Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: Nx on April 10, 2010, 07:09:37 pm
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This here says (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,37158.0.html) 2048x2048 textures are unnecessarily large.
The Aeolus has a 1024x1024 texture in mv_assets, and a 2048x2048 texture in mv_adv
The Iceni has a 2048x2048 texture in both, and the ship is certainly larger, but I'm not sure if a 1024x1024 texture wouldn't be sufficient there.
I tried using a single 2048x2048 texture for a destroyer (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=68572.0), and the level of detail is not adequate. So, what should I do? I'm thinking of splitting it into 2 maps, so that I can have either two 2048 textures for highend machines (the mv_adv equivalent) and two 1024 textures normally.
By not adequate, I mean that while it looks detailed enough in the tech lab, when you fly really close with your fighter, the individual panels are often larger than your fighter - and I can't add more detail because the texture lacks resolution.
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2048^2 maps are not that unreasonable anymore.
However, as someone for whom that is the max texture size supported by my GPU, I'd recommend providing one of those in addition to a 4096^2 map for the people who can use it.
At any rate, 4096^2 is probably the best compromise between quality and memory usage.
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You can really use any size texture you want, so long as both dimensions are powers of two. So, I'd recommend using a 4092x2048 texture instead of two 2048 textures. Keep in mind, though, that most video cards won't like textures over 2048.
You have to draw the line somewhere, though; try using your textures more efficiently. If your model is symmetrical, you only need to UV map one side and mirror it. See if you can reuse UV space; take a close look at the high-poly Karnak, to see how you can get the detail of a tile-mapped texture on an unwrapped model.
I also assume you're familiar with the use of glow maps, shine maps, and most importantly normal maps. These can lend a lot of detail to your textures.
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I'd like to avoid using textures over 2048 for compatibility reasons. The problem is that I don't feel the 2048^2 texture is adequate for "normal" quality either. Then again it may be that I just suck at texturing. :D
The model is symmetrical, but the uv map is not fully symmetrical to fix seams that appear when a flat surface is normal mapped and has a texture seam (see this thread (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=68596.msg1354885#msg1354885))
The Karnak suggestion is interesting, but I don't think I can reuse enough to make a difference.
Anyway, here are some screenshots to illustrate what I mean (click to see bigger version):
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_uYaBYOlXeqw/S8EYjJmNIPI/AAAAAAAAA7A/x_t2gv9ujmQ/s400/Screenshot.png) (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3gcbVLaq3vUIGA6SYtFMDw?feat=embedwebsite)
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_uYaBYOlXeqw/S8EYjdiv3fI/AAAAAAAAA7E/1S32iBB_a0w/s400/Screenshot-FreeSpace%202-2.png) (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fRwEFQyH5C20oazIWfJDxw?feat=embedwebsite)
The black circle with the grey circle in the middle that you see on this next image is 12x12 pixels on the texture - just an illustration of the relative size of the texture:
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_uYaBYOlXeqw/S8EYjyVZ3TI/AAAAAAAAA7M/2gKUp2JjRLk/s400/Screenshot-FreeSpace%202.png) (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ca0t0IGzBXIwZarVNtKslQ?feat=embedwebsite)
And the docking point, which is significantly less detailed than the FS2 dock tile:
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_uYaBYOlXeqw/S8EYjsAtSeI/AAAAAAAAA7I/fzZFasFQoL4/s400/Screenshot-FreeSpace%202-1.png) (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/swmKrCypNDKB7Ub77UmkMg?feat=embedwebsite)
Edit: Actually, the dock tile is 128x128 pixels, while this is approx. 85x85 pixels - so it's not that bad..
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This here says 2048x2048 textures are unnecessarily large.
That was written in 2005 :p
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That doesn't look too bad, actually...
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What? 4096 is the new 2048? oh great LOL
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No, Never! 4096 is not the new 2048.