gamedevlists-windows

RE: [GD-Windows] Image formats (was [Algorithms] Scrolling starfi eld)

[Tom F. <to...@mu...>]

There's nothing wrong with TGAs as a format - they support alpha channels
just fine, and so does Photoshop. One of our artists just showed me that
indeed it works just like you'd want (Photoshop 6.0 - we're just trying 7.0
now). What specifically is going wrong?


Tom Forsyth - purely hypothetical Muckyfoot bloke.

This email is the product of your deranged imagination,
and does not in any way imply existence of the author.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Grant [mailto:ag...@cl...]
> Sent: 31 July 2002 15:13
> To: gam...@li...
> Subject: [GD-Windows] Image formats (was [Algorithms] Scrolling
> starfield)
> 
> 
> What formats are people using for images these days? We're 
> currently using
> TGA which "suffices" but isn't great due to Adobe less than 
> embracing the
> concept of alpha channels.
> 
> Ideally I'd like something that
> 
> Supports an alpha channel
> Supports 32, 24, & 8 bit images
> 
> I'm not sure if anything out there actually fits the bill for 
> this though.
> I've thought about writing a plugin for Photoshop to 
> supported saving to
> targa's that fit the above, but it looks like a whole lot of pain.
> 
> Ta.
> 
> Andrew Grant-
> Climax Brighton 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: brian hook [mailto:bri...@py...]
> Sent: 31 July 2002 06:39
> To: gda...@li...
> Subject: Re: [Algorithms] Scrolling starfield
> 
> 
> > (That code is a few years old.)  PSD has alpha, and RLE.  Plus it's
> > easy to export from Photoshop :) I even used the print-size 
> meta info
> > to size my billboards.
> 
> I didn't even realize PSD was a documented and/or open file format.  
> File format support these days is rather trying -- I use TGA by 
> default, primarily because it's more predictable than what I 
> get when I 
> save PNG in various packages.  And TGA compresses very well 
> (similar to 
> PNG, if not identical) when ZIPped.  And it supports a 16-bit file 
> format for those of us still stuck in the dark ages. =)
> 
> > > - rationale for WEATHER_BLOCK_SIZE = 14?
> > 
> > Just tweaked until the furthest flakes were invisible.
> 
> Ah, okay, just wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding what it 
> was.
> 
> I mucked about with the code and it works beautifully!  It took me a 
> bit to get my head screwed on straight with respect to scale at times 
> (the << 17 threw me off for a bit), but it seems to work.  
> 
> I have the ship centered in the star cloud right now, which 
> looks wrong 
> because stars can get between you and the ship, but a simple 
> translation "behind" the ship should fix that.
> 
> The packing into integers and letting integer wrap handle wrap around 
> is just brilliant and elegant, if not obvious to everyone but me =)
> 
> Brian
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This sf.net email is sponsored by: Dice - The leading online job board
> for high-tech professionals. Search and apply for tech jobs today!
> http://seeker.dice.com/seeker.epl?rel_code=31
> _______________________________________________
> GDAlgorithms-list mailing list
> GDA...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gdalgorithms-list
> Archives:
> http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=6188
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This sf.net email is sponsored by: Dice - The leading online job board
> for high-tech professionals. Search and apply for tech jobs today!
> http://seeker.dice.com/seeker.epl?rel_code=31
> _______________________________________________
> Gamedevlists-windows mailing list
> Gam...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gamedevlists-windows
> Archives:
> http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=555
> 

RE: [GD-Windows] Image formats (was [Algorithms] Scrolling starfi eld)

[Tom F. <to...@mu...>]

Oh dear god. We were literally just today evaluating PS7, having used PS6
until the current project was done (hooray! Crunch time over!). After these
comments we've had a fiddle round with it, and alpha-channel support is so
totally broken. Even when we can get it to work correctly for alpha=0 or
alpha=1, the edges are wierdly rubbish, as if some premultiplying has gone
on.

So that's one package we're not going to be "upgrading" to until this is
fixed. The benefits of PS7 are marginal, and such a fundamental chunk of
functionality is broken. We hereby vote with our wallets :-)

Thanks for the heads-up everyone.


Tom Forsyth - purely hypothetical Muckyfoot bloke.

This email is the product of your deranged imagination,
and does not in any way imply existence of the author.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: brian hook [mailto:bri...@py...]
> Sent: 31 July 2002 16:11
> To: gam...@li...
> Subject: Re: [GD-Windows] Image formats (was [Algorithms] Scrolling
> starfield)
> 
> 
> > What formats are people using for images these days? We're 
> currently 
> using
> > TGA which "suffices" but isn't great due to Adobe less than 
> embracing 
> the
> > concept of alpha channels.
> 
> Photoshop 7 completely and utterly broke TGA support, but you can 
> supposedly go back and get the TGA exporter from PS6 and copy 
> up to PS7 
> and it starts working again.
> 
> This is OT, but damn, Adobe has the most piss poor attitude I've ever 
> seen.  When this TGA screwup was brought to their attention, their 
> response was three fold:
> 
> - testers should have pointed it out to them, hence it's not 
> their fault
> 
> - no one mentioned that alpha was being used "that way" (for games)
> 
> - using alpha channel "that way" is clearly against the spec, 
> and game 
> developers are relying on "broken" behaviour (i.e. TGA 
> support in PS up 
> through PS6), so it's really their fault
> 
> That, coupled with the completely broken PNG support in 
> Photoshop, has 
> just made me really dislike Adobe.
> 
> Anyway, we use TGA, JPG and PNG.  TGA if we need alpha or 16-bit; JPG 
> if we need lots of compression; and PNG if we need the files to be 
> compressed individually.
> 
> -Hook
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This sf.net email is sponsored by: Dice - The leading online job board
> for high-tech professionals. Search and apply for tech jobs today!
> http://seeker.dice.com/seeker.epl?rel_code=31
> _______________________________________________
> Gamedevlists-windows mailing list
> Gam...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gamedevlists-windows
> Archives:
> http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=555
>