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2D All the way! / Pixel perfect sprites

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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 1st Mar 2004 14:44
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Hi,

Can anyone recommend the best format for the image of a sprite?

The "rules" are...

1) Needs to handle transparency
2) Can have over 256 colours, ideally 16m.
3) Loaded in without any blurring etc. (guess this is DBP controlled)

I'm currently using .PNG's (becuase of the size), but I noticed that when I load an image, the flag for "pixel perfect" didn't make any difference, i.e. it was sort of blurred... in PSP it looks good, but in DBP its no where near as sharp.

Cheers.
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spooky
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Posted: 1st Mar 2004 15:49
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I use PNG's as it fulfills all your criteria. Never had a problem with the pixel-perfect flag.

ie.

load image "whatever.png",1,1

Your problem is more like running in fullscreen windowed mode but using a resolution that is smaller than desktop resolution. DB then stretches your screen to fill whole screen.

Also if using transparency, most important to run in 32bit mode as 16bit mode only supports 1 level of transparency.

Boo!
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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 2nd Mar 2004 12:41
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Hi,

Thanks - looks like PNG's are the way to go. As for the screen size etc. I'll take a look,

Cheers.
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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 10:45
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Hi,

I'm editing my images in Paint Shop Pro, and if I set a transparency value it insists I degrease the colours to 256, does that sound normal?

Cheers.
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superomega 1
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 12:47
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I use photoshop elements 'cos you can make the sprite sheets I make into several different file types, and yes PNGs might be the best method. Heres a mushroom

"Must... protect... the Master Emerald."
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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 13:33
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Hi,

So, does photoshop let you have a PNG with transparency set, with over 256 colours?

Thanks
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the_winch
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 14:24
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I am sure you should be able to do it in psp with more than 256 colours.

I don't use psp but I do use the gimp, it's free and lets you make and save PNG with transparancy
http://www.gimp.org/~tml/gimp/win32/
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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 15:07
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"...bring out the gimp!"

I've heard of that but not tried it, think I will do.

Cheers.
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Code Stealer
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 15:18
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Gimp is Linux, can you get it on windows? Also, why do you need to set any transparency, as if you use RGB 000 then DB ignores everything that colour?

GIve me more power!
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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 4th Mar 2004 19:16
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Yup, there is a windows version of Gimp on that site. Hmm, good point about the transparency - DOH!
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spooky
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Posted: 5th Mar 2004 03:11
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PSP is a bit weird with transparency.

When you first create the image, make sure you select background=transparent on the create new image dialogue box.

This means you can save as png in 24bit colour with multiple levels of transparency. These are GREAT in DBPro as you can make really nice buttons with lovely fading edges.

If you create an image and try and set transparency you come across the 256 colour limit.

Boo!
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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 5th Mar 2004 10:55
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Thanks spooky, that sounds good. I should really take the time to RTFM with PSP I need some nice fades on certain sprites too.
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heartbone
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Posted: 6th Mar 2004 01:11
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Transparent .pngs would be sweet.
What version of PSP supports that?
My licensed version 3.12-32, does not appear to support transparency on the create new image panel.

Peace, the anti-Bush.
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spooky
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Posted: 6th Mar 2004 01:28
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I'm on latest version 8.10

Only £50

Boo!
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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 6th Mar 2004 15:29
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Hi,

I did some experimenting - if I do a new image, as transparent, I can have a 16m colour png with a transparent background in PSP.

But when I load this into DBP (using load image) and then display it has a sprite (and I've tried with and without using set sprite to say ignore black), it comes out with a white background.

Also if then re-load the same png into PSP it has a white background and has "forgotten" its transparency. But if I go to Colours > Set Transparency level, it forces a decease to 256 colours (I am using PSP7.00 btw.)

Any ideas?

Cheers.
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Lampton Worm
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Posted: 6th Mar 2004 23:33
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Problem solved! Check this post out...

http://www.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=11461&b=4

When saving, set to png then go to options, run optimizer, transparency tab, and change it to Alpha channel transparency... worked for me, yay!

Cheers.
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SoulMan
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Posted: 11th Mar 2004 04:09
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Psst,
By the way, GIMP 2.0 is coming out soon. Wait for the stable release. It will be for all three major OS's. Windows, Linux and OS-X. I think you could find the flavor you like and use it. I know as soon as it's out I will be dumping Photoshop. It will be better for all of us in the end.
SoulMan

This is as backwards as is This
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DivW
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Posted: 31st Mar 2004 17:23
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PNG's are a lossless compression vector format. They have a built in Transparent colour but windows Paint seems to mess it up slightly as does PSP a lot of the time. The best program for PNG editing is Fireworks, which is what i use-though it messes up Transparency sometimes, there's a "make Alpha" button that clears it up. Have a look and see if there's a similar button on PSP. You might have a problem with PNGs if you're using DBC-i found that DBC slows down a bit when using them, perhaps because they need cecompressed before using. I converted my files to tifs for speed reasons, at the expense of quality.

-Dave

Your soul...it tastes like chicken

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the_winch
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Posted: 1st Apr 2004 03:15
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Quote: " PNG's are a lossless compression vector format."


PNG's are raster images not vector. A editor with decent png support is the GIMP
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