texture map size for film?

[Billabong]

I was just curious as what and if you guys have a limit or a ratio size on your texture maps you film guys tend to stay around, I mean do you guys go higher than 4096? On say for example a hero piece, whether its hard surface or character

Thanks

-B

[PascalR]

If you use multiple UV tiles (multiple textures on one object) you can stick to 2k maps, the only question then is how many tiles do you need? :) And that depends on how close the camera gets to certain areas of your model.
I think it also depends on your render engine, if you don't have a multiple uv tiles pipeline , renderman handles pretty well 10k + maps, not sure about other render engines.

[Billabong]

Thanks Pascal, I was just really curious about that. Right now i think im looking at about 10 different maps for this tank, and I was going to put all of them between 4096 and 2048.

Thanks for letting me know

[PascalR]

Well for a hero tank in a feature film, and I can't give away any weta specific figures, but you could go a lot higher.
But again it really depends on how close each areas are seen in the shots, if you have a close up on the cannon you can easily imagine that you will need more texture resolution there, etc...

[Billabong]

I see what you mean, My end goal is to do a turntable animation on this thing so I think all of should be pretty hi res, but at the same time, I dont want to catch my comp on fire,LOL.

Thanks again Pascal

[El Burritoh]

I wonder if it makes any difference where memory is concerned, whether you load one or two massive textures, or multiple smaller textures? In the end, you have to get the resolution one way or another. I mean, if you need it, you need it. But I just wonder about the different technical issues that can arise from using one method over another. There are certainly tradeoffs.

[oglu]

here a quote from the night of the museum article...
think at current productions are a lot more tex resolution going on...
there are also rumors out there that kong had about 400 uv tiles... :notWorthy:

hint: mudbox is really good in handling uv tiles...!
http://www.cgfeedback.com/cgfeedback/showthread.php?p=2592#post2592

“We spent considerable time planning the layout of material groups and UV's. In order to limit textures from stretching and to prevent seams, we maintained a consistent scale from the tips of all eight tentacles, upwards throughout the entire body and into the mantle. We also kept in mind the workflow of our texture painters, Nick Cosmi and Jennifer Stratton, to ensure they would be able to manage what came out to be over 380 material groups and over 3700 individual texture maps. It was a huge undertaking, not only to obtain a photo realistic look that matched the concept art and feel of a Giant Pacific Octopus, but to also manage the thousands of texture maps ranging from 1k-4k resolutions.”

“The outer skin consisted of multiple layers of 8/16-bit displacement maps, created in Photoshop, and 32-bit displacement maps generated in Mudbox, ranging from the bumpy skin and veins, to the smoother tentacle bottoms, and the ridges of the suckers, to the wrinkles around the eyes and gills.”

http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=5119&page=1

[bneall]

In my experience 4k is standard individual map size. I've done a few 8k, and I've seen a 12k here or there.

[El Burritoh]

Other than Mudbox, what other apps can handle large textures like that for painting "on the model?" (Bodypaint?) Or does everyone just use PS for stuff at that resolution?