LOGOS & GRAPHICS How to make files the exact size?

Hi,

i am a designer in rl, and i am doing some stuff like logos and graphics for store displays and got some doubts u pros might help me out with

1st: I see like in store display different sizes, how can i make it the right size do it will fit exactly there

2nd: is Sl only working with measure 256/512/1024 etc.... doesn't it allow u to do things for size....if it would textures would be less heavy...am i right?

3rd: How do u measure if u want the exact size...u see size in metres and then convert it to pixels...what process do u use so you can get the least size possible

4th: What are the better setting u use for optmizing pictures:
save for web...in what settings

Png...is it better png 24?


Thanks advance for your input

New

I work in the power of 2. and all my textures are 512 x512 or 512 x 256 or lower depending on the size it will be in sl.

Everything is converted to to those values from 1024 and down.

1024
512
256
128
64


so any combo of the above is the best for the conversion into sl.

jpeg200 is what it converts to when uploaded and its saved out from sl as tga.

Okay but if u need to set it up for an object that is say 80x200 how do u make it to fit perfectly??????

You make it 128x256 instead..

edit: and play around with the Repeats and Offset values in texture tab of the edit window.

Try your hardest to not use 1024x sized textures for anything unless impossible to do other wise. People who visit your build and those around it will benefit, even if they do not know.

so 200 * 256 = 0.781 approx so type that in as the repeat and 80 * 128 = 0.625 and the proportions will be near enough correct.

alternatively say to the shop owner that sign really should be 1.28 x 2.56, it will look so much better, it will have edge and everyone will take notice etc etc

I upload a load of graphics with text, they usually have to be a higher resolution so the text doesn't blur. What I do though, for example, is make my first .tga 1024 x 1024 and then from that also save it as 512 x 512. Then I upload the smaller file and if it's good enough then fine, but if smaller type on the sign is blurred beyond recognition I will upload the larger file.

Edit: Briana makes a good point, keep your file size as small as possible.

Hmm....

The only benefit is to those with low end machines or bandwidth restrictions.

Use whatever size textures ya want.

Over use of 1024x textures can completely grind to a lagging halt if not crash out, someones SL experience - especially on 2006 and earlier machines, lower powered new machines (poor graphics card) and low end laptops.

Most people do not understand this or believe it. But that is the way it is.

You put 60+ 1024x1024 textures in a 10,000m2 area and you will lag out people with the system types i mentioned above.

I have a textures abused build that Nina can't be near for more than 5-10mins before she lags out with a crash.

Blah blah blah - follow me around - blah blah blah

Did you just create a false quote? umm ok.
You seem to like these images a great deal, welcome to the internet.

As for big textures lagging out your old machine, it's time to upgrade.

Friday night and the lights are low
Looking out for the place to go
Where they play the right music, getting in the swing
You come in to look for a king
Anybody could be that guy
Night is young and the music's high
With a bit of rock music, everything is fine
You're in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance...

You are the drama queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Drama queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the drama queen!!

Do dooooo, do do do do do do...

It's just a fact of life that MOST people in SL don't have the biggest, fastest machine that money can buy. If you are arrogant enough to load up a shop with 1024x1024 textures, then the only customers who will see them are the very few who do have nice fast machines. The rest will get impatient, disgusted, and leave -- without buying anything. The bottom line is .... be smart, use the smallest texture size you can get away with, without sacrificing vital resolution.

I regularly dealt with larger than 1024 textures in SL from almost the beginning. I have never had a problem. I have rarely encountered anyone who does.

It's not about your machine, it's about your vid card and vid cards are cheap!

Really anyone can get a card from NewEgg or wherever that supports large textures, shadows, and all the other bells and whistles for under a b$ll.

It happens all the time to most people. A lot of people can't shell out the money to get a faster video card every time SL upgrades, so there are loads of slow cards out there. If you like selling only to people who have fast cards, that's cool. I kinda like having more customers, myself. Besides, most of the time 1024x1024 is WAAAAAAY overkill for the level of detail you need on a shop display texture.

Make your texture any size you like.
Flatten it and reduce it to the smallest power of 2 size that will work correctly.
Upload to SL.
Put on a prim and resize the prim to the original image proportions.
Bob's your uncle.

We should all try to use the smallest image size possible. It makes things run better, it's good to be aware and consider one's environment, it's a kind of interesting game, and conserving resources like sever space and video card memory is a zen-like pusuit of spiritual value.

but i got some displays that someone did to fit it ....the thing is that i want every pieces to look the same

and i may be not getting it but i don't quite see how to it with measure
should i get display size in meters and convert it to pixels and the resize

and why .tga

as far as ratios for image size, assuming the build requires textures with non power of two ratios, create at the ratio you want, (preferably at the lowest resolution feasible, to increase load speed, regardless of client card type) then STRETCH (not compress, because that removes detail) up to power of two dimensions before uploading.

if the object face is then placed at the original ratio you'll see it normally, without the added stretching).

smaller textures load faster, and customers like things to load as fast as possible (and key items like signage arguably need to load the fastest)...

not only does it benefit the load times for your stuff, it'll benefit the load times for everything else too (less bandwidth used to transfer, means other things are queued in sooner, and smaller images take less processing time, meaning they'll not only load faster, but also allow the next thing to be loaded in that much sooner) this increases customer experience satisfaction, retention, and encourages them to bring friends as well as spend more time actually partaking of the build (whether that means shopping, viewing your art gallery, or whatever)

ETA:
PNG without compression is fine, IIRC the issue comes in with PNGs alpha method which is destructive, whereas TGA's is not. (making it easier to later edit just the alpha in TGA, and a PITA to do with a PNG)

it's also possible to accidently include even a single partially transparent pixel in a PNG which causes the whole thing to be converted to 32bit, and susectible to the alpha sorting issue in openGL, whereas in a TGA file you actively select that by the presence or absence of an alpha channel, (or a few programs will allow you specify 32 bit even when you only need 24, but most auto select this based on need)

PNG isn't destructive and the "simple transparency" meme is a weird forum rumor (there are four full channels in the most commonly used type). The problem is simpler, that Photoshop's handling of the format is poor.

The "one pixel makes it alpha" problem can be worked around by using Photoshop's "Save for Web..." where you can choose to have an alpha or not. In other words, it's the regular PS save/save that's missing important functionality.

The "destructive" part, sometimes expressed as the "simple transparency" myth, is again a Photoshop idiosyncrasy. It composites layer transparency and masks to create an alpha when saving as PNG, and ignores separate user channels; while it instead uses a separate user alpha channel when saving as TGA.

ImageMagick's convert will get out the separate channel from PNG when needed, when Photoshop can't. 'convert foo.png foo.tga' to work around Photoshop's limitations.

photoshop isn't the only one that won't strip transparency out as a separate channel (although I think you can do it via manipulation and conversion in PSP)... good tip to know on the save dialog. (does gimp do it? or any other common software? I'm not aware of one that does this natively)

I think the petite caveat still effectively stands that for most common softwares you have to go to more effort to separate PNG transparency than for TGA (not that it should be neccessary, a proper library would do it automatically)

I also hesitated to mention that colorspace *MAY* be mapped differently by the libraries that decode the formats (which doesn't make sense to me since the color/alpha bit values should match, but it was brought up before and I didn't get a solid answer on how/why, I suppose it could be an SL conversion to jp2k idiosyncracy :hrug:: I haven't actually put it to the test)

When I said, "Make your texture any size you like." I didn't mean make them weird random sizes - I meant make the texture with the proportions you want for your finished piece - but work bigger than the finished size. When you reduce the size and make it into the closest power of 2 dimension, it will have lost its proper proportions, but they are regained by putting the texture on a prim and resizing the prim to the correct texture proportions.

Perhaps that would be an improvement program developers should make, cause from what i understand it is a bit trial and error and for someone that likes to make things perfect fit, that aind so cool when u are developing product lines and such

It can be a little trial and error to start, but eventually it makes sense, everything drops into place and you can make precise sized textures all the time

If you have a board in SL that is 3 x 5 meters in size and you want a sign that fits perfectly, make your graphic in whatever program you please, make it 300 x 500 mm in dimension, make it 300 x 500 points/pixels/inches even then save it as a .tga making the largest dimension 512 pixels, let the smaller length reduce in proportion, upload to SL and place it on a 3 x 5 meter board it will fit perfectly with repeats set at 1:1, it will even fit perfectly on a 6 x 10 board or any ratios thereof.

Got a couple of questions on color space and alpha or png

Color space sl uses is rgb, ok, but what sort of rgb profile fits better sRGB?

And do u prefer using Tga (at what bit rate) with alpha or Png 24 and why

I have just always used .tga for all my texture files. More often than not you can't make the mistake of uploading a 32bit .tga file when there is no alpha needed. Targa files without transparency always 24bit, 32bit with transparency, there is no choice in the matter.

Edit: however, someone may have a need from time to time to upload a texture file so that the alpha sorting bug come into effect.