i`m so glad i could help


we resantly worked with a pro lighter who had worked on all sorts of movies (a vs p, charily and choc factory) and when he came in he told us

1) never have textures over 2048 x 2048 if you can help it.

2) never use jpgs - always tiffs or targ.

3) Never use layied textures from photoshop (saves loads of memory without them) always use flat textures but keep a pdf verson for backup if u need to edit them.

4) if using tifs save without the alpha same resion as the layers.

these little things not only help maya display but also render times in mental ray.

there is also an opton in maya prefs under display for max texture rez. deflaut set to 2048 you might get lucky and be able to do something with that