Reducing Texture Size

[JoJo Aurelia]

I'm guilty of using 1024 size textures for clothing because I can't get the print fabrics to look clear or pop. But, now I must save at 510 because the size is so small and it's mesh (mesh baby clothes); my question is, what is the magic setting to make the clothing pop at 510 on mesh in Photoshop? I use details like stitching, elements, but they fuzz out at 510. I've tried playing with every possible setting to reduce and save in Targa, PNG, Jpeg, with no good results. I have a tone of clothing made but there's no way I'm uploading these clothes if they don't look sharp.

I've been searching all over Google but nothing really explains this issue, rather it declares the image will not degrade if saved as a TARGA. Wrong, they do! Help... I've been designing for 10 years and I've yet to figure this out! First one is 501, the second is 2014. I hope this sampling works! Thanks for any direction. I know there's tons written but I can't find it!

[Chic Aeon]

I don't make clothes  but for mesh clothing you can make your texture at a larger size and the uploader will turn that INTO a smaller texture size )1024 I believe holds true for MESH clothing.  If you are uploading 510 textures the uploader will resize to 512 and automatically make it more blurry -- so you DO want at least 512s.

When I textured mesh clothes in Opensim I used larger textures with no issues. 

Another thing that many designers do is to use SEVERAL textures for one garment -- often as many as four for a blouse. Yes, this causes lag, but it is still done.   

My suggestion would be to try making your texture at 2048 and seeing if that improves. The uploader will change these to 1024s. 

Good luck. Maybe someone that makes clothes daily will hop in here --- or not. We don't see a lot of clothing people helping out these days. In the past they did. Hmmmmm. 

[duLuna Bosatsu]

I guess I'll pop in after Chic's comment.

 

The first thing I notice is that the waistline blur is either a combination from your UV map not being dialed in and/or the actual vertices on your mesh are far apart so it's literally stretching the texture. You'll want to close that gap on the actual mesh.

As for the rest of the image, make sure you're working in 300 dpi, if you're working with the default 72 it'll look shoddy when resized.

You could also try using Smart Sharpen to over sharpen a tiny bit, it's a simple trick but effective.

Edited April 30, 2019 by duLuna Bosatsu

[JoJo Aurelia]

Thank you. The mesh is made but the baby maker not me. Also she's limiting the size to 510. I'll address with her. Thank you very much. 

[JoJo Aurelia]

Ok I saved it at 300 dpi and it helped. I also sharpened it. Thank you. I should know this after ten years! But I only worked with sculpt baby clothes and not mesh, and back in the day was an applier clothing maker. Again, thank you! Great groups here in SL.

[Kyrah Abattoir]

Working at a higher resolution can help, if your target is 512, 1024 or even 2048, and then reduce your work to the target size when you save the final .TGA, experiment with the different reduction algorythms that your software provide to see which one gives you the best results.

Also pass a thank you to whoever you are working with for imposing maximum texture dimensions.

But do tell them that it's 512 and not 510.

[Raevyn Addams]

On 4/30/2019 at 12:47 PM, Chic Aeon said:

My suggestion would be to try making your texture at 2048 and seeing if that improves. The uploader will change these to 1024s. 

Just a quick question; don't textures at 1024 and above create lag? I thought optimal for textures was 512? Now I'm confused 🤔

[Chic Aeon]

16 minutes ago, RaeLeeH said:

Just a quick question; don't textures at 1024 and above create lag? I thought optimal for textures was 512? Now I'm confused 🤔

It totally depends on HOW the 1024 texture is used.

If it is ONE texture for a fairly complex piece of furniture, then it is a good deal. If it is a 1024 texture for a match stick head (that's a joke that a few folks will get :D) then it is definitely not.  It depends on how that 1024 texture is used. 

If it is a BUNCH of 1024 textures for one piece of furniture then likely not (and there is the most often seen problem) and if it is FOUR 1024 textures for a cropped tank top (oh my!) then definitely not a good thing. 

Also if people are using 1024 normal and specular maps -- that adds a bunch of download  (and one reason why I stay away from normal and specular maps in SL). 

A 1024 texture is the equivalent of four 512 textures by the way.  Info above is talking about baked textures for mesh, not TILING textures which are still used but not as often these days. And of course are MY opinion. Others obviously have other opinions on the subject, hence some of our issues LOL.  

 

EDIT: Note also again that I said that the 1048 will BECOME a 1024 so there IS no 2048 texture option in SL.  It was found by some really good tester (sorry forgot who) that the uploader currently does a better job than resizing before uploading ---- for SOME graphics software (including mine).  

Edited May 3, 2019 by Chic Aeon

[ChinRey]

6 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

Info above is talking about baked textures for mesh, not TILING textures which are still used but not as often these days.

As far as the viewer is concerned, a texture is a texture whether it's baked or tiled so your comments apply to both.

[Chic Aeon]

4 hours ago, ChinRey said:

As far as the viewer is concerned, a texture is a texture whether it's baked or tiled so your comments apply to both.

Not arguing that. My point was that TILING textures can be repeated to look sharper, where baked textures cannot.