Ok, I'm going to be honest. I'm not too bad at modeling... texturing on the other hand, I'm atrocious. I just tried doing a test skin to see how it would look and stuff (the UV unwrapping isn't too bad). The texture doesn't look too horrible in photoshop, even when I zoom in ridiculous amounts (well, not super ridiculous), but when I put it on the model, I get some pretty bad pixelation and my borders are pixelated and inherently not clean.
Can anyone point in the direction of tutorials and tips when it comes to texturing? I use photoshop CS5.
I'm trying to do a model for the modeling contest.
scaled it up? or saved it as a larger size? there is a difference
as for max, im not as versed with it as i probably should be (i despise it), check for a filtering option on your shader
a texture that looks fine in photoshop but looks pixelated on a model leads me to believe one of two things
1: theres filtering that your unaware of going on (cant help ya look though sorry)
2: your camera is too close to the model.
ill explain number two. your monitor has 72 pixels per inch. so if your model takes up the majority of your screen at the time of rendering, then of course it will look pixelated.
keep in mind that your entire model had a 512x512 texture on it, to which only a fraction of the actual texture is facing the camera. so when rendering test shots of your model, me mindfull of where your camera is, as this very well could be your issue (ive certainly done this myself a few times)
Compression
Image files can be categorized into two types; Compressed and Uncompressed. Targas (.tga) and Bitmaps are uncompressed, and they will have the highest quality image files at the price of a larger filesize. Every pixel stays the same no matter where you open the file from. Compressed file formats such as JPEG (.jpg) and Direct Draw Surface (.dds) are much more efficient formats at the cost of quality. With these file formats, you might get some artifacting or aliasing.
UV Mapping
UV mapping is an important part of texturing. Aliasing, texture stretching and color bleeding can all be attributed to poorly layed out UV's or texture maps that aren't high enough resolution. Aliasing can be caused by UV's, either not having enough texture space/resolution to capture the information to draw a straight line. Texture stretching can also cause aliasing.
Color bleeding (or seams) is when your texture spills over a UV border, causing pixelation. You can alleviate this by making sure you space out UVs and extending your textures beyond the UV border by about 3 pixels.
3D App Settings
If the problem is not the texture, it may be an issue with your 3D app. Make sure your settings are correct and you aren't using a low quality texture/render mode. Depending on what app you're using, there could be settings for your workspace, or there could be quality settings on shaders/texture maps. Even the SC2 editor has graphics settings, so make sure you're on the right one.
ill explain number two. your monitor has 72 pixels per inch. so if your model takes up the majority of your screen at the time of rendering, then of course it will look pixelated.
erm...just out of curiosity, how does 72pixels per inch correlate with pixelation of a texture?
I believe he's implying that if you view the texture in a small area, the number of pixels shown will be limited by the resolution of your screen itself.
Which I must mention varies by screen (is not always 72 ppi) and should never make anything appear more pixelated than anything else .. as they're all being displayed by the same monitor and thus held to this threshold.
if you take a 3 spheres, and put say army camo textures on them with three different resolutions you can test what im talking about.
say one with a 128x128, one with 512x512 and one with 1024x1024. if all three spheres are way off in the distance they will look the same.
but the closer you move them and test render, youll notice the first one to appear pixelated is the 128x128 one.
the reason for this is the 72 dpi rule, if you texture has less than 72 pixels displayed in a single inch your your screen, that texture will have to be stretched, thus causing pixelation
and concerning 72 dpi, its the industry standard for screens and TV's which is why i used 72, just as for print id be forced to use 300 dpi as it is the industry standard
@kozm0naut: Go
and concerning 72 dpi, its the industry standard for screens and TV's which is why i used 72, just as for print id be forced to use 300 dpi as it is the industry standard
yay...we're talking print now too. I just graduated for that :) 300dpi is only the industry standard in some cases. If you are to print large posters, or billboard for example 150dpi or even less is the industry standard. I recently did a job making photo wallpapers of 3 meters high and varying between 3 and 15 meters wide, the printer needed the dpi to be somewhere between 100 and 150 for good results. (I did make them at 300 dpi tho, didn't want to risk pixelation :P )
I'm still don't see what the 72dpi have to do with the pixelation tho. :S I would just assume the 128x128 one becomes pixelated first because it has the lowest resolution.
the easiest way to see what i mean about 72 dpi pixelation is in photoshop
open a new document, make it 512x512, and copy pasta a photo into it. view it at 100%. looks good right?
zoom in to 200%. any pixelation yet? zoom in to 400%, things startin to really get ugly right?
this is the exact same thing that happens to your textures, when you render them too close to the camera in 3d. theres simply too little information on the texture, to fill the entire area on the screen that its 'allotted' to fill, so the computer has to duplicate pixels and interpolate things for itself, and thats where the pixelation comes in.
DPI has no affect on digital resolutions. Inches are never used, it's always pixel resolution. Textures aren't meant to be printed out, and screen monitors aren't affected by dpi. I don't really understand how this is relevant.
I still don't see why dpi is relevant to the pixelation. a 512x512 document, zoomed to 400% always looks ugly, no matter the dpi. Also, after doing some research on internet I learned a monitor doesn't use dpi, but ppi, which mean pixels per inch. Erm, I think this was Triceron's point too
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Ok, I'm going to be honest. I'm not too bad at modeling... texturing on the other hand, I'm atrocious. I just tried doing a test skin to see how it would look and stuff (the UV unwrapping isn't too bad). The texture doesn't look too horrible in photoshop, even when I zoom in ridiculous amounts (well, not super ridiculous), but when I put it on the model, I get some pretty bad pixelation and my borders are pixelated and inherently not clean.
Can anyone point in the direction of tutorials and tips when it comes to texturing? I use photoshop CS5.
I'm trying to do a model for the modeling contest.
what 3d program are you using?
what size is your texture?
I use 3dsmax 2011, my texture is 1024x1024 pixels (I scaled it up after 512x512 was pixellated)
scaled it up? or saved it as a larger size? there is a difference
as for max, im not as versed with it as i probably should be (i despise it), check for a filtering option on your shader
a texture that looks fine in photoshop but looks pixelated on a model leads me to believe one of two things
1: theres filtering that your unaware of going on (cant help ya look though sorry) 2: your camera is too close to the model.
ill explain number two. your monitor has 72 pixels per inch. so if your model takes up the majority of your screen at the time of rendering, then of course it will look pixelated.
keep in mind that your entire model had a 512x512 texture on it, to which only a fraction of the actual texture is facing the camera. so when rendering test shots of your model, me mindfull of where your camera is, as this very well could be your issue (ive certainly done this myself a few times)
It may very well be filtering that I am unaware of seeing as I am completely unaware of what filtering is!
@TheSecretArts: Go
Post a pic dude, can't critique it if we can't see it.
post a screen shot of your shader menu, hypershade, whatever its called in max as well (the place where you make your shaders)
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Curse PremiumHere's a few tips
Compression Image files can be categorized into two types; Compressed and Uncompressed. Targas (.tga) and Bitmaps are uncompressed, and they will have the highest quality image files at the price of a larger filesize. Every pixel stays the same no matter where you open the file from. Compressed file formats such as JPEG (.jpg) and Direct Draw Surface (.dds) are much more efficient formats at the cost of quality. With these file formats, you might get some artifacting or aliasing.
UV Mapping UV mapping is an important part of texturing. Aliasing, texture stretching and color bleeding can all be attributed to poorly layed out UV's or texture maps that aren't high enough resolution. Aliasing can be caused by UV's, either not having enough texture space/resolution to capture the information to draw a straight line. Texture stretching can also cause aliasing.
Color bleeding (or seams) is when your texture spills over a UV border, causing pixelation. You can alleviate this by making sure you space out UVs and extending your textures beyond the UV border by about 3 pixels.
3D App Settings If the problem is not the texture, it may be an issue with your 3D app. Make sure your settings are correct and you aren't using a low quality texture/render mode. Depending on what app you're using, there could be settings for your workspace, or there could be quality settings on shaders/texture maps. Even the SC2 editor has graphics settings, so make sure you're on the right one.
erm...just out of curiosity, how does 72pixels per inch correlate with pixelation of a texture?
Did you render it ? Does it look ugly after rendering ?
@Alcoholix: Go
I believe he's implying that if you view the texture in a small area, the number of pixels shown will be limited by the resolution of your screen itself.
Which I must mention varies by screen (is not always 72 ppi) and should never make anything appear more pixelated than anything else .. as they're all being displayed by the same monitor and thus held to this threshold.
@kozm0naut: Go
actually, its the reverse.
if you take a 3 spheres, and put say army camo textures on them with three different resolutions you can test what im talking about.
say one with a 128x128, one with 512x512 and one with 1024x1024. if all three spheres are way off in the distance they will look the same.
but the closer you move them and test render, youll notice the first one to appear pixelated is the 128x128 one.
the reason for this is the 72 dpi rule, if you texture has less than 72 pixels displayed in a single inch your your screen, that texture will have to be stretched, thus causing pixelation
and concerning 72 dpi, its the industry standard for screens and TV's which is why i used 72, just as for print id be forced to use 300 dpi as it is the industry standard
The issue goes away when I render it, thanks.
yay...we're talking print now too. I just graduated for that :) 300dpi is only the industry standard in some cases. If you are to print large posters, or billboard for example 150dpi or even less is the industry standard. I recently did a job making photo wallpapers of 3 meters high and varying between 3 and 15 meters wide, the printer needed the dpi to be somewhere between 100 and 150 for good results. (I did make them at 300 dpi tho, didn't want to risk pixelation :P )
I'm still don't see what the 72dpi have to do with the pixelation tho. :S I would just assume the 128x128 one becomes pixelated first because it has the lowest resolution.
@Alcoholix: Go
printing is obviously your domain sir =)
the easiest way to see what i mean about 72 dpi pixelation is in photoshop
open a new document, make it 512x512, and copy pasta a photo into it. view it at 100%. looks good right?
zoom in to 200%. any pixelation yet? zoom in to 400%, things startin to really get ugly right?
this is the exact same thing that happens to your textures, when you render them too close to the camera in 3d. theres simply too little information on the texture, to fill the entire area on the screen that its 'allotted' to fill, so the computer has to duplicate pixels and interpolate things for itself, and thats where the pixelation comes in.
was i clear this time? haha =)
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Curse PremiumDPI has no affect on digital resolutions. Inches are never used, it's always pixel resolution. Textures aren't meant to be printed out, and screen monitors aren't affected by dpi. I don't really understand how this is relevant.
@Triceron: Go I don't really understand how this is relevant.
The OPs issue was solved, were just discussing now
I still don't see why dpi is relevant to the pixelation. a 512x512 document, zoomed to 400% always looks ugly, no matter the dpi. Also, after doing some research on internet I learned a monitor doesn't use dpi, but ppi, which mean pixels per inch. Erm, I think this was Triceron's point too