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Q: Resizing Doesn't Help!

 
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Stratadrake
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 11:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[b]Q: Okay. I've resized my picture, I've cropped empty space from its edges, I've followed your tutorials to the letter, but I STILL can't submit my picture to FAC because the server says it is TOO BIG! I can't get it any smaller, or there will be nothing left to look at! HELP!!!![/b]

[b]A: File Format FAQ[/b]

Stop panicking! Many other people have been through this problem in the past.

The problem here is actually not with your image's width and height (its pixel dimensions) at all, but rather, the file format you use to save your image with. Regardless of how wide, tall, small or large your image appears, in order to upload it to the FAC server, your image's [i]file[/i] must contain less than 300kb [b]of data[/b]. If you view your file in the Windows Explorer's "Details View" (under its 'View' menu), you will see a "Size" column identifying how large (in kb) your image file is. THIS is the number that determines whether your image is too large, or just right.

The file format you use to save your image will, more often than not, have a much larger effect on your file's size than its actual dimensions will. In many cases, you can reduce the size of your image file, [i]without resizing or cropping[/i], simply by saving the image in a different format.

To save an image in a different format, check the file format options on your program's Save As dialog box and select the appropriate format. On a standard Windows dialog box, these options are usually located in a dropdown list labelled "Save As Type", immediately underneath the textbox labelled "Filename".

Here is an overview of the most common image file formats FAC supports.

[b]JPEG[/b] (also 'JPG' or 'JFIF')
This file format was specifically designed to handle digital photography and scanned artwork. It supports a dizzying array of compression options, and can compress very large images into small filesizes -- seeing an 800x600 image fit into a file of about 100-150kb of size is not unusual.

[b]Do NOT:[/b] Use the JPEG format for Pixel Art (such as MS Paint drawings), or when you are actively working on and editing the same image, this will cause a noticeable drop in the quality of your image each time it is saved.

[b]Do:[/b] Use the JPEG format to save the final (sized, cropped, and/or signed) versions of your scanned traditional artwork or finished, fully-shaded CG compositions. Please note that if you are working on a multi-layered CG composition, you will need to export your image into a single layer when saving your image to JPEG.

[b]Other Matters:[/b] Review your JPEG options carefully when saving: a quality level of about 80 is fine for most images, and enabling 'progressive compression' will be a help for dial-up users viewing your image. Finally, if you have the option, make sure to save the image as a baseline JPEG to make sure that it can properly viewed by all users.


[b]GIF[/b] ("Graphics Interchange Format")
CompuServe's trusty old file format has been (and still is) the standard format for pixel art, icons, and other images that use transparency or animation effects. The GIF can be used both while actively working on an image, and when exporting the finished version for uploading to the Internet.

[b]Do NOT:[/b] Use the GIF format for scanned artwork or digital photography. The GIF format is limited to a 256-color palette and cannot record true-color data; attempting to save scanned artwork or photography as a GIF file may generate noticeable solarizing/posterizing or dithering of the image's color tones when it is converted into the palettized format.

[b]Do:[/b] Use the GIF format to upload Pixel Art, especially if you plan to add animation to your image. GIF is the only standard image format that can handle animation.

[b]Other Matters:[/b] The less dithering you use in your image, the slightly better it will compress. Saving your image with the 'Interlaced' option will also help out when dial-up users view your image.


[b]PNG[/b] ("Portable Network Graphics")
This format was developed as a successor to the GIF and in several ways is an improvement to it: PNG files can be either paletted or true-color, and have a wider choice of compression options to choose from (all without loss of image detail such as in JPEG images), and can include transparency (though alpha-channel transparency is not supported by Web browsers). PNG files however cannot handle animation, and for scanned artwork or photography, still do not reach the same level of file compression as the JPEG.


[b]BMP[/b] ("Windows Bitmap Format")
Ah, the ever-present default preferred file format for both Windows and MS Paint.

[b]Do NOT:[/b] Attempt in any way to upload BMP files to the Internet. Unlike the JPEG, GIF, and PNG formats, which are highly compressed, BMP files have no compression whatsoever, which results in very large filesizes even from small images. A 640x480 bitmap will easily require over 900kb! Chances are, if you are having problems uploading a picture to FAC, this is why.

[b]Do:[/b] Use the BMP format when actively working on MS Paint drawings, making sure that when you are finished, you convert your image to a different file format before uploading to the Internet. Or, simply work on your drawing in the PNG format instead.

[b]Other Matters:[/b] BMP files can be saved as either true-color, or with a 256-color palette. The latter will make easier conversion to a GIF format, but as neither of them offer any actual image compression, neither of them should be used for uploading images to the Internet.


[b]Other Formats[/b] (PSD, XCF, etc.)
Many graphics editing programs offer their own native file formats as well. Adobe Photoshop invented the "psd", while GIMP uses the "xcf". These program-specific image formats have the advantage of preserving the [b]exact[/b] composition of a digital piece (including individual layers, text layers, etc.), but by doing so they also suffer from relatively poor image compression. Furthermore, since they are program-specific and can only be viewed by that program, they are NOT an acceptable file format for uploading to the Internet; therefore as a rule they cannot be submitted to FAC, and must be converted/exported to a standard image format (JPEG, GIF, PNG) before submission.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

it would be a good idea to put a link from the main site size error page to here, or they will not find this... xD

[quote](though alpha-channel transparency is not supported by Web browsers).[/quote]
you must mean: that low-life "internet explorer" doesn't support transparency... ;
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Fayore
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 3:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="Stratadrake (Strata)"] [b]Do NOT:[/b] Use the JPEG format for Pixel Art (such as MS Paint drawings), or when you are actively working on and editing the same image, this will cause a noticeable drop in the quality of your image each time it is saved. [/quote]
This can be solved by adjusting the settings for saving jpeg files. :0

I don't know how to do it for other image manip. programs, but on PSP(7), all you have to do is go to File > Export > JPEG Optimizer... and in the window that pops up, set the Compression Value to "1" - no loss of quality, and the file is substantually smaller (one of my 300x300 pieces, originally 263 kb as a .png, is now ~64 kb as a .jpg).
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Stratadrake
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No, JPEG format will [b]still[/b] lose quality when it's saved. JPEG compression, [i]by nature[/i], does not record the exact pixels of an image. It approximates them into a series of mathematical formulae and saves only the coefficients (which is how it achieves such high compression)

Since JPEG images do not record the exact pixels used, this runs counter to the whole point of Pixel Art in the first place. Thus, pixel art should not be saved as JPEG, period.
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Fayore
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

... :|

Well, okay. Makes enough sense. It doesn't make any difference to the eye, but when you go into that... :X I stand corrected, then.
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Stratadrake
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 8:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's the nature of the JPEG format -- it evaluates what details will make be most important to the eye, and discards the smaller details.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG Smile
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For this problem can't you make it say the error screen more pasific?

"Sorry your picture is to large in [b]data[/b]size to be submitted.
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