then set the transparency in the prim to 50%.

Yeah but if he did that then the entire wall would be semi transparant.

FD, you can use opacity in your program to fill a region (like a window) with semi-transparancy as long as you're using a 32 bit alpha-RGB file. You MUST use alpha in order to achieve some sort of transparancy, from what I know. When you save the file, save it as an alpha-RGB targa (.tga) file. Those areas that you want to look sort of mottled should be filled with your pattern at a lower opacity (like Cristalle suggested, 50%) but keep in mind that this will be in your graphics program and not SL.

I would make the actual windows a completely different layer than the rest of the shop wall (as opposed to the frames and stuff) so that you can play with the alpha channel as you like.

I think we're all a little confused as to what exactly you want.

I am sorry if I am having hard time explain self...been ill and bit grumpy and impatient.
Sorry about that.
I have spent the last 5 months trying to create certain texture effects in very small city scape like space for 0.60m avatars.
Restriction is I want to do it with as little prims.
Heavy on textures.
I think issue is I want to make image look a certain way but having hard time describing what I am doing.
I want the windows areas to look like windows but not be transparent to avoid the transparent glitch.
When I draw in items in door or windows I want the detail not to go away once I get into into SL.
Then I keep running into color, texture effect and placement issues.
Like if I want design to repeat in one layer but I want the image to change if I repeat it.
When I draw 10 different window rooms in 512 by 512 space
and upload and put it on texture the image changes and becomes distorted and different especially if it repeats.
I don't know how to fix the texture issues like this or even why this happens.
Friend suggested using photographs of areas I wanted staged turning those into textures, drawing in what I want and include that into texture until I get for example 1 prim box with different sides of all the different scenery of the images I want for right left, front, back, roof.
I was given some ideas by 2 other friends on how to do glass effect that appears transparent but isn't.
Its like diamond, shiny but not see through.
Issue is I don't what the name for what I am trying to do or to understand which is proper name for effect is so its not like I could go search Google for it.
And It's been driving me batty.

Wouldn't this depend on whether or not your prim is perfectly square as well? Obviously unless it's a perfect square, it's going to distort, right?

As far as I know there's no way around making something LOOK transparent without BEING transparent, i.e. using an alpha for the windows. You could just make the windows "closed" like put "shutters" on them or something, to avoid that issue altogether? Dunno.

My suggestion would require the use of windows as their own prims. If that is not possible, then no transparency is possible without the use of alpha transparency. If you want something to look like glass, then "paint" a window - a gradient with shades of blue and white.

Yes that is option or I could figure out how to draw jewel like edges with a shiny surface that looks like it could be seen through but can't but I haven't figure out yet how to do it.
Friend said you do use transparent layers except the appearance results are meant for different effect.
I really suck with prims so I prefer using textures because I like drawing.
Issue with using transparent windows is there too many transparent prim layers things
are going to start acting up especially if the layer I need to be transparent is animated...
I think, though I haven't tested this but regular transparent layers so far in world
and I guess even in adobe right now are making me cry in annoyance.
I have no clue how to fix or figure out how to create in ways I want correctly.
Perhaps I should give it rest and try again until after the holidays.
It just having harder time with the tools right now I guess this little cartoon like
display of example of what I am doing and problems I am having.
Not sure if it will make sense but it shows example of my work in early stages and
where I hit problems at.

Not sure if this helps you any FD but I might make something like this for glass:

I make a layer of black and 1 of white and put the attached file on top as a starting point and maybe slide transparency around a bit.

You could put a very blurry image as background too, sorta green at bottom and sorta blue near top. I might do something like bump map the lower layers and turn them on and off to see what looks best.

I might change the background colours or bump the glass/transparent layer or use some noise and blur.

And as usual if not meant to be see through, to flatten the layers before export.
(You prolly know all this already but someone else might try.)

Kornscope that helpful suggestion. Thank you very much. I will try it later out.
That probably would work for windows I don't want seen
through.
I need to figure out how to do bump maps for animations too.
Do you know how to do this in Adobe CS version 8.0 or I guess I can search for it too on google if you don't know.

A couple of ideas for you:

1) Make some curtains to go behind the window and then you don't need any transparency for them. Something like in this picture:
http://www.prattandson.com/regency/window1.jpg

2) Show what's seen through the window, or what is reflecting in the window:
http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/05/48/22594805.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/goamsterdam/1/0/U/2/-/-/Amsterdam-window-reflection.jpg

Thank you Sue.
I hadn't thought of that. Thank you for suggestion.
/FD Spark wonders off to ponders seriously how this could be drawn and produced.

I think the word you are looking for is trompe l'oeil

Trompe-l'œil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of actually being a two-dimensional painting. The name is derived from French for "trick the eye", from tromper - to deceive and l'œil - the eye

So basically you want something that looks real, tricks the eye to thinking it is real, but it isn't (pretty much all of SL LOL)

Thanks Rhaorth I did a search on that technique found some interesting things through Google