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View Full Version : jpg, tga, or?

ENSIFERUM
10-04-2003, 01:49 PM
hi to all

i'm a lightwave user and i would ask you a little thing

when we make a texture (with photoshop ora any graphic-program) we must save the file...

now wich type of image do you choose? jpg? raw? tga? tiff?

thanks for the answers
and sorry for my english:wavey:
Ian Jones
10-04-2003, 03:18 PM
Depends if you want to save on filesize or have better quality?

I always go for either TGA or TIFF, because they are non-lossy and are capable of 32bit colour. You also have the added option of alpha channels.
NueFoX
10-04-2003, 04:19 PM
I used to use .tga . Don't ask why :)
ENSIFERUM
10-04-2003, 05:43 PM
ok thanks :buttrock:
NanoGator
10-06-2003, 08:38 AM
I'd personally recommend .png. It's lossless, supports 32-bit imagery or even 8-bit, and it can be viewed in most browsers.

I render in layers, so a lot of my imagery is black. So a 900k 640 by 480 .TGA (assuming it's not RLE encoded...) can weigh in at like 50k. Though I'd budget for at least 300k per image.

:)
Hydra
10-07-2003, 03:01 PM
I use .bmp for the whole thing, but i'm considering .tga since I've started to render/lightning much more than I used to do.
tburbage3
10-08-2003, 12:11 AM
I'm with NanoGator -- .png is good.
One recommendation there if you have the original imagery in .psd format: use the File > Save For Web .png save. Better control and compression.
HapZungLam
10-08-2003, 06:14 AM
I've asked that question before. But i forgot the answer....

arrr..... I keep all of my files in photoshop format. I dont' know about Lightwave but XSI can read PSD file as texture.

If not, Then i'll save it in JPG with max value (12). If you opened your jpg with 12 besides your PSD (or your TGA). You can hardly tell which is which.
Ian Jones
10-08-2003, 03:23 PM
The problem with JPG is that it is compressed, and this can lead to some rendering errors if you use it as a texture map. Generally it is frowned upon to use anything but the best uncompressed whilst editing.
Hydra
10-12-2003, 02:12 PM
then what is the difference between targa and tiff?

I've noticed that tga is a bit larger (my uv stamp was 240kb in tiff and 140kb in tga - same image and size). XP can preview tiffs in the same way as bmps, but not tga.


oh, also... anybody know a nice app that can preview my textures for easier browsing?
Ian Jones
10-12-2003, 02:44 PM
Tiff does not allow native transparency, whereas Targa does. Tiff uses proprietry LZW(Unisys) compression, which can lead to some licencing issues. I'm not sure how Targa matches up in any licencing situations though...

Targa supports up to 32bits, Tiff only 24bits. Of course as I mentioned earlier, the greatest advantage to use Targa over Tiff is the native Alpha channel support.

I hope that helps.
Hydra
10-12-2003, 03:19 PM
yes it did, thank you :applause:
I will start using .tga's from now on

right now i'm looking into ACDsee for viewing (photoshop is a little clumsy for this pupose).

I had a freeware program before that viewed all sorts of images before, but I can't remember what it was called :hmm:
paintbox
10-12-2003, 10:02 PM
Hydra : Might it be Irfanview your referring to ? If you don't know it yet, it is a small freeware viewer and its pretty good.

http://www.irfanview.com
NanoGator
10-13-2003, 01:59 AM
Originally posted by Hydra
yes it did, thank you :applause:
I will start using .tga's from now on


Try .PNG. They're smaller than TGA with no artifacts, and XP views them just fine. (2000 and 98 as well.)
Ian Jones
10-13-2003, 09:18 AM
Yeah true, png are quite good. I have been using them now and then. Dunno why I don't just use them exclusively. Remember to use png24.
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