Sign for my store

[friscolives]

I just rented a shop in a shopping center in SL. I have quite a bit to learn for sure, but one thing thats an issue is creating a sign--something to put up just to let people know my store is "coming soon."

Anyone can explain to me how this is done. I think its clear the sign itself is made in Photoshop or another graphics program, but as far as saving it and so forth, what would it be saved as for SL?

Any help is appreciated.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

Save it as a  512 X 512 jpg. Then upload it. I am  a little scared that you have a store and don't know how to upload a sign. One wonders what it is you are selling.

 

[Madeliefste Oh]

Someone can be for example an excellent scripter, without any knowlegde of uploading textures.

I would not recommand jpg for uploading to SL. Choose tga 24 bits in stead. When your texture has transparency in it, then choose png as upload format.

Make the texture in the size you need it. When your sign has a size for example 3:4 then you can make a texture for example 512 x 768.

When uploaded to SL it will shrink to 512 x 512. But then applied to the sign the texture will fit perfectly, and shows no unwanted strechting.

 

 

 

[Drake1 Nightfire]

---

Madeliefste Oh wrote:

Someone can be for example an excellent scripter, without any knowlegde of uploading textures.

I would not recommand jpg for uploading to SL. Choose tga 24 bits in stead. When your texture has transparency in it, then choose png as upload format.

Make the texture in the size you need it. When your sign has a size for example 3:4 then you can make a texture for example 512 x 768.

When uploaded to SL it will shrink to 512 x 512. But then applied to the sign the texture will fit perfectly, and shows no unwanted strechting.

 

 

 

---

I realized after posting that i came off a bit snippy, and for that i do apologize.

i think the tga is for images with alphas/ transparencies.

 

[Madeliefste Oh]

Hi Drake,

The tga 32 bits is for texture with an alpha channel. The tga 24 has only three channels: red, blue, and green. It can have a 4th channel, the alpha channel. But you must create that yourself, and that is a bit complicated.

Now png is a texture format that has the alpha channel already included. You don't have to create it first, it is already there, so that is much more easy to work with then with the tga 32 bits.

I avoid jpg for uploading. Jpg had its avantages for pictures you place on the web, it creates small size files. But this small size has its price in term of quality. Jpg creates groups of pixels, and 'remembers' this group as one pixel color.

Now when you upload to SL, you have already lost quality. Then SL itself writes your picture to a jpg2000 format, and then you are loosing some quality again. So you have two times a loss.

Tga a texture format that was original designed for 3D objects. It simply can 'remember' more information then the jpg format. So when you upload that one to SL, you just have 1 time quality loss when SL writes your picture to jpg2000 format.

[madam Martian]

if you need help then send me a mail on dittossl@hotmail.com and I will make the sign texture for you... free ofcause *smiles yeps Im in a nice mood tonight LOL ( Or I can help you to do it yourself)  just expain in the mail what you want on the sign if you need me to do it and how...

You can see some of the things I have made here http://sl-shopping.webs.com/logos

I got some prim signs just outside my shop LIS'ten (can be found in my picks) I am not sure if they are still a freebie, but if not then they are less than 50 I think (havent been inworld much lately lol) so I can help you with the sign itself aswell...

Blessings

Lis / madam

[friscolives]

Well, luckily my store isn't heavily involved in graphics and uploading and all. I was able to make the basic sign and save as a PNG, upload it to SL and its currently in my textures. I think my big question is how to a get it out and put in on my store front. Basically I have the emply store, want to put a sign in my window announcing my store is coming soon. Just not sure how to get the sign texture out and put in on my store window.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

Create a prim and add your sign as a texture. then stretch it to whatever size you need.

 

[Deja Letov]

---

Madeliefste Oh wrote:

Hi Drake,

 

The tga 32 bits is for texture with an alpha channel. The tga 24 has only three channels: red, blue, and green. It can have a 4th channel, the alpha channel. But you must create that yourself, and that is a bit complicated.

Now png is a texture format that has the alpha channel already included. You don't have to create it first, it is already there, so that is much more easy to work with then with the tga 32 bits.

I avoid jpg for uploading. Jpg had its avantages for pictures you place on the web, it creates small size files. But this small size has its price in term of quality. Jpg creates groups of pixels, and 'remembers' this group as one pixel color.

Now when you upload to SL, you have already lost quality. Then SL itself writes your picture to a jpg2000 format, and then you are loosing some quality again. So you have two times a loss.

Tga a texture format that was original designed for 3D objects. It simply can 'remember' more information then the jpg format. So when you upload that one to SL, you just have 1 time quality loss when SL writes your picture to jpg2000 format.

---

Great post Mad! I agree on the JPG issue, but since you said you use PNG for alpha's, is there any reason not to just use png's for everything? Is there a significant difference between png and tga quality? (sorry I know this is off topic from the OP).

 

[Madeliefste Oh]

I don't think there is much quality difference between tga and png, but I'm not really 100% sure of this.

When you want to use png for non transparent textures, you have to save the file as a png 24 bits. When you use in Photoshop the button 'save as' it will create a 32 bits file, which means that the transparency layer is included. So even if your picture doesn't have any transparency in it, the channel is there. Now when you place two objects with transparency channel behind each other in SL you get this transparency glitch, where both textures fight to be seen first by your graphic card.

Now when you save the png file as 24 bits, the alpha channel is excluded before you upload. You can do this by not using the 'save as' button, but instead use 'save for web and devices', there you can select the png 24 bits. (At least that is how it works in Photoshop, I don't know how to do it in Gimp or other programs).
But since most people are used to work with the 'save' or 'save as' option, it happens a lot that people automated upload this alpha channel in files that don't need transparency at all, and thus create unnecessairy alpha glitches in SL. To avoid this I do advise to use tga 24 bits, simply because the 'save as' option for tga gives you the option to choose for 'save as 24 bits' or 'save as 32 bits.'

[Deja Letov]

---

Madeliefste Oh wrote:

I don't think there is much quality difference between tga and png, but I'm not really 100% sure of this.

When you want to use png for non transparent textures, you have to save the file as a png 24 bits. When you use in Photoshop the button 'save as' it will create a 32 bits file, which means that the transparency layer is included. So even if your picture doesn't have any transparency in it, the channel is there. Now when you place two objects with transparency channel behind each other in SL you get this transparency glitch, where both textures fight to be seen first by your graphic card.

Now when you save the png file as 24 bits, the alpha channel is excluded before you upload. You can do this by not using the 'save as' button, but instead use 'save for web and devices', there you can select the png 24 bits. (At least that is how it works in Photoshop, I don't know how to do it in Gimp or other programs).

But since most people are used to work with the 'save' or 'save as' option, it happens a lot that people automated upload this alpha channel in files that don't need transparency at all, and thus create unnecessairy alpha glitches in SL. To avoid this I do advise to use tga 24 bits, simply because the 'save as' option for tga gives you the option to choose for 'save as 24 bits' or 'save as 32 bits.'

---

I am definitely a "save for web and devices' user. Interestingly though I do it out of habit due to my real life job and didn't even realize that it's better to do that for the alpha layer reasoning. Good to know. Thanks!

 

[Czari Zenovka]

---

Deja Letov wrote:

---

Madeliefste Oh wrote:

Hi Drake,

 

The tga 32 bits is for texture with an alpha channel. The tga 24 has only three channels: red, blue, and green. It can have a 4th channel, the alpha channel. But you must create that yourself, and that is a bit complicated.

Now png is a texture format that has the alpha channel already included. You don't have to create it first, it is already there, so that is much more easy to work with then with the tga 32 bits.

I avoid jpg for uploading. Jpg had its avantages for pictures you place on the web, it creates small size files. But this small size has its price in term of quality. Jpg creates groups of pixels, and 'remembers' this group as one pixel color.

Now when you upload to SL, you have already lost quality. Then SL itself writes your picture to a jpg2000 format, and then you are loosing some quality again. So you have two times a loss.

Tga a texture format that was original designed for 3D objects. It simply can 'remember' more information then the jpg format. So when you upload that one to SL, you just have 1 time quality loss when SL writes your picture to jpg2000 format.

---

Great post Mad! I agree on the JPG issue, but since you said you use PNG for alpha's, is there any reason not to just use png's for everything? Is there a significant difference between png and tga quality? (sorry I know this is off topic from the OP).

 

---

I took a 10-week Gimp course offered in SL - three times!!!  I knew absolutely nothing about graphics programs at the time so my first time through was basically learning what all the icons did; the second time through I understood more about how to use Gimp for my intended purposes.  The third time was because I was determined to complete the final project - a man's shirt.  Ugh!  That's a story for a whole other time.

Anyway...the person who teaches this class is what I would consider a Gimp "expert."  She believes in using .PNG for everything in SL, including alphas.  She went so far as to say she would immediately fail someone from the course if she knew .tga was used in any of the projects.

I'm just at the point where I can wrap my head around all this a little bit.  As I understand it, and has been mentioned, .PNG is a loss-less platform as opposed to .JPG, which is better suited for posting images on the web.  Honestly I still struggle a bit using .PNG with alphas and can do it easier with .TGA but for the instructor to feel so strongly about the use of .TGAs, there must be some reason to not use them.

One of the great things I learned from taking that class is that for ad copy it is absolutely unnecessary, and laggier, to use 1024x1024 images.  I have found that for most of my in world ads, using 256x256 works fine.

That's about the extent of talking somewhat intelligibly on the issue but your post brought to mind the comments of the instructor re: .TGA.

[Czari Zenovka]

---

Madeliefste Oh wrote:

Now when you save the png file as 24 bits, the alpha channel is excluded before you upload. You can do this by not using the 'save as' button, but instead use 'save for web and devices', there you can select the png 24 bits.

(At least that is how it works in Photoshop, I don't know how to do it in Gimp or other programs).

 

 

---

In Gimp the two processes that deal with keeping alpha layers or not is to either merge or flatten prior to saving. One of them keeps the alpha layer and one doesn't.  I haven't used this method in awhile so would have to go back and read up on it.

What I do when an alpha texture is not needed for the final result, I save for the format I want (.png or .jpg) and Gimp asks if I want to "export" the image which apparently takes out the alpha layer/s.  The other option that I sometimes use is to just delete the alpha layer prior to saving to .png or, for MP ads, .jpg.

 

[Sea Warcliffe]

In Gimp 2.6X yes - you can save as... and flatten to remove the alpha if making a png. Unfortunately in Gimp 2.8 its not that simple, and removing the alpha is a whole added step now as far as I can tell. And unlike Photoshop, when you save a tga in Gimp, you do not get the 32 or 24 bit option in the save dialogue.

Anywho - all of my very first signs were .jpg and nobody ever noticed. Probably because of my lack of photography, composition and artwork skills, but saving them as png or tga would not have made them any better.

But at least I had the comfort of not worrying about any accidental alpha, as I had for my first batch upload of 22 signs - all with accidental alpha in them - ouch!

[Czari Zenovka]

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Sea Warcliffe wrote:

In Gimp 2.6X yes - you can save as... and flatten to remove the alpha if making a png. Unfortunately in Gimp 2.8 its not that simple, and removing the alpha is a whole added step now as far as I can tell. And unlike Photoshop, when you save a tga in Gimp, you do not get the 32 or 24 bit option in the save dialogue.

---

Thank you for the info re: this issue on Gimp 2.8.  I'm still using 2.6x.  I'm one of those "If it works for what I want to do I don't see the need to upgrade" type of person.  I've received a bit of info on 2.8 from the Gimp groups I'm in, but haven't yet gone to the website to check out any new features that would be of interest to me.  The alpha deal alone is enough to make me stick to 2.6...lol.