I am currently working on making some props for poser to be used in an animation.

Can you guys give me some advice on pointers to consider when deciding on what texture size should I use according to the prop I am making.

Example, is it reasonable to use smal maps like a  512 x 512 size texture map on  a chair prop and big maps like 1024 x 1024 in a building prop or it doesn't matter?

What usual sizes do you use?

It kinda depend on how the prop is going to be seen in your animation i think. If you know that its something that you will never see up close, you dont really have to create a high res map for it. However if you use a low res map like 512x512 and shoot it up close it wont look very good.

So would suggest making fairly big maps, maybe 2048x2048 and then you can always resize it to your needs.

Look at it differently. What size will your animation be rendered at. Let us say you are going for a high quality render, using 1024x768 pixels, or something equally large.

If you are making a box, what percentage will this box take up on the final image. If it will fill the entire screen, then you will need a texture map that is at least 1024x1024 (1048576 pixels). But if this box will only take up a quarter of the screen, then you can get away with a texture map one quarter the size, so 512x512 (262144 pixels, which is one quarter of the large map).

Pixar, masters of animation, never use a texture map bigger than 512x512, and mostly use shaders. 

Always keep your texture maps in the sizes 256x256, 512x512, 1024x1024 or 2048x2048. Larger than this they take up too many resources, and these sizes, by the way a computer calculates, render and place less of a strain on resources than odd sizes like 2000x2000 or sizes that are not square like 2000x1000. 

Quote - Always keep your texture maps in the sizes 256x256, 512x512, 1024x1024 or 2048x2048. Larger than this they take up too many resources, and these sizes, by the way a computer calculates, render and place less of a strain on resources than odd sizes like 2000x2000 or sizes that are not square like 2000x1000. 

The only place I have ever seen this theory is here in the Poser forum. I have never come across this idea anywhere else, in all my years of doing 3D. By keeping texture sizes to a power of 2, you're placing artificial restrictions on yourself, and could actually be wasting memory by using textures that are too big. 

Quote - > Quote - Always keep your texture maps in the sizes 256x256, 512x512, 1024x1024 or 2048x2048. Larger than this they take up too many resources, and these sizes, by the way a computer calculates, render and place less of a strain on resources than odd sizes like 2000x2000 or sizes that are not square like 2000x1000. 

The only place I have ever seen this theory is here in the Poser forum. I have never come across this idea anywhere else, in all my years of doing 3D. By keeping texture sizes to a power of 2, you're placing artificial restrictions on yourself, and could actually be wasting memory by using textures that are too big. 

Now I couldn't decide which should I believe on.

So you think having a smaller texture map is the right way to do it regardless the size of the object?