what is the preferred picture format? is there a real interest in layered icons (such as those available at dreamlands)?
i think there is a real drawback to layered icons in that they are not directly importable to dungeon craft. there may be a lot of would-be designers turned off by artwork in a format that they cannot readily use.

[img]graemlins/1druid.gif[/img]

-manikus

I really like the layered photoshop files. They are so much more flexible. They allow you to feel like you're making your own icons and it's much easier than starting from scratch. If photoshop layered files are available, other people will make variations on those icons and upload them in png or bmp format, so we'll still get the files for immediate use in DC.

Please let's not discourage people from posting more layered icon files.

Otherwise I think the png format is best.

let me start off by saying, this would be so much easier if i knew how to quote other messages. [img]smile.gif[/img]

re: layered icons- i am all for them. i love the stuff that joerg has done. my goblin and orc icons are layered files. i've got some stuff i'm working on that are layered, just because it's easier that way. but, while i have it, i don't use photoshop. i use paintshop pro. it's easy for me to look at photoshop layered graphics in paintshop pro, but for some reason, colors sometimes get changed when i switch a file from .psp to .psd.

re: the rest- :D
.png hands down. i've been reading about people 'claiming' that .bmp has better color clarity. honestly, i can't tell the difference. i just know that .png files are smaller. whereas, you can pretty easily see the color deterioration in .jpg. (and 256 colors is too restrictive. you know, for .gif.)

thanks for responding, steve. sometimes i feel like the only out here. [img]tongue.gif[/img] i know i'm not, but sometimes it's so quiet...

[img]graemlins/1druid.gif[/img]

-manikus

As long as they give us regular icons as well.

As an Artist using Photoshop, I have ALWAYS used Targa files. you get 100% quality. All the official art is done in TGA first, then converted to PCX or BMP.

I personally don't like png formats, they can be buggy.
TGA's also allow 32bit transparency, which most games these days use. All your FPS games all use TGA files now. I love the format! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Uarghhh... I am back... My ISP got me locked out from the net for 4 weeks...

OK, concerning the files: Color-clarity has nothing to do with the file you are using. As long as it has 16 or 24 bits per pixel, you get the full RGB spectrum for these files. Targa is seriously outdated as a file. TIFF is still industry-standard and works quite well in print. For internet or screen-usage, JPEG, GIF and PNG are the best choices. BMP is not much different than a 24bit PNG - but BMP has no data-compression, making it the least compact of all file-types mentioned.

My personal preference is:

If I need to work with a file: PSD (Photoshop), CPT (Corel Photopaint) or Paintshop-Pro (all formats layered for easier use)

For game usage: PNG! Nothing else...

Wow - I've just been to the weirdest wedding on the planet.
All but ten people left at 8:30pm to go home to bed. Bizarre.

I must say I agree with Joerg.

For me, the size of png files more than make up for the
slight loss in clarity over bmp's.
For small/big pics/walls(That will be used alot) etc. the
loss is more apparent, but for icons it's not really a problem.
Perhaps it's best to offer both formats to suit peoples
connection speeds.

Being 'Graphiclly Challenged' as I am (I still use PaintShop Pro version4, and that has stuff I don't even know how to use yet! [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] ), I am all for folks using whatever formats they like to keep producing those great looking icons/pics/walls, etc.! My only request is that the icons are 'shipped' in a format ready to be deployed in DC.

I'm glad DC has all you great artists out there! It makes DC a 'work of art' ;)

[ 06-18-2003, 09:14 AM: Message edited by: Tarlanon ]

Well, I've developed a few games, and helped on others. And have dug into the 'guts' of nearly every current game out today, and nearly EVERY ONE uses TGA (Targa). You say Targa is outdated?! lol, dude, it's STILL around because it's the best! Microsoft games use it, Fightsim2003, Unreal T 2003, All the Quake games. Everything. The reason is it has zero lossiness, and can have 32 bit coverage (Transparency).

I'm in the business guy, and we have ALL used TGA and PSD exclusively. For website images, stick to JPG, GIF. High standard work is always done using Targa.

thanks for the info, ziroc. that would explain why just about every game you look into uses .tga.
i've been shown what i was doing wrong when changing .psp into .psd so now i can put up layered icons in .psd :D
i will still be putting up in .png for the rest, just because of the size. and i'll probably put up icons in .png as well (if for nothing else, as examples of what's in the layered file.)

[img]graemlins/1druid.gif[/img]

-manikus

[ 06-22-2003, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: manikus ]

Well, Targa may be of some use for the gaming-industry. Since I do not know the gaming-industry, I have no idea what is useful for game-creation. If you work in the print- or webdesign-industry, Targa is next to useless and no one uses this file-type. No offense intended, but it seems to me, that Targa is only used in the gaming-industry,

At the moment, DC has no support of alpha-channels or any other type of transparency-mapping expect the ability to make one colour invisible. So, a 32-bit-alpha-channel is absolutely useless for DC.

I looked into the specifics of the PNG-filesystem and I compared some PNGs to TIFFs, Targas or BMPs. I could see no blurring in any of the PNG-Files. I use 24-bit PNGs and there is no noticable difference to any of the files mentioned above. The only loss that could happen is reducing to 8-bits.

in the trials i've conducted on my pc, .jpg has had significant color loss and distortion. .png, .bmp, .tga and .pcx have all been comparable in quality. .gif is very restrictive but if you only want 256 colors it alright. i personally go with .png b/c it's the smallest size.
as far as the usefullness of targa- my machine can't handle 32 bit graphics. so i can't fully utilize it's benefits.
it's all moot anyways, as targa is not supported by dungeon craft. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[img]graemlins/1druid.gif[/img]

-manikus

Actually, Dungeon Craft MAY HAVE transparency support in the future.

For Print, I agree, working with PSD's is the best for us, working at 1200 dpi and such, TGA doesn't handle the dpi settings.

But, since we ARE talking about a game (DC), and TGA is best, well... [img]smile.gif[/img]

Yeah, I've talked with Spud in the past about adding it, but I think he wants to get spell stuff finished--which is totally cool.

What I do anyway, is draw in TGA, and when done, convert to BMP or PCX, so I have a backup of the TGA (So in the future, DC may have support for it)

It would be REALLY cool if say, you cast a spell, or a monster did--casting invisibility, and using 32-bit, you can fade the pic out! [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]

i hear that. invisibility that actually looked the part would be awesome.

what happens with the graphics on an older machine like mine? my video card only supports up to 24 bit colors. i'm probably not going to upgrade till after the new year at the very earliest.

[img]graemlins/1druid.gif[/img]

-manikus