I'm building a texture library from photos on my system for my models.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

I been adding quite a few texture files from the contents of my pictures that I've had on my system for years now, and adding them to my gsl and blender texture libraries. Mostly my focus is on pics that would be useful for texturing my models and props for the game. Stuff like building textures, plants, sky shots, just about anything I find interesting to help enhance the visual appeal of my models. One question I have to ask is what resolution should I set my digital camera at? I want reasonable quality images but feel that the highest res of 1024x768 may be to high and result in excessively large file sizes to large for low poly models and props. Also, what file format for the pics should I use by default as I don't believe either gsl or blender directly support the pic format? PS: I also use my scanner for some photos of simply objects and other scan able objects. It's a blast applying these things to models and props. I've also started painting some uv maps for stuff like a pine tree I made the other day. Planar mapping seems to be the easiest to paint as they are flat and simple to paint. Spherical mapping seems idea for stuff like peep faces on sphere type objects. Tanks for any feedback...BNG

[OvermindDL1]

Make it as high as possible, if you need lower later on then make a lower quality version from the high-quality, but remember that you cannot make a high quality from a low-quality.
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[Nielk1]

Well, there is tessellation...

EDIT: Oh, you were talking about images...

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Some I created from unwrapped UV maps exported from the UV map editor in gsl, but many of my texture files for the libraries are being taken from various digital photos from different digital cams ranging from very cheap ones to those from a higher resolution model with around 2.3 meg. Tanks OM, I'll use the highest setting for all my future pics. I'm particularly interested in effects shots like reflective glass, water and other related types as I made a tall building the other day with bunches of windows that were poly sliced from a 3d window I made for the sole purpose of creating the illusion of groups of windows on the sides of the building using the object union tool. The total of the faces and the building itself came in around 500 and some odd faces and includes a 3d door and small stairs.

I guess what would be most practical (in my case) would be to convert the graphic files to si pic format with xnview and apply them using bz2me unless blender supports the format. I'm really starting to get the hang of how b3d works and i like the results I'm beginning to see the more i use it. I'm not sure what tessellation is, but I'll read up on it and see if it might be helpful in what I'm doing with the texture files.

I understand how to make basic tex skins from unwrapped UV maps, but still need to work on my artist skills quite a bit more to become consistent making them, but I'm sure blender has all the tools to get the task done. Eventually, I'll figure out the dxt tex thingy too, but I'm already choking on all the different areas I'm working with now like learning to use blender and all the other modeling stuff.

[OvermindDL1]

.pic is pretty propriatary that exceedingly few things support.  However, B3D does support just about everything else, including png (which is what I recommend), and BZ2 supports png as well.  Just make sure to always use a lossless format (like png) as using a lossy format for texture images (like jpeg) can result in some very bad seams.  If you have to use a lossy then use BZ2's version of dxt (which is not supported by anything else, including B3D) and only do it as a last step when the model is full and done, until that time though, use png for all other testing when making it and so forth.  Converting to dxt is usually a step for right before you ship (and you can still use png's just fine when shipped, sometimes they might even be smaller).
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[Nielk1]

I always use something else like psd if it is supported in my modeler and then do a find and replace in the xsi file in notepad.

[OvermindDL1]

You should not need to find/replace in the xsi, bz2 only looks at the filename of the texture, not the extension.
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[Nielk1]

I know I shouldn't, but lately that has not been the case.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

png sounds good to me I'll try that format to see what happens. I've also been laying around a bit with gimp to get a feel for how it works as it's like the only paint program i have that supports layers which i don't quite understand yet but realize can be used together with original unwrapped UV map to paint over without messing up the original image file until I'm done painting a skin and i guess at that point the original can be deleted. Still need to read up on the unwrap tool in B3d as when i try UV mapping now by selecting from he B3d menu all i get is a blank Grey square minus any UV lines to export to gimp. I guess it could be that i also need to read up on how to actually apply UV mapping to a model loaded in the 3d workspace.

The key to make editing in B3d easy seems to be centered around learning the alphabet as relevant to B3d keyboard short cuts. That and the secondary xyz keys for selecting specific axis to work on. Also, i notice that selecting the appropriate 3d window to work in help keep things organized. I currently have 3 windows setup in B3d which i move between: a large main window with a top view/perspective, a 2 smaller ones for the front view, and side view. It's much easier to manage things as apposed to a single large window.