If you are not printing CGI, the resolution of the texture should be 72 pixels per inch (dpi / ppi). is this really true?

[amaterasu-qbb]

Hi! Everyone,

I translated this article because it is in Japanese. https://www.kousi-aki.com/blog/maya-texturesize

Resolution is essential when printing images, but it is irrelevant in the case of 3DCG, where the creation of the artwork is completed on the computer. For now, always keep the texture resolution at 72.

Please be convinced that this is the way it should be. For 2D illustration works and other works to be printed, the resolution may be 150-350 pixels per inch.

For this article, the texture resolution should be 72 pixels per inch if it is to be output in video. That's the way it is. Get used to it. It just says so. Suppose everyone is creating CGI for a AAA game using Unreal Engine or Unity, or a movie or drama for a big project using Arnold, V-Ray, Renderman, etc. Is the texture resolution 72 pixels per inch for all of them? Why 72 pixels per inch?

I did some research. Some say it has to do with the old Apple Macintosh, others say it is wrong.
But none of them are based on any evidence. There are other articles that I found interesting as well. Let me translate some of them. https://www.soubi.co.jp/useful_post/web72dpi350dpi/

However, the environment then and now is very different.
Most of the displays in the world have a dpi conversion rate of over 100.
Even in the case of Full HD, as I mentioned earlier, a 27-inch display has 109 dpi and a 24-inch display has 122 dpi.
Furthermore, the display's resolution is never constant, as it can be changed at will.
In this case, there is absolutely no point in sticking to 72 dpi.

The truth of the matter is that 72 dpi has become established as a suitable resolution for screen display, based on the values determined in the old working environment.

Please let me know what you all think.

Thanks.

[_sebastian_f]

i say thinking about something like dpi in case of textures is just a waste of time. even when printing a rendered image all that matters is the output resolution in pixels. dpi is just kind of translator between real-live print size/ability of your printer and pixels contained in your image. all you need to take care of be it print or game asset is that the texture size reflects what can be seen of it on screen/paper.

[amaterasu-qbb]

Hi! @_sebastian_f  ,

Thanks for your reply, I didn't see any option to specify dpi in UV Snapshot in Maya. I tried UV Snapshot and exported the images at 2K (2048*2048) and 4K (4096*4096) and they were all 72 pixels per inch. What about Substance Painter? I will test it in Substance Painter soon.

As a test, I downloaded the 2K and 4K textures from https://www.textures.com/ and checked the image size in Photoshop and found that Albedo, Height, Normal, Roughness, and Ambient Occlusion were all 72 pixels per inch.
Texture actually checked: https://www.textures.com/download/3DScans0414/133264

[damaggio]

There's no DPI or ppi in UV snapshot, you don't have to worry about that ,it's always standard 72 , just worry about texture resolution.

You'll also come across many other ppi resolutions on the internet, just pay attention to the texture resolution width and height, that's all we care about.

SP, Photoshop, Quixel, Mari , Mudbox ,etc...it's all the same process.

[amaterasu-qbb]

Hi! @damaggio ,

Thanks for your reply.

---

@damaggio wrote:

There's no DPI or ppi in UV snapshot, you don't have to worry about that ,it's always standard 72 , just worry about pixel resolution.

You'll also come across many other ppi resolutions on the internet, just pay attention to the pixel resolution, that's all we care about.

SP, Photoshop, Quixel, Mari , Mudbox ,etc...it's all the same process.

---

72 is the standard. I understand that. I understand that resolution is more important than dpi or ppi. I know it's a small chance, but what would you do if you had a texture those resolution is fine but wasn't 72 and you had to use it?
I think that the same resolution with higher dpi or ppi will be slower since there is more data itself. Before using the texture, do you change its dpi or ppi to 72?

Thanks.

[damaggio]

Use the resolution you will need for your renders , sometimes is better to make larger and reduce it  if needed.

You can use textures from 32 pixels to 20k  and anything in-between,  they don't even have to be square power of 2 but it helps if they are.

Yes I would use an image that isn't 72 if the resolution is decent for the model. you can also use AI to enhance an image that is not that great.

Any image that is higher in resolution will take a small toll in loading, saving, loading for rendering CPU or GPU, editing ,scene size, viewport performance etc, there's also bits/channel in textures , file formats and stored alphas.

Don't worry too much  about all this for a single object, these tips are something to keep in mind for large environments or large props where you need to be economical for performance.

You don't have to change ppi, just resize the image in Photoshop , there are tutorials on YouTube about resolution and ppi if you still wanna learn more about it.