Quick question on uploading....

What are the file formats that CAN be used when uploading images/textures???

thanks.

JPG, TGA, BMP, PNG, and possibly GIF, are the ones I know of.

-Atashi

This inspires a follow-up question from me.

Is using one format better than using another?

If I remember correctly, .tga was the only format that could be used when I joined Second Life, and the ability to use other formats was introduced in an upgrade. I use .tga out of habit.

Some people say some formats (PNG) are better because it's less work for the servers to convert them to the JPEG2000 format which all textures actually use internally. I don't know if this is accurate or not.

For the most part though, all formats are the same, there isn't really any reason to choose one format over another. With some small exceptions, like if a JPEG isn't high enough quality to begin with, it's going to look really bad when you upload it. But that doesn't mean not to use JPEG either, just stick with the higher resolution JPEG's vs. the much more compressed ones, and even those will upload just fine.

Also of course animated textures, like animated gifs, are loads of fun to convert to a format that SL can actually work with.

Edit to add: The JPEG2000 part is true, mind you; I just don't know about the amount of work required to convert other non-PNG formats to it.

I haven't dug too deeply about what format is best, though the texturing subforum might be an ideal place to discuss that.

Personally I use JPG and TGA depending on what I'm doing. With JPG the thing to keep in mind is not to use something that's compressed - I set my JPGs to zero compression / highest quality, and generally use JPG for casual uploads or simple photos etc. On the other hand, for detailed work, anything with an alpha layer, anything particularily complicated, I tend to use TGA.

Still, take my advice with a grain of salt - texturing is something I'm not that good at and haven't spent that much time on.

-Atashi

Amity, AFAIK there's no reason to use anything but TGA since it's a really well-standardized lossless format with proper alpha channel support built in if you need it. All the other formats have limitations of one kind or another (although some of those limitations don't really end up mattering much of the time). JPEG is probably the one to avoid if possible, since it compresses in a lossy manner and creates visible artifacts which can then be made even worse during the conversion to JPEG2000.

BTW I'm pretty sure the conversion to JPEG2000 is done by the client, on your computer, before uploading, so I don't think there's anything to the notion that some formats are more work for the servers. Stand by for someone to come along and prove me wrong though

I think this answers my question. If another format were more loss-less (though I suppose once a format is loss-less, it can't be more loss-less) or reduced lag when viewed inworld, then it would be worth it for me to invest my time in researching which would be better for me to use. Since whatever format I use is translated into JPG2000 (something I knew but forgot), it is all the same when displayed in-world, and one uncompressed format over another won't make much difference to me.