Changing .bmp to .gif files

Theben · January 14, 2001, 08:07

I C&P'd TOT images to CivII but lost some quality in the transfer. Is there a way to make the change w/o losing image quality?

I use Photoshop 5.0.

BeBro · January 14, 2001, 09:02

Theben, the problem is that ToT uses 16bit and/or 24bit gfx, but civ2 only 8bit gfx with max. 256 colors, so converted gfx from ToT always loose quality.

However, you can minimize the losses with Photoshop or a similar software, but this is a lot of work and requires some training. The trick is to modify the source pics so that most of their colors are similar to the colors of the standart civ2 palette, then the results will be better, e.g. the civ2 palette has many grey and blue colors, but only a few red tones, so a source pic with more blue and grey will be converted better than another with more red.

And if you really want good conversions you can try to replace "lost" colors with other colors from the civ2 palette by hand, but this is even more work...

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Civ2000

January 14, 2001, 09:13

Theben · January 15, 2001, 02:28

quote:

Originally posted by BeBro on 01-14-2001 08:02 AM
And if you really want good conversions you can try to replace "lost" colors with other colors from the civ2 palette by hand, but this is even more work...

I was trying to avoid the pixel by pixel approach...

BeBro · January 15, 2001, 11:36

You can save a lot of time when you are familiar with the selection tools of Photoshop (I use mainly PhotoPaint, but the tools should be the same).

You can "mask" a single (or more) color(s), then the software selects all pixels of the pic that have the same color(s). Then simply fill the selected area(s) with a new color of your choice. This is extremely useful when you try to improve "dithered" pics.

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Civ2000

Theben · January 16, 2001, 02:42

I know what you're talking about; I'd use the "color range" in Photoshop. But it tends to group in colors that are "close" in shade as well as the selected color...

BeBro · January 18, 2001, 12:17

Can´t you "finetune" the color mask in Photoshop? I have the software, but use mainly PhotoPaint (I´m more familiar with it, I became it earlier).
In PhotoPaint you can specify if only a single color should be selected or other similar colors too. Perhaps Photoshop has the same option...

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Civ2000

Theben · January 27, 2001, 06:03

In Photoshop (5.0 anyway) you can select or deselect while in the "color range". It's just somewha of pain. Don't get me wrong; it's a lot easier than the pixel by pixel approach...

But the 256 max. color seems to be the big problem. I'm just going to be a bit more selective in what I use from ToT.