User talk:Zarevak/ImageUpdates

Image crushing
So, we have 1.4 and the icons have been reduced in size. I'm not an image expert, so I can't say how bad the changes are for quality. However, I think we should at least decide how to handle it. As I see it, there are three main options.


 * Use the 1.3 icons when possible, only use new icons if it didn't exist in 1.3
 * Use the 1.4 (or just the latest) icons
 * Use whatever, don't care

I have both sets available, and I figure you do too, so it's just a question of policy really. Since you're the image guy, I leave the decision to you. - Dashiva (talk) 23:52, 9 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi Dashiva,
 * personally I would like to upload the 1.3 icons whenever possible, but we cannot make it a policy because other users don't have the 1.3 icons available. I've already went against this "policy" when I uploaded last batch of icons, because it was more convenient for me at the time and was planing to reupload the images later.
 * As for the image quality - the new icons use DXT lossy compression which brings these issues:
 * DXT uses 16-bit colors instead of 24-bit colors
 * DXT stores 4x4 pixel block as table of 4 colors and interpolation table between them
 * This is no problem for game textures as they mainly contain gradients, but it is problem for icons with many details, because each block 4x4 pixel uses only 4 colors. The reason why developers decided to use compressed textures is that the compression is natively supported by graphic cards and you have to move only one fourth of the data at just a slight loss of quality.
 * On another note: I'm the "only best quality available" guy but we almost always resize the icons to smaller sizes (24px) so I have to say even if the lossy compression can be against my ambitions it doesn't really matter...
 * Summary: Use whatever, don't care
 * → Zarevak 10:11, 10 February 2008 (UTC)


 * I'll keep using 1.3, then. The skill icons only shrunk 20% from the change, so there's practically no benefit to using the new ones, for us. - Dashiva (talk) 13:41, 10 February 2008 (UTC)