Well once again I was not able to post an image  here as I could not get it down to 15K to meet
the maximum limit for the thumbnail. I also would have had to reduce the image to 800 X 600
instead of 1024 X 768. With the higher resolutions of modern monitors I think this should be
addressed. Oh well nuff said.

Hi melancon,
I'll pass your suggestion to the admins.

Cheers!
Barb

What program are you using to save the images in? Also, what compression?

I use PaintShop Pro, and I usually leave my compression at 11%...most of my thumbs will come out between 5-8 kb

I have noticed that fractals do have larger files than other types of 2D and 3D softwares generate.  I can very frequently have a 200 x 150 thumbnail that is 93 k or more and have to bring it down to about 45% compression to make it 15 or less.  That results in the type of horrible thumbnail that I had to post yesterday.    I'm not sure why fractals do that unless it is simply that there is so much more information in the image with all the edges and color changes that come from the recursive formulas.  Has anyone found a way to cure this problem?

~Viv

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2678201

Attached Link: EZThumbs

Some of my fractals are very large. I use ACDSee and have no problem getting my thumbs under 15K with a size of 170X170, even when I sharpen the thumb a bit.

Out of curiosity, I downloaded the image and  made a thumb using my usual method, old MS Paint. It's 9,2Kb. Do you think it looks better? It seems smoother to me.

These are all great suggestions!  Thanks so much.  If anyone has others, this is a great place to share them.

~Viv

Well I thank one and all for the help and advice. I solved the problem very easily. I went here
www.irfanview.net  and downloaded the latest version of an old favorite freeware program. It  lets you resize and adjust the quality of an image. Works like a charm.

                   Thanks again,
                     Michael

Does Irfanview allow you to tweak the contrast in an image?  That seems to be the thing so many images need.

Yes, Irfanview is good too. I forgot to mention it as I haven't used it for a while. Glad you tried it.

A suggestion: when using jpeg keep both size multiple of 8. Jpeg compression works on 8x8 blocks, so if you have 170x170, it is about the same of 176x176. So if you want little file it's better 168x168.
Eventually yuo can crop some pixels if you want the same aspect ratio. I use imagemagick to resize my images/crop, it is a commandline tool. Irfanview has a small bug when resizing very big images (about 6-7000Pixel in one side), it creates a small black line in the right size of the image.
Also the contrast adjuster of IView is not so good (i had to write my own one).

I also think that 512KB limits is very low, but "a caval donato non si guarda in bocca" (Italian popular phrase about free stuff), so i cannot complain about something free.
I don't use strange effects, multilayer, texture, etc.... my fractal are only about details and math and some of them lose ALL their beauty when resized to 500K.

Hi Viv,
The newest version does tons of stuff including importing Adobe BF Filters so I would  think it is capable of many things. It also has built in effects.

I've been using Irfanview for resizing and sharpening ever since I started with fractals. Sounds like I should upload the newest version now...

I dont what the fuss is all about, since Rendorosity automatically makes a thumb nail for you as long as your image meets the file size restriction of 500k... and since discovering this ive saved time not having to ever create another thumbnail in photoshop and also space on my h/d.....just upload your image & let Rendo do the rest :)

psion005