StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Okay, I dislike PhotoShop very much (I just can't seem to figure it out), and I need help on using Paint Shop Pro. You see, every time I try to save an image as a gif or a jpg file, when I open it up again later, colors blur and test seems pixelated. How do I optimize an image, and what can I do to prevent this in the future? As well, should I start saving images as png's?

~ver

What's the big deal about png's anyway?

I haven't used Paint Shop Pro, however there should be an option somewhere when saving about how much compression you use when in jpg or gif. By the sounds of it that might be the problem.

Or I could be wrong.

Crown wrote:What's the big deal about png's anyway?

I haven't used Paint Shop Pro, however there should be an option somewhere when saving about how much compression you use when in jpg or gif. By the sounds of it that might be the problem.

Or I could be wrong.

It does that automatically in Animation Shop, but I haven't seen it in Paint Shop Pro and the help files are confusing. As well, I use PSP 7.04.

~ver

verilon wrote:

Crown wrote:What's the big deal about png's anyway?

I haven't used Paint Shop Pro, however there should be an option somewhere when saving about how much compression you use when in jpg or gif. By the sounds of it that might be the problem.

Or I could be wrong.

It does that automatically in Animation Shop, but I haven't seen it in Paint Shop Pro and the help files are confusing. As well, I use PSP 7.04.

~ver

When you go to save a picture (I lied, it turns out that I do have Paint Shop Pro), do the following;

File -> Save As -> Options (last button) and then just set the compression ratio you want.

If it's anything other than that *shrug*.

verilon wrote:Okay, I dislike PhotoShop very much (I just can't seem to figure it out), and I need help on using Paint Shop Pro. You see, every time I try to save an image as a gif or a jpg file, when I open it up again later, colors blur and test seems pixelated. How do I optimize an image, and what can I do to prevent this in the future? As well, should I start saving images as png's?

When you save an image as a GIF, you are limited to a 256-color palette. I don't have experience with PSP, but it probably uses an algorithm to determine the colors to choose along with dithering the image.

JPEG is (normally) a lossy compression format: you will lose quality when saving in that format.

If you do not want to lose any quality, save your image as a compressed TIFF or in 24-bit PNG.

Crown wrote:What's the big deal about png's anyway?

PNG is unencumbered by the patent restrictions that GIF has (specifically, LZW compression). This is becoming less of an issue. However, 24-bit PNGs support a true 8-bit alpha mask, while GIF only supports a 1-bit alpha mask.

PNG-8 sometimes gives better compression as well.

I feel your pain. I just save the file as a TIF in PSP, then open it up in ImageReady and optimize it there. 256-color GIFs end up looking fantastic.

Galvatron wrote:I feel your pain. I just save the file as a TIF in PSP, then open it up in ImageReady and optimize it there. 256-color GIFs end up looking fantastic.

No, they don't, unless the color palette is small.

phongn wrote:

Galvatron wrote:I feel your pain. I just save the file as a TIF in PSP, then open it up in ImageReady and optimize it there. 256-color GIFs end up looking fantastic.

No, they don't, unless the color palette is small.

Right. I'm dealing with images that have lots and lots and lots of colors. [nodnod]

~ver

verilon wrote:Right. I'm dealing with images that have lots and lots and lots of colors. [nodnod]

Can you post a sample pic? I want to see how good I can make it look at 256 colors.

~ver

Psps says when you change from one pic to jpeg that it will be a "merged image" i'm not exactly sure about what that entails but im guessing all the layers become one, so you wont be able to edit layer by layer in future jpegs.

To play about with the jpeg optimisation stuff it's on file> export to> jpeg optimiser.

Correct. JPEG is single-layer, so PSP will flatten the image for you.