PNG screanshots?

[JINX8131]

<p>when paying Vanguard i am able to take screanshots in PNG format, by changing an .ini file.</p><p>is there a way to take a screanshot in PNG format instead of JPG in EQ2?</p><p>(sorry dunno what board to put this on since it is technically help/but gameplayish related)</p>

[Zin`Car]

<p>why would you want .png?  would think .tif or .bmp would be better quality than .png format.  the .jpg isn't bad as long as you keep the quality set to max.  I'd prefer .tif personally.  Now, some might say "well .tif files are fat!  would take up too much space..."  simple solution:  clean out the folder.  i know i know... that' pretty far out there thinking on my part. i'm radical like that sometimes.</p><p>really was just curious as to the want of .png over other formats.  The current availability of .tar is rediculous though.</p>

[JINX8131]

<p>TIF is too much space for the lil upgrade from PNG.</p><p>but JPG just suxorz.</p><p>eather way i still dunno how to change the setup to png,tif,bmp.. or whatever (as its taken, to prevent pic loss)</p><p>example JPG</p><p><a href="http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/jinx8131/ScreenShot_00611.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/...nShot_00611.jpg</a></p><p>PNG</p><p><a href="http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/jinx8131/ScreenShot_00009.png" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/...nShot_00009.png</a></p>

[Zin`Car]

<p>guess i take disk space for granted.  I only have a 140gb hard drive for my primary and 150 for my slave.  The moment i log out of game i move the SS's.</p><p>As a graphic artist, the only thing i've found png's to be useful for is the ability to maintain transparency with full color.</p><p>EQ2 doesn't allow though for such changes that i am aware of.  .tar and .jpg are all you get.  Have you tried bumping the jpeg setting to max?  it's pretty much artifact free as near as i can tell.  i run at 1920x1200 and my SS's are beautiful at max quality jpg.</p><p>i guess i like .tifs because they are completely lossless.</p><p>/shrug... ah well.</p>

[feldon30]

TIF is completely uncompressed. PNG-24 is lossless and RLE compressed. The problem with the JPEG codec in EQ2 is that even at max quality of 95-100%, it still has major artifacts. They must have used a 1st generation JPEG compressor. You can save EQ2 screen shots as TIF and then re-save as PNG or a high quality JPEG using any kind of program like ACDSee or Irfan.

[Nulad]

<p>.bmp .tif whatever, it'd be nice to have a lossless screenshot option.</p>

[Rothgar]

<p>Uncheck the "Jpeg" checkbox under Options->User Interface->Screenshots and it will save the files with a TGA extension.  This should have no compression and you can convert it to any other format using your favorite editing software.</p>

[Nulad]

<p>Lol, I don't remember that being there...</p>

[JINX8131]

<p><cite>Rothgar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Uncheck the "Jpeg" checkbox under Options->User Interface->Screenshots and it will save the files with a TGA extension.  This should have no compression and you can convert it to any other format using your favorite editing software.</p></blockquote><p>wow someone read my post.</p><p>ty red guy.</p>

[Zin`Car]

<p>my mistake.... i kept calling them .tar, meant .tga  not sure where my head was in posting that.</p>

[JINX8131]

<p>ok, so here we have it.</p><p>the image capturing seems to work without loss with redmans post HOWEVER, i  am using Photbucket(PB) for my hosting, and PB automatically converts every immage to JPG unless it is PNG.</p><p>examples</p><p>JPG strait from game</p><p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/jinx8131/EQ2_000004.jpg" target="_blank">http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/.../EQ2_000004.jpg</a></p><p>TGA strait from game converted to PNG (because thats all PB will allow)</p><p>notice the small dark red banner in the foreground for compairison</p><p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/jinx8131/BMP2-1.png" target="_blank">http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/...8131/BMP2-1.png</a></p><p>does anyone know any Host that supports TIFF,BMP?</p>

[Rothgar]

<p>Notice that the JPG file is 84kb while the PNG file is 3.1mb.  That's almost 37 times the size of the JPG file. </p><p>Did you take the JPG screenshot with the compression settings at 100?</p><p>I did a test myself to make sure that our JPG compressed was producing decent output.  I saved off a screen shot using our JPG option with compression at 100.  Then I saved the same screenshot as TGA and used a graphic program ([Removed for Content]) to convert it to JPG.  The output from [Removed for Content] was nearly identical to our own JPG output. </p><p>In any case, you're going to sacrifice filesize for quality.  If you don't mind having images that are 3mb in size your best bet is to take them in TGA format and convert them to PNG yourself.  If you want smaller screenshots and can sacrifice a little quality, the built-in JPG compression isn't too bad.</p><p>Perhaps in the future we can look at adding PNG as another output format.</p>

[JINX8131]

<p><cite>Rothgar wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Notice that the JPG file is 84kb while the PNG file is 3.1mb.  That's almost 37 times the size of the JPG file. </p><p>Did you take the JPG screenshot with the compression settings at 100?</p><p>I did a test myself to make sure that our JPG compressed was producing decent output.  I saved off a screen shot using our JPG option with compression at 100.  Then I saved the same screenshot as TGA and used a graphic program ([Removed for Content]) to convert it to JPG.  The output from [Removed for Content] was nearly identical to our own JPG output. </p><p>In any case, you're going to sacrifice filesize for quality.  If you don't mind having images that are 3mb in size your best bet is to take them in TGA format and convert them to PNG yourself.  If you want smaller screenshots and can sacrifice a little quality, the built-in JPG compression isn't too bad.</p><p>Perhaps in the future we can look at adding PNG as another output format.</p></blockquote><p>hmm lemmie see, the immage was at 75 JPG. trying with 100 to see if the immage has a noticeable change.</p><p>the PNG i used was made by taking the ingame TGA, and converting to PNG using ABC (Advanced Batch Converter)</p><p>ill edit this post on my results.</p><p>Results:</p><p>JPG 100 is equal to PNG/TIFF/every format. witch leads me to believe that the best this game will output is JPG quality pix.</p><p>but as you can see from my first compairison post in Vanguard there is a HUGE difference in JPG to PNG format.</p><p>all comparisons used PB for hosting.</p><p>EDIT: again</p><p>my bad, the texture in game is actually the issue.</p><p>i compaired the JPG 100 to actuall live footage, and it was identical (no loss)</p><p>sadly eather the engine or the game image quality (while playing) must be altered to fix, and i dont see an engine change anytime soon.</p><p>poo, ill be stuck with JPG quality imaging.</p><p>you have to admit tho, that the image quality of Vanguard is vastly greater than EQ2. its a shame SOE wont put forth the development of such a fine game. only reason i left VG was lack of development.</p>

[Nulad]

<p>Your ingame textures are set to what? GFX card filtering is set to what?</p>

[JINX8131]

<p>dunno what you mean about GFX filter.</p><p>but the game settings were at MAX Quality</p>