LHammonds Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 If the file is saved as a .BMP (trashy default paint type) , then if you were to convert it to .PNG, it would still be low quality, right? (I tried that once, the results were a bit improved trashy image. just wanna know if someone else has it in high quality.)I do not think I understand what you mean by "trashy" and thus cannot respond. But I do however understand well the file formats and the advantages / disadvantages between them. BMP = Bitmap - Advantage: No Image Compression. Image does not degrade if saved over and over again. - Advantage: Can be viewed as thumbnails with Windows Explorer. - Advantage: Can be viewed with default Windows image viewer "Fax Preview." - Disadvantage: No Image Compression. Image size is HUGE and is never advisable to share this kind of file over the Internet. - Disadvantage: Does not support alpha channel / transparency. - Disadvantage: Does not support layers. PNG = Portable Network Graphics image - Advantage: Lossless image compression. Image quality does not degrade if saved over and over again and maintains relatively small file size to quality. - Advantage: Supports alpha channel / transparency. - Advantage: Can be viewed as thumbnails with Windows Explorer. - Advantage: Can be viewed with default Windows image viewer "Fax Preview." - Disadvantage: Does not support layers. JPG / JPEG = Joint Photographic Experts Group - Advantage: Variable image compression. Compression applied to the image can be controlled to apply no compression or very high compression which is a trade-off between image quality and file size. - Advantage: Widely supported and mainly utilized to share photo images across the Internet in a fairly small file. - Advantage: Can be viewed as thumbnails with Windows Explorer. - Advantage: Can be viewed with default Windows image viewer "Fax Preview." - Disadvantage: Variable image compression. An image with compression applied will degrade in quality with subsequent saves as compression is re-applied (similar to the fax-of-a-fax analogy). - Disadvantage: Does not support layers. PSD = Photoshop Document (image) - Advantage: Native format for Photoshop which support all Photoshop features (including layers, transparency, alpha channel). - Advantage: Lossless image compression. - Disadvantage: Proprietary file format and typically large filesize. - Disadvantage: Cannot be viewed as thumbnails with Windows Explorer. - Disadvantage: Cannot be viewed with default Windows image viewer "Fax Preview." DDS = Microsoft DirectDraw Surface texture - Advantage: Optimized for use in DirectX games. - Advantage: Supports alpha channel / transparency. - Advantage: Variable image compression. Compression allows for better game performance. - Disadvantage: Lossy file format. An image with compression applied will degrade in quality with subsequent saves as compression is re-applied (similar to the fax-of-a-fax analogy). - Disadvantage: Variable image compression. An image with compression applied will degrade in quality with subsequent saves as compression is re-applied (similar to the fax-of-a-fax analogy). - Disadvantage: Cannot be viewed as thumbnails with Windows Explorer. - Disadvantage: Cannot be viewed with default Windows image viewer "Fax Preview." - Disadvantage: Does not support layers. With the above out of the way, I will explain how I utilize all these files since each has its own list of advantage and disadvantages. BMP - If a program spits these out, I will immediately convert them to a file format but it depends on what I plan on doing with it as to which type I convert it to. PNG - I typically keep files in this format if I need to keep a transparency preserved (such as an icon or source image for future work or as a finalized work that was exported with transparency) JPG - These are typically photos and screenshots with a 10 to 15% compression applied to keep the end-result filesize small. I only use this file type when I am "DONE" with the image and it is a finished product that will never (likely) be modified again. In regards to my "WindowCapture" utility which saves images as JPG, I use the highest image quality for the initial capture. If the image needs no manipulation, I will re-save it with a standard amount of compression to reduce the file size. If I need to edit the file, it is converted to a source file (see next paragraph). PSD or PSP/PSPImage (PaintShopPro) or XCF (GIMP) - These are my "source" files which typically have multiple layers, transparencies and filters. They are typically the largest files I have and are rarely deleted regarding game modding. But during the process of creating an end-result JPG, I will typically discard these files after I have finished a JPG or PNG image which will no longer need further editing. DDS - These are NEVER considered my "source" files and thus, they are never "edited" but instead are basically end-result exports from source files (PSD/PSP/XCF). The only time I go the wrong direction (converting from DDS to PSD) is when there is no other available option (no source image) and it is only done once due to the lossy nature of the DDS file and the Fax-of-a-Fax effect. I hope this clears things up a bit. LHammonds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pronam Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 That's quite some valuable and explanatory info. It deserves to be article if you'd asked me...Yes, I've googled/wiki'd it before...but I never have seen it in this form.Or maybe geck/cswiki? Just a suggestion ...A lot of people simply don't know this and after I've read this I can actually tell someone else about it. People usually only know jpg from their camera and bmp from paint... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n8ster Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 FRAPS is just so much easier to use for screen shots and videos. You can download it here. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoSan Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Hello to all! How i can make good screenshots and effects for them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skaargoroth Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 @DiegoSan: I do believe many people who are experienced with taking Screenshots in Oblivion select a pose for their Character(s) and edit some of the effects (like glowing red eyes, adding a darker tone to the background when in a Dungeon, etc.) in Photoshop. @n8ster: Heh, I'll have to agree. FRAPS is working wonders for lazy Vista-users like myself, haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegoManIAm Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 I have Morrowind and I can take pictures and it might be the same for Oblivion. If there is a Oblivion.ini file open it and it will say Enable Screenshots=0 set it to 1 then when you are in the game press Print Screen to take a image. But this is for Morrowind and it might not be the same for Oblivion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit1251 Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Thanks for the tips for Antialiasing. I have a new machine so I had everything turned up full, but I was going nuts trying to take a screenshot. I thought that it was the crappy keyboard that came with the machine so I came to the Forums to ask for help. I stopped here to see if my problem had been covered and sure enough it had. Now I can add to my other gazillion megabites of pictures. Thanks everyone!! Rabbit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonForceForever Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 It dosen't seem to work, what can i do to fix this? From Me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonsterHunterMaster Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 @LegoIAm: theres also a line in the Oblivion.ini that says ballowScreenshots=0 set the 0 to 1 then you can make screenies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burningwreckage00 Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Thanks. I've been wondering how to take screenshots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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