Originally posted by
johnblommers:
Perhaps someobody could educate me as to why 3D modelers are devoted to texture mapping polygons. Why not use procedurally generated textures that are resolution independent? I may be blowing smoke here
Well, in my experience good procedurally generated textures (aka shaders) are very difficult to create. Imagine having to come up with an equation to draw a stick figure vs. actually just drawing a stick figure. There's almost always a quality tradeoff, as well as being much more work. Much easier to just paint a texture at higher resolution and then scale it down to your needs, which i assume is what jim is doing.