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A solution for low resolution

Have you ever brought an image texture into SketchUp and notice that the resolution isn’t as crisp as it is in your image viewer?

Notice that the image in SketchUp (Right) is not as crisp as the original image (Left)

No, you’re not seeing things. By default, SketchUp downgrades higher resolution image textures to a maximum of 1024 x 1024 pixels because in the past graphics cards didn’t have the horsepower to render models with large textures on screen reliably.

If you want to turn off this feature, you can do so by going to Properties > OpenGL, and checking the “Use maximum texture size”. With this checked, SketchUp will no longer downgrade your image textures to 1024px. SketchUp will communicate with your video card and if everything is up to snuff, your image will display at a new maximum resolution of up to 4096 x 4096 pixels.

With the “Use maximum texture size” selected, the image in SketchUp (Right) displays at a much higher resolution

Important note! Your first inclination might be to activate the “Use maximum texture size” option and bring in the highest resolution textures possible.

But as anyone well-versed in the “science” of modeling with textures will tell you, the size of images DO matter. Large textures can bloat the size of your SketchUp model and tax your video card and system memory exponentially. If you are going to use the “maximum texture” option, you will need to be extra conscious about the size of your image textures and choose which ones need to be at a higher resolution.

Posted by Chris Dizon, SketchUp Guru

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8 comments :

Steve said...

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
I turn many of my models in to paper models and have had to break some faces up into smaller pieces to get the detail I wanted. You have just saved me loads of work and frustration. Thank you again!

Emygdio said...

this is all very nice BUT useless... as i pointed out in the official google help forum (without any official response :\) Here is the issue in full detail

SketchUp version: 8
Operating system: Windows 7 (64bits)

I have used high resolution textures (ie: 4000px) in Sketchup (v8) to map terrains etc.
On screen it looks great (when the high resolution textures option is activated in the Preferences Menu.)

Although the exported images of the model themselves can be highresolution, the textures are 'downgraded to a low resolution' making the output image look terrible. This is a awful bottleneck for this kind of workflow when trying to generate high quality textured models. (mainly terrains for obvious scale reasons).

I hope this can be fixed in the next update, beacause from what i read in the forums this is only happening in the Windows version.

Thanks for taking time to listen/read.2011-07-11

Here's a example image of the problem:

http://bit.ly/x92hVB »» Notice the ground textures

Yan Xiaoqiang said...

Emygdio's words is right!When you want to export images from sketchup ,the "use maxim texture"option is no use. the output quality is always the low one!!!!!!!!!!!!You can try people.Please solve this problem!!!!!

Adrian said...

Listen to Emygdio.

I talked to someone on the Google Sketchup development team about output resolution being poor 2 yr ago and they still have not fixed this. I am sure it is just a couple of lines of code.

You will always get people who are never satisfied, but I'm sure this one ain't hard!

Davodafone said...

That seems great, but remain that we still can't import geopositions, get or post models (or either launch sketchup browser) when using Sketchup 7 or more behind a strong network (e.g. proxy servers)

Many unsolved discussions on this subject...

Unknown said...

Ok that's nice but i already knew that one...
What i need to know is how do you export a jpg image with no decrease texture resolution cause ok on the screen the texture is nice but once you export your image with high resolution your textures are still decreased... and that really sucks sorry...

Michael Hulme said...

For better export image quality you will need to learn to use "Layout"! Good luck...

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