posted pictures look lousy <1meg

[conboy]

all,
My pictures always look lousy and fuzzy because of the 1-meg limitation for posts. But other folks' look sharp and shiny -- could someone give me a little advice on how to make the pictures look nice and sharp when posted?

thanks!

conboy

[bru888]

Well, none of them ever look like what you were looking at when you screen-captured them but I have found that jpgs give the best quality for the file size. Some quality is also attributable to the viewer and editor that you use. I use FastStone Image Viewer and Capture (Viewer is free but Capture costs a few bucks). I always work with jpgs at 95% quality setting and I never have a problem with my images (except the forum not handling very well the attached images while post-editing, but that is another story). So if I am one of those other folks whose pictures look sharp and shiny, that is what I do.

[bru888]

So here's a clue. This is an image that you just posted in another thread and yes, it is fuzzy even when downloaded and viewed at 100%:

summa 40.png (916.09 KiB) Viewed 1123 times

When you go to the Screenshots folder, I recommend that you use the JPG version of the image instead of PNG. JPG files are much smaller than PNG and this forum, like all others, has a restriction on image file size. Pixel for pixel and byte for byte, JPG can produce better quality images than PNG. This PNG image of yours - did you in fact need to dial back the quality and reduce its file size in order to post it here? If so, you don't need to do so when using JPG.

Ironically, the game itself requires PNG images but the forum does not. Maybe that's why they provide JPG and PNG versions of every screenshot.

One other tip: If you have the time and inclination, crop your images to just what you want to show. I don't always do that; sometimes I just use the entire screenprint as you did. It's appropriate for scenario victory/defeat because the console is included, showing the remaining turns and points. Most of the time, though, I will crop so the image is bigger and more clear.

[conboy]

Ah! I'll try jpg then!

Thanks!

conboy

[conboy]

Bru,
Thanks. The screenshot .png file was over 8 times larger than the .jpg!

Also, I never noticed the screenshot folder. Smarter by the day...

conboy

[bru888]

So apparently, you were using some procedure other than hitting the F9 key and having two copies of the image go to the Screenshots folder. I should have asked you that in the first place. Yes, I believe that is the way to go and yes, I would always use the JPG version for the purposes of forum posts. I mentioned previously that, ironically, the game itself almost exclusively uses PNG format for its images and that could be why two versions are saved for every screenshot. A nice feature is that the game appends a number to each screenshot file which helps to keep them organized.

[conboy]

I wish there was a wagging finger emoji so I could use it on selected entities sometimes. In this case, the personages who want us to use pee-yen-gees for Pop-ups when they are a pestilence elsewhere (the .pngees not the Devs...)

And yes I was using a different procedure that I am used to using for tech illustrations. The F9 key is much simpler and it's nice to have them land in one place, aptly named, and ready to post.

thanks for the lesson, Bru.

conboy

[Chris0War]

With F9 being the default key for saving screenshots?
Just reverted to F12 myself to make use of integrated Steam ( screen ) shots for adding blitzing amounts of screenies onto this probably cranky and overloaded server
anyway ofcourse non steam users could only use ….

20190819162027_1.jpg (526.68 KiB) Viewed 1004 times

[conboy]

Chris o'war,
Nice! How does that work?

conboy