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...