Drowning in Textures!

[Czari Zenovka]

I like to keep a a really tight, organized inventory and considering I've been in SL now 6+ years and my inventory (including my building supplies, products I sell, etc. in addition avatar items, clothing, etc.) hovers around 8500, I'm pleased overall...except for textures.  I purchased a texture organizer that I really liked years ago which is what I primarily use, now I can't remember the name of it but MM something and I use the HUD version.

Textures that I've used in builds or plan to use in builds are tucked away.  But I have a ton of textures, some of them in freebie packs I must have gotten in 2007!!!  I've been trying to go through them and ruthlessly ditch textures I know I won't use but then I get hit with that nagging, "But I might use this in something...someday" thought.  Also, I file my textures in categories but some textures can be in several such as red fabric that could go in one of my fabric categories as well as the color red.  ARRGGGGHHHH!!!

What texture organization secrets am I missing?  Maybe I should get one of those huge rezzable organizers where I can see the categories at one time.  Any organizers you all like or tips or any advice to help me wrestle my textures into a manageable state are greatly appreciated.  :matte-motes-smile:

[Amethyst Jetaime]

I tried a lot of organizers before another professional builder recommended Gaunts' Organizer to me.  I have never used another one since as this has everything I could want in an organizer.  I've recommended it to other pro builders who are all thrilled with it too.  It is very easy to use, and very easy to  set up and organize your textures with as well.  as sculpts, sounds, animations, notecard etc..  I literally have hundreds of thousands of textures but I can locate the one I want in just a minute.  You can use the organizer as a HUD or rez it in world, or both.  It automatically sizes itself depending on how you use it

I use one organizer for each type of texture in a general category.  Fabric, interior walls, exterior walls, wood, terrain, marble etc.  It has 13 sub organizers that I can further categorize my textures.  For instance for fabric, I use solids, prints, jacquard, lace/netting, draping, etc,.  For exterior walls, brick, blocks, stone,  stucco, vertical siding, horizontal siding, shingle siding etc.,  but you can organize your textures by color or whatever works best for you

Since I keep my textures in organizers and it doesn't add to my inventory count, if a texture fits more than one general category I don't hesitate to put one copy in each. 

 

[Czari Zenovka]

Thank you so very much for that recommendation, Amethyst. :matte-motes-smile:  The way you organize textures sounds a lot like how I have mine set up *but* the ability to have sub-categories under a general category within this organizer is brilliant!!  The ability to also store/organize sounds, gestures, etc. is a HUGE, HUGE bonus.  I read the info on this organizer on the MP plus all the reviews and plan to purchase it ASAP!

[Nefertiti Nefarious]

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I file my textures in categories but some textures can be in several such as red fabric that could go in one of my fabric categories as well as the color red.

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I rename the textures as I sort, and add title and description words so I can search for it. The trick is to use labels that mean something to you that will make it easier to sort out a small group of the 20,000 textures. Pattern (stripe, plaid, abstract) texture (knit, latex, sequin), color

Your example would be in my fabric folder as a first sort, as opposed to the stone, glass, or wood folders, with name and key words to make it easier to find.  Instead of Fab1234 it would be "Red white black Plaid" or "Red floral abstract" or "Red animal spots" or "Red white knit stripe" ... whatever.

If I'm trying to retrieve that cute red plaid I vaguely remember, I can search the fabric folder for red plaid and a small group pops up for visual checking.

[Tiffy Vella]

Blimey you are all so organised! I'm very good at keeping my inventory quite nice, but the textures have completely gotten out of control. I'm at that point where I can't find anything, so just edit something I know has the texture I want on it and get it from there.

The problem set in when I started working in mesh. Before then, I could upload and name a texture logically and know it would be reused many times, through being creative with the repeats and offsets. Now, my texture uploads have quadrupled (materials may almost triple this again), as every texture has dedicated shadow baking. And now, most textures are good only for one specific project. I can't see the use in putting them in organisers.

My texture folder is bulging in a very unsettling manner. Perhaps boxing them up (one box per project) is the way to go?

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

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Tiffy Vella wrote:

 

The problem set in when I started working in mesh. Before then, I could upload and name a texture logically and know it would be reused many times, through being creative with the repeats and offsets. Now, my texture uploads have quadrupled (materials may almost triple this again), as every texture has dedicated shadow baking. And now, most textures are good only for one specific project.

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You can (and should) still use your textures multiple times. I don't see why building in mesh requires baked shadows, although I seem to be one of few. You could make baked shadows for prim and sculpt builds and you can still use all the textures you used to use for mesh builds. Reusing textures in your builds keeps the memory use low, which means performance high and as a side benefits you don't have to upload new textures for every build and you don't end up with a messy inventory.

Try to build around your textures, not texture around your builds.

[Drongle McMahon]

I second what Kwakelde says. The key is making the mesh UV map(s) in such va way that they can be used with general-pupose textures. Where that is possible, performance saving can be substantial. The problem is that these savings are not immediately obvious in the marketplace or on inspection of the object. So there is no incentive for the profit-oriented creator to do the extra work required. Still, we can encourage and hope, I suppose.