jpeg to tga

I bought an expensive house in sl...that i would like to modify. It came complete with texture files for such a purpose; howver, the files allshow to be jpeg. When i use the editor in SL, it doesn't not see these textures. I'm a relative newbie, and maybe I'm missing something, but everything I read says use TGA format files. Is there a way i can export these textures out of SL. I could change them in my paint program if I could export them, or is there a way to make editor see the Jpeg format in Second Life. That would work too?...

As far as I understand it, all image files are converted to JPEG2000 format when uploaded to SL. However, TGA is the most suitable format to edit on the desktop for export to SL. The compressed JPEG format is not good for editing in SL or any other medium.

Also, standard JPEG files such as the type commonly found on the web do not allow for transparency. TGA files do. Normally flat images should be saved as 24-bit files before uploading. Images with transparency should be saved as 32-bit TGA files where the extra 8 bits carry the alpha channel.

PNG files are also good for desktop edits.

That's correct. Please read the sticky thread on File Sizes and Formats at the top of this forum very carefully. It explains a lot of the nuances that are often puzzling to a new texture artist in SL.

You say it came with texture files.

Are those actually files that you have on your hard drive? Actual files? Or are they textures in your SL inventory?

If you have jpeg or jpg files on your hard drive can you edit them in a paint program?

Are you saying that you have jpg files on your system and when you do "Upload Image" in SL the file dialog box doesn't show them in the file list?

Are you sure you are looking in the right folder?

Also, to export a texture to your hard drive, assuming that you have full permissions on them, all you have to do is open each one and select File >> Save as ... The texture will be sent to your hard drive, where you can edit it with any common graphics program. You cannot edit textures in world.

For some reason I don't get any menus on any texture when I open them.........and almost all the textures I have are textures I've made, uploaded and are full permissions. I've wanted to download a few textures back to my hard drive in the past but can't..........instead I have to dig through my humongous files to get them. Not that that's a big deal but sometimes I just wanted to make a small change like making a pink to a red.

What am I doing wrong?

the menu being referred to is not on the image display pane, it's the viewer "File" menu option. "save texture as..." is just above "take snapshot" in the standard viewer, and only available when you've open the image file, and that image display pane has focus.

I get the feeling the OP might have no-modify textures in their inventory that came with the house, textures with the letters "jpeg" in the texture name.

Thanks Void...........for a 4 year old avatar I finally know now to do that.

I was thinking the same thing.

heh I'm only a year ahead of you in that then =X

Agreed. My guess is that the textures provided with the house are not full-perms, but rather are either no-mod or no-transfer.

Textures have to be full perms for you to be able to save a copy to your hard disk so it can be modified. Textures also have to be full perms to work normally in the editing tools, though there are ways to apply restricted textures.

If these are no-mod or no-transfer textures, the user will have to highlight the prim faces to be textured using the standard editing tools, then open their inventory window and drag the desired restricted-use textures from inventory to the texture square in the editing window. That will apply them.

Builders of prefabs sometimes choose to provide (or to sell to users) a restricted-permissions texture set, so the house owner can fix textures if they accidentally retexture a wall, or can make additional parts that match, to remodel their own building. But most prefab makers don't want to "give away the farm" by handing out full-perms copies of the textures they use to make the house. If they gave the home owner a full-perms set, what would prevent that person from directly competing with the home builder? Some home builders feel, justifiably, that it is their special textures that give them a competitive edge. Others may be using purchased textures that restrict their own ability to pass the textures on to others, based on the licensing agreement they bought them under.

For example, I sell window textures. If the builder used some of the window textures that I sell, my licensing agreement does not allow them to pass on copies of the textures (full perms or restricted) to people who buy the houses they make with them. Selling the house itself is no issue, since using the textures to create prim products is what they are sold for. But the textures, as-is, are my licensed goods, not to be passed on to others. Now, if that same merchant asked me for permission to include my window textures in a "repair kit", as no-transfer textures, to be sold or provided only to their customers, I probably would allow them a special-use license for that, negotiated on a case-by case basis with each content creator. But my license agreement doesn't permit even that, by default.