I have a few bitmap pixel art files that I occasionally use online. (eg. The image in my sig that was then animated, very well, by Hivetyrant, or my avatars on UFR, or TSR.) Now, when I make them, the colours are all block, by which I mean that entire sections are the same colour. However, when I convert them to GIF or JPEG files, either by changing the file extension or simply by uploading them to msn groups, the colours are changed and so the colours are no longer solid. How can I change this?

Jpeg is smaller than bmp because you lose detail with jpegs. With gifs you do not lose quality, but you lose the number of possible colours.

There are certain programs which, when you convert to jpeg let you choose the jpeg quality. Irfanview is one of these. Hope that helps you solve your problem.

Well, if I understand correctly, the way you are converting them is wrong, just changing the extension will not technically convert them, it simply changes the extension, and although cant really stuff up the picture, will not make any good changes.
So you need to convert them properly, you can do this by using MS paint, are you using windows?
If ot im sure there are other prigrams that can do it, I use Macromedia Fireworks for everything.

Or something like that, i dont really understand as I have never used MSN groups for pics.

Oh, and thanks for the compliment [img]smile.gif[/img]

EDIT, ahhh ok, I understand now, yes its all to do with quality (Lossy vs Lossless) which I wont go into [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 11-23-2004, 07:35 AM: Message edited by: Hivetyrant ]

Not really...

If you look at the comics on www.squidi.net, and then save and zoom in on one, the colours are "block". However, when I save a file, it gets distorted. They aren't exactly high resolution pictures, so they really don't need that...

I'm just wondering how he does it... would it be nothing more than the fact that he uses photoshop, while I am stuck with ms paint?

Sorry, was posting while you were Hivetyrant. I try and use MS Paint to save them differently... click save as... and then choose a different format...

I think you mean www.squidi.net
Those comics are *.png files, also what do you mean? You say to save and zoom, but when you save it is distorted?

I am obviously not explaining myself very well... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Take this file: http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TADrA...98677137093894

as the loss of quality is very evident. The background main colour is meant to be a solid grey, (apart from the black lines on the wall), grey-96. However, as you can see if you save my picture and then zoom in, it is a mixture of pixels of all sorts of colours. I want it to stay solid grey...

The jpg file is not as bad, but not perfect: [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0UAAkAy8YKeagloruGIquDmMhf5!sJVnhIYEJDZfg768uJVBwE GsHj06uFTIR8XzlSqyPeDMJuKZt7LJEXqgdALPGwHhG6fo156Z sbWOVLjkDt*ieLe3TeHSCtxcAcLcX/Example-JPG.JPG?dc=4675498677110423738[/img]

Don't save anything in mspaint, it's not the most efficient paint program.

[ 11-23-2004, 07:59 AM: Message edited by: Luvian ]

Ok, from what i understand (im no picture genious) this is basically just compression. There is not much you can do about it, but to experiment with different file types, and make sure when you are converting that you are not selecting any type of quality loss (dont think that can be helped in MS paint)

In that case, can someone recommend a downloadable program that will be better? I don't mind it being just a trial period... Because I don't want to spend money on something I will very rarely use...

Well I use Macromedia Fireworks, I suppose you would call it a profesional program, which is commonly used. You can get a trial version it from www.macromedia.com
I dont use it at all but I always hear goood things about "The GIMP" Dont know where you would get it from though.

I already suggested Irfanview higher up in this thread. Just open a bmp picture with it then choose save as. Tell it to save as .jpg and then it shall let you choose the quality.

EDIT: it is a totally free program.

[ 11-23-2004, 08:20 AM: Message edited by: dplax ]

AH right... that seems to work then... Thank you :D

hey hivetyrant, i'm glad to know i'm not the only fw user here! which version do you use, i've got 4.

I mainly use MX (6) but I have recently tried MX 2004 and love it!! Bit expensive though...

I use Gimp for all picture-editing purposes. It's completely free, and has a huge amount of thingies, some more useful than others. OK, it is a bit bloated, but if you happen to have some extra space, I suggest you download it. It's not Photoshop, but the price is right.

If you don't feel like swimming your way through the official site for a windows wersion, just download the installer.

And you'll also need the GTK+ 2 runtime environment.

Why? I always save mine in MSPaint. I don't notice any loss of picture quality. See my sig pic for example.

Why? I always save mine in MSPaint. I don't notice any loss of picture quality. See my sig pic for example. </font>[/QUOTE]mmmm.. that's quality!!

<span style="color: lightblue">What are you using to look at the images after you save them? Looking at them in Windows Picture Viewer will often screw them up quite horribly. Look at them in Firefox, and you probably won't notice much difference. Especially if you use The GIMP to convert them - it does a better job of everything than alot of programs.
Although why you'd want to convert them from PNG to GIF or JPG, I don't know. PNG has better compression (smaller AND less lost) than both.

Iron Greasal - Bloated? GIMP? Wow. Apparently you and I define "bloat" differently. [img]smile.gif[/img] Infact, the only problem with GIMP is that its interface is kindof wierd. But, you get used to it. All I would want from it would be to have a multi document interface...

Looking at them after I save them... anything... Firefox, MS Paint itself, Irfanview, Microsoft Picture Editor

An I wasn't converting from PNG... from BMP

dplax got me fixed up with my Dragonfly and now I have the program he suggested. I don't have much of a clue as to how to use it, but I'll mess around with it.
I was a bit surprised that it lost detail by getting smaller. I thought that would make the image sharper?

<span style="color: lightblue">Are you sure of that? Most of the images at the site you posted are either GIF or PNG.
On a side note, do not ever pay attention to the file "extension". It is useless. It is crap. It does not control what type of file it is, nor does it necesarily reflect it. To find out what type of file something realy is, look in Firefox's View Page Info (either through the context menu, or the Tools menu). On the Media tab, it will list every file on the page, and the details include the type that the file is being served as. This is usually right, because it controls (in all non-IE browsers) what the browser treats it as.

It must have lost detail, because it wasn't made smaller and being kept in proportion at the same time. IW has a limit of 225*155 pixels for a sig and I had to downsize the sig to that. Since it did not have the same proportions, one of the sides needed to be compressed a bit more than the other. This might have caused loss of detail. Also an image might become less detailed when you make it smaller as you have less pixels, to include the same amount of detail.

You probably noticed I inverted the colours of my sig. I had to guess at the percentage to reduce the pic because when I enter the 225 the other number changes too. So I couldn't just type in the new size. Is there an easier way to achieve that?

If you uncheck preserve aspect ratio then you can enter the size you want.

[ 11-24-2004, 07:22 AM: Message edited by: dplax ]

Oh, ok, I'll check that. I've been messing with it a bit and getting more familiar with it. :D

Well, by bloated I mean that from those 17 grillion utilities and thingies, I use 10 or so. It has so much that I don't need.

And what is this "multi document interface"? What does it do?

[ 11-24-2004, 08:34 AM: Message edited by: Iron Greasel ]

Well I have absolutely no clue what the Hell any of GIMP does... but I'll teach myself... slightly hindered by the fact that my help files haven't installed...

Save everything as PNG format. Easy.

Well, by bloated I mean that from those 17 grillion utilities and thingies, I use 10 or so. It has so much that I don't need.

And what is this "multi document interface"? What does it do? </font>[/QUOTE]<span style="color: lightblue">Multi document interface = more than one image open in a single window. Tabs, basically. The only think that bothers me about the interface realy is how many windows it opens. I would like the option to have a more conventional view, with a fixed-position toolbox. But, from what I've read online, the developers are reluctant to change it, even in the way of giving a choice. But, we can't have everything. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Re the bloat aspect, I see what you mean, kindof. But to me, bloat is more about memory footprint and feature creep. Ok, sure, GIMP has hundreds of features, but the developers don't seem to have put all of them in because "more features == better", but rather because "these features == better".