This may seem funny, but once and awhile I get confused about simple stuff. I've been looking for textures for the P4 Nude Male so I can put together a good Character Comparison Tutorial. I couldn't help notice the textures come in jpg, tif, and even in bmp formats?! Why such a variety of file formats? And why does it seem most textures now come in jpg? I'd thought bmp format was ancient and no longer used?! I feel like such a dummy sometimes!

JPEG has better compression, which makes it easer to download, but it is a lossy compression scheme and can distort the image. TIFF is not lossy, but it doesn't compress well, resulting in larger files and longer download times. However, both, when loaded into Poser, use roughly the same amount of RAM (for identical resolution). Not sure about the BMP format--I happen to prefer PICT, which is my platform's native image format since PICT will allow me to reduce the memory demands of a texture by reducing the bit depth of the texture. (Reducing bit depth to 8 bit colors is an efficient method to reduce the memory load on Poser for simple textures and transparencies--early Poser documentation actually suggests going this route to speed up renders and get the most out of your RAM.

As I recall (it's been a year and a half for me), Poser 3 only took textures in TIF format, or maybe BMP as well. Poser 4 now takes JPGs (yay!), and with the right compression ratio, they can look really good. I still put mine in TIF if they don't survive the JPG compression, though.

It's merely a matter of file format support, Ron. Stay away from TIFF and PSD (Photoshop) if your planning on distributing the textures to PC owners -- they don't always work. Poser PP also supports the new .png format and Windows machines will work OK with it. BMP is an old Windows format (it means Bit Map Pic) and is a memory hog. It's only redeeming virtue is that both platforms will work with it. I would say that the best two formats are JPEG (baseline optimised and quality > 7), or PNG. PNG is lossless compression, whereas JPEG will always lose some picture quality -- even if you can't see it. Hope this helps you out.... Jim Moore

Just a side note here Ron: develope your work on layers I use Photshop for this) and, when you save it whichever layer is active will be the one Poser uses (the other layers will not show). Jim

Think about converting any transparency maps you might have to an image format that allows you to specify the bit depth. Poser will only recognize 256 shades of gray--anything more only eats up RAM and processing time. JPEG does not make that distintion with grayscale images and the JPEG is processed like a full color image. Releasing a transparency as a JPEG for means of distribution is a practical idea, but once you download it, convert it into a format that allows you to save it as a true grayscale image. The only logical reason you would ever use a JPEG trans map in a render is if you actually had more RAM than hard drive space, otherwise it's a resource hog.

Wow, thanks for all the information. I will need to scratch my head a bit and try to understand. I still feel like such a dummy sometimes. jnmoore, now I'm really confused about working on textures. I'm trying to develop a makeup texture for a clown picture. I thought layers are a good way to get all the colors done. Now I'm afraid some of the colors won't come out at all? I know you'll have a good explanation.. Just remember I'm a "texture dummy" right now.

Layers are fine, especially if you're saving the original photoshop file as a template, and not a texture. If you come up with something you want to use, simply flatten the layers and save it as a NEW FILE in a Poser friendly format (JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PICT and even GIF) and keep your "unflattened" PS file for touchups or as a future reference for new textures.

Tiff files can be pernicious as texture. Every time I've used them and saved, the character comes back with the texture burned into them and there's no way to save the scene-- I have to reload the character, lose the pose, everything. It's easy to make a jpeg. You must know how, Ron, you just posted one. Most jpeg makers will collapse the layers for you when they make the file. Just be sure to save an uncollapsed copy, with all the layers intact in case you want to make changes. Emily

Jim, I have no idea what you mean by whatever layer is active-- well, actually I do, but I use all my layers so the phrase is meaningless to me. For the final effort I collapse the layers-- flatten the image-- or, as I said to Ron, just run it through a jpeger which will flatten it for the construction of the jpeg. Emily

In Photoshop, look at the layers menu and whichever layer has a blue background is the active one. I use this to make comparisons between subtle changes. Then, when I'm finished, make the layer I want to keep active and flatten the image ( you can merge layers first, before flattenning, if you want to combine some of them for the finished product). Photoshop presents all the jpeg options when you save the pic, no need for a "jepegger". Just pick baseline optimised and 7 or 8 for quality (It's hard to see any losses with these settings). Jim Moore

Oh, I'm a longtime BoxTop fan, I've used their jpeg maker forever, wouldn't know how to do without it. And, I'd miss the preview windows. It plugs into PS. Emily

Freakachu: JPEG supports 8-bit grayscale. Works fine with Poser, too.

Little Dragon sez: "JPEG supports 8-bit grayscale. Works fine with Poser, too. " It depends on the software used to save the image A lot of the "grayscale" JPEGs that I've seen used for transparencies are basically desaturated RGB images which, while they work in Poser, they still require a lot more memory than an image set at the proper bit depth. Some apps, like Photoshop save JPEGs in true 8-bit grayscale, other apps save grayscale JPEGs as 24-bit color image files. The best route would be to resave the transmap as a true 8-bit image. If you open a transparency file, and the image shows a grayscale image containing three identical RGB channels instead of a single "Black" (or "Gray") channel, then it has NOT been saved as a true grayscale. RGB channels for transmaps are a waste of memory that is better used loading other models, textures and transmaps into your scene. The Poser manuals (since P1) all suggest that reducing the bit depth (where applicable) will actually improve performance.

qurie - Photoshop already shows you a preview. The on-screen picture will change as you click through the jpeg options. 'Still don't see a need for jpegger (?). Just move the pic to one side, so the dialogue box doesn't block it (PS 5 & 6 do this, don't know about PS 3 & 4). freakachu -- I totally agree about 8 bit depth for greyscale and transparency maps. 24 bit is usually a waste of memory. PS makes true grey scale files, too (don't know about photo paint, though, for the above 2 statements). Jim