what's the difference between...

(D3C0Y) #1

what’s the difference between the .jpeg and .tga textures ?

(chavo_one) #2

tga = better image, larger file size
Also, jpeg doesn’t support alpha channels, and tga does.

The only negative to using all tgas is the size of your pk3 file will be larger than if you used jpegs. I’ve read that they both use the same amount of RAM when loaded by the game, because the engine has to decompress the jpegs.

(redfella) #3

Also, keep in mind that windows does not render .tga thumbnails in explorer… This can become a pain in the arse if ure trying to locate a texture… My advice is to use\create .jpg if ure not using the alpha channel.

(sock) #4

Its best to stick to TGA because:

  • Better quality
  • Always loaded by the game/editor (unless u use some wierd non-default compression rate)
  • Especially good for further editing. JPG’s degrade when edited/saved/edited/saved etc.
  • Use exactly the same memory space in the game as JPG’s
  • When stored in a pk3/zip file they are compressed just like JPG’s (sometimes not as good a compression as JPG’s but fairly close)

Sock
:moo:

(creampuff) #5

Whatza good editor for tga? Preferably freeware.

(chavo_one) #6

Don’t know about freeware, but I use both Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop for the creation of game and web content. I find that they each have their strengths and weaknesses.

(Mlehliw) #7

You can always download the evaluation version of paint shop pro at http://www.jasc.com

(SCDS_reyalP) #8

You can use the gimp if you need a completely free image editor. It ain’t photoshop, but it works.

I’d suggest doing your work on tga images, and only exporting them to .jpeg when you do the final .pk3 for release. Note that the compiler and engine will try both file types if one is mentioned in a shader script or anything like that, so you don’t have to go through and change all your shaders. I have heard that the shaders should always refer to filename.tga even if you are using a .jpg

Depending on the image and the level of jpeg compression, jpeg images may be uglier in game. It doesn’t seem to make a huge difference most of the time.

(sock) #9

True, all shaders point to TGA’s but if not found will load a JPG, if the correct format. The engine will only loads certain types of JPG’s so do not save them as progressive JPG format.

Sock
:moo: