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View Full Version : PSD Extract w/ several layers- Good?? Bad??

IHaveFirstController
03-05-2005, 02:04 AM
Ok. I am currently working on my 4th attempt at completing a character. I have very little experience texturing and no experience rendering, or any idea of really how it works. I have been told that having multiple texture files could slow rendering times. I am also told that having one very large resolution image can be very bad for rendering as well.

However, I have heard nothing about just placing a lot of my textures on several layers in one psd file and using psd extract tool to feed them to different clips. Is this similar to having multiple image files, are there any benefits/penalties whatsoever? As I have stated, I know very little about rendering or textures consume memory/processing power/whatever. (will look more into when I finally manage to finish a character)

Anyone have any insight about this approach?
JDex
03-05-2005, 02:31 AM
I think that just using "flat files" with alphas would be the best approach. Parsing layers from PSD files, while feasable is not quite as beneficial as it appears.

Having multiple files is not really a hinderance to rendering (at least IME), it is more of a hinderance to organization and file management.

Large images can be a problem, but if you dig into Mental Ray and learn about memory mapped images and eliptical filtering, you can really negate most of the problems associated... of course there is no one size fits all solution. Each scene will require thought and planning to achieve the best appearance vs time ratio.

PS: Having a layered image and splitting the layers out to do different things, to the renderer is really the same as having multiple images. One downfall, if the PSD image somehow gets corrupted, you might be completely screwed, but if it's multiple files and one image gets corrupted somehow, it's not that big of a deal.
Splin
03-05-2005, 06:59 PM
More or less it is a question about personal preference.
Still, even how tasty that *.psd thing sounds...I try to keep as far away from it as possible.
Your whole project will be bound to psd organiisation...later doing changes and if you have many files...it would be terrible.
Psd files are HUGHE and uncompressed, even more they weight if you have layers in your psd...it comes a real bottleneck if you try to something more serious. And later if you want to convert all of them to *.map..no easy way to do it. Would be very tedious job to rearranage organisation.
If I remember it correctly...new CS had an option automatically save out layered psd file into single files. Thats a way I would go if I would be very fond to layering sys in PS. Still keep organizing within psd but wont kill the MR.
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03-05-2005, 06:59 PM
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