Hi all, recently any images that I render and save are full of jpg artifacts even if they are pngs or tifs.   I can render at very high quality settings and I get a lovely, crisp render on screen.  I then save it as a png or jpg.   I can open it in PSP or PS and it looks fine.  I rework the image or crop it and it looks good.  I then save it.  If I send it to a friend or post it online it is terrible....full of artifacts and blocky.  As an extra note, I can create a vector image in XaraXtreme and save as a PNG and I get the same bad results.  I made some pngs for Poser yesterday and they are awful when I open the program.

 Here's what I've tried:

Jpg as progressive with no compression and Lossless.

PNG no interlace

Saving in PhotoShop, PaintShopPro and IrfanView.  Makes no difference.

Only thing that is passable (sp) is to render twice the size and manually downsize it small step by small step.  This is not ideal as rendering so large takes forever at high quality settings. 

Is it possible that my video card is dying?  Would this create this kind of issue? 

Hello Burpee 

Not sure if this is a sign of a video card dying or not but I had a similar problem a while back and instead of saving files as PNG or JPG especially if I plan on sharing them I started using save for the web option in Photoshop and Paintshop Pro and that has given me a reasonable quality that I am content with. I do not know if this will exactly solve your issue but might give you another option till perhaps someone else in the forum might chime in with more advice. 

Oh, that's a wonderful option.  I don't know where that option is though.  I know I sound naïve but where is 'save to web' in Paint Shop Pro or PS?

OK, I did find save for web in PS but I can't find it in PSP.

from memory you have to export in PSP and then you can pick various options

In PaintShop Pro my version is Pro 4X you go to File Export and choose either JPG or PNG Optimizer in Photoshop both in CS6 or CC 2014 it is File save for the web as far as I remember this option was available in Photoshop going back to CS 3 hope this helps

Good luck

also Irfanview has a similar option if you have all the plugs in installed but saving a PSD in Irfanview to jpg or PNG does not do the greatest and here is a screenshop of PSP 

Thank you.  I use PSP XI but I bought PSP X4 too.  Just haven't used it much. 

I have opened the jpg optimizer in both and I don't see a 'save for web' option.  This is why I wondered where the command was.  Not sure PSP has one.

 I'll just try using PS's save for web command next time and hopefully it will solve my issue.  It's quite frustrating to make a beautiful image or take a great photo then have it look like hash on screen.

Thanks again 

In PSP when you have your image open and go to either JPG or PNG optimizer you will have a new window open with dialog box that will give you several options on compressing or adjusting the image and even a Wizard button toward the bottom that you can use which will when donw will have the image optimized for sharing or uploading to the web. PS save for web option is similar just that both applications use unique wording. I do think PS is easier to use since it's default settings tend to work well enough as is. 

It must be the wording confusing me then because I've been through the wizard and optimizer.  I kept looking for a save for web area.  Saving for web needs only 75 dpi.  I tend to render at 300 dpi.  Not sure if that is part of the problem. 

 I think I'll just try the PS option next time and see what results I get.  Lobo and Frank, I thank you for helping me.