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.
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
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)
@Triceron: Go I don't really understand how this is relevant.
The OPs issue was solved, were just discussing now
@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 =)
@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
post a screen shot of your shader menu, hypershade, whatever its called in max as well (the place where you make your shaders)
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)
what 3d program are you using?