in the meantime, the facial (head) map is not that far off. The head takes say 16"x16" to 4000x4000 pixel which makes 250dpi.

There is just no need for that level of detail for the rest of the body, in most cases.  The main issue though is that such a head should take at most 1/6th to 1/4th (*) of those pixels to the render result, so portrait shots which assign over 1000 pixels to the face require a larger map.

(*) on a render one can show only 1/2 to 1/3 of the full head texture, and maps should have at least double the pixel density of the resulting render.

BTW the Jurassic Park dino's did have about 4Gb on textures each. Hell of a job in the puters of those days. 

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Usually I'm wrong. But to be effective and efficient, I don't need to be correct or accurate.

visit www.aRtBeeWeb.nl (works) or Missing Manuals (tutorials & reviews) - both need an update though