Bitmap Texture Resolution Problems

[DeepSouthCarving]

Hi Guys,

I am trying to render some samples for a customer but the resolution of the bitmap texture seems out of whack. The pixels seem extremely large. I will be cutting this in a 1 x 6 so the image is about 5-1/2" inches tall.

Is there a setting to adjust this? Not sure if I have run into this problem before and have previewed hundreds of files. Anybody else seeing this problem?

Thanks for the help.

Eric

****Update, I think I may have figured out what is going on. I had my work piece width set to 48" and I usually have it set smaller than this. This was my actual size though. Wish there was a way to smooth up the preview a bit.****

[Adrian]

You're always going to have that issue when cutting on a small part of the overall board. Does the client need to see it on the overall board size? If not just preview the design on material more suitable for the size. You can also have issues with the quality of the preview cut itself by not making use of the whole material. It looks like you have the Preview Simulation Quality set to max as the result looks better than I would have expected for the cut.

Otherwise what you can do is to make a bitmap that is more suitable for the scale of the job. With the attached two images I created two different backgrounds from the same image. It has to be at least as large as the largest size you want to start with. This one measure 24" wide by 36" high so that's what I saved for the first bitmap. In my image editing software (Xara) I then scaled the photo to 6" x 9" and saved that as an example of the size of a typical bitmap background.

I created a job that was 24" x 36" and placed a 6" x 6" square cutout in the corner. One picture is that square with the 24x36 background and the other is the same job with the 6x9 background. You can see the difference in pixelation as the background is stretched out. For the best results when zooming in you need the original bitmap size to match the material size as closely as possible. For normal jobs where you don't need to zoom in it doesn't matter. You can see that with the preview of the two images. They look identical until you click on them to make them larger.

6x9 background on a 24x36 job with a 6x6 part

24x36 background on a 24x36 job with a 6x6 part

[DeepSouthCarving]

Thanks Adrian, you explained that exactly to my findings. I would like to show it to him on the overall board size. The overall design will be about 3' long. He is building a bunk bed for his girls and this will be the sideboard. I will just have to look for a bitmap of a 1" x 6" or show it to him in sections. One of his original concerns was the amount of detail that I would be able to give him in the carving. I just want the rendering to look nice for him.

I do have the Simulation Quality set to max. On my last PC upgrade I was able to step up to a processor that would do anything that I needed (six core, liquid cooled).

[martin54]

If its just for a customer visual can't you just scale it all down to get a better resolution?
Have you got any other work you can show them which will demonstrate the quality of your work ? I have samples of a lot of the different types of work that I do, between the onscreen visual & the samples the customers see it is generally enough to reassure them of what they will be getting

[DeepSouthCarving]

I just tried the scaling down thing, it did not work, pixelation was exactly the same. Good try Martin, I was sure that it would work. I did half scale, and quarter scale. The background pixels in relation to the cut stay the same. I have already sent him other examples of my work, he is hooked.

[martin54]

I thought that would work as well lol, bit long winded but could you scale it down, copy the artwork, note the scaled down overall board size then open a new job, set the background/job size to the scaled version & then paste the artwork back in??

[Adrian]

I will just have to look for a bitmap of a 1" x 6" or show it to him in sections.

You need the background bitmap to be nearer the 48" size as in my example if you want to do what you originally posted. If you create the material as 1" x 6" and cut on that then the existing background you've been using will work fine.