ProFantasy Community Forum

Exporting as JPEG or BMP?

mosswood17mosswood17
in Mapping with ProFantasy's Software
I have recently started messing around with my maps after they are done with GIMP2 to add a little more texture to them. I am tech savvy in some ways, but I gotta say I come up completely blank when it comes to the difference between BMP and JPEG files (aside from the obvious, they are spelled differently!). Could anyone go over the advantages and disadvantages quickly for me so that I can make a better choice? Is there one that tends to work better with CC3? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

With big toe in a very large body of water,

Nick
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Comments

  • JimPJimP 🖼️ 280 images Cartographer
    jpg is lossy. Export as bmp or png. I use png for my web site maps, they look better than jpgs.
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  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    I am with JimP here. Use PNG, since that is a legal web format (BMP is not), and the file sizes are also much smaller than with BMP, yet it is not lossy like JPG. PNG is also the preferred format for most of CC3's own stuff (like symbols and fills).
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  • mosswood17mosswood17
    I just tried re-exporting one of my maps as a png bitmap to be edited in Gimp2 and I see that the detail is significantly less than exporting it as a JPEG, even. What gives?

    As always, any help is greatly appreciated.
    Nick
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  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    Check your export settings (click the options button in the save as dialog AFTER selecting the file type)... There shouldn't be any difference in the detail levels of those formats, so only thing I can think of is that the options have been changed.
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  • Terraformer_AuthorTerraformer_Author Newcomer
    Huh? What?....Your kidding - right? Lol.

    PNG is infinitely better qaulity than Jpeg. Like Monsen said - check your settings, because Jpeg is NEVER better qaulity than PNG. To even assume such - is to ponder the likes of a terrifieing alternate dimension where sqaushing kittens with a sledge hammer is an olympic sport, and George W. Bush served a third term...
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  • Mateus090985Mateus090985 Traveler
    edited February 2012
    Posted By: Terraformer_AuthorHuh? What?....Your kidding - right? Lol.

    PNG is infinitely better qaulity than Jpeg. Like Monsen said - check your settings, because Jpeg is NEVER better qaulity than PNG. To even assume such - is to ponder the likes of a terrifieing alternate dimension where sqaushing kittens with a sledge hammer is an olympic sport, and George W. Bush served a third term...
    But bmp is better than PNG? And what does the compression options on PNG mean? If I put maximum compression I will lose definition?
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  • JimPJimP 🖼️ 280 images Cartographer
    I save as bmp in CC3, and change it using Irfanview to png.
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  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    Bmp and png are the exact same quality, because they both use lossless compression.
    Enabling compression doesn't affect png quality, it only means slightly higher cpu use during saving and opening of the image.
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  • Mateus090985Mateus090985 Traveler
    Posted By: MonsenBmp and png are the exact same quality, because they both use lossless compression.
    Enabling compression doesn't affect png quality, it only means slightly higher cpu use during saving and opening of the image.
    Thanks for the clarification Monsen.

    Mateus
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  • RalfRalf Administrator, ProFantasy 🖼️ 18 images Mapmaker
    edited February 2012
    Posted By: JimPI save as bmp in CC3, and change it using Irfanview to png.
    May I ask why? Saving directly as PNG from CC3 is exactly the same.
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  • mosswood17mosswood17
    I find I have much better picture quality exporting as a pdf, then saving as one of the above, either BMP or JPEG. I use PDF Creator as per the annual about printing maps (don't remember which year but VERY helpful info!). I was just wondering if there was a better way to do things. I just haven't seen the picture quality from either JPEG, BMP, or PNG that I get with a PDF.
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  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    What are you using as your export resolution? As far as I know, when printing to PDF, most pdf creators have a default dpi of 600, which translates to 4726x6778 pixels for a full size print on an A4 sheets (filling the entire sheet, except for a margin of 5mm on each side). Obviously, if you export your images with a value that is far below this, the quality will be worse than you get from a PDF print, since this is just a matter of pixels, nothing more.
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  • JimPJimP 🖼️ 280 images Cartographer
    Posted By: Ralf
    Posted By: JimPI save as bmp in CC3, and change it using Irfanview to png.
    May I ask why? Saving directly as PNG from CC3 is exactly the same.
    It didn't work for me for awhile to save directly as png. So I got in the habit to do it via Irfanview. I think it was fixed last year by you or someone else at Profantasy.
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