Using large texture files

[dogrokket]

Question about texture file size: I am making a rather large building and in order to keep the textures at a decent close up resolution, I'm having to use sizes as big as 2048 and 4096. Is this acceptable, or will these textures be so large that they impact the game engine performance?

[Bananarama]

Efficiency is the key.

You're best bet is to tile textures wherever possible, and in the case of detail, tile the images in the X direction, allowing more room on the texture for other detail. Many of my buildings use 256 or 512 x 2048, with pretty much everything on the one texture (plain bricks in bottom section, bricks with windows just above, doors windows and bits above that, and then a roof texture near the top). An exception is made when I create large horizontal plains, such as grassy areas, concrete pads, etc., and there I'll use a single 256 x 256.

The above example (256 x 2048) could potentially yield a finished model with better resolution than if you had used several 2048 x 2048 textures, and what's better, all at a fraction of the pixel footprint!

Derek's "doing more with less" approach sums things up nicely: http://the-art-of-rws.blogspot.com/2012 ... uring.html

[mrennie]

The next question, of course, will be "how do you do tiling?"

Here's how if you use 3DCrafter: http://railworksamerica.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8182&p=91633&hilit=texture+tiling+mrennie#p91606

[Bananarama]

The next question, of course, will be "how do you do tiling?"

3DS Max.

[dogrokket]

The next question, of course, will be "how do you do tiling?"

Actually, Blender lets you tile textures pretty nicely, although I've been working with relatively small scale models up to this point and haven't needed to do that. I think I will end up using a combination of tiling and a single texture on this one.

[PapaXpress]

Crafter also lets you tile, but not as nicely as 3DS.