Best image format and Compression to make as small as possible

dugisthekingdugistheking Member Posts: 83
edited March 2012 in Art, Graphics, Music and Sound
Hello all!

I have published my game MOTR Coin Flip ( check it out its 100% FREE. Comments welcome and ratings wanted!)

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.jaxelstudios.coinfliplite&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5qYXhlbHN0dWRpb3MuY29pbmZsaXBsaXRlIl0.

Most images are .png format and I have compressed them using Imageoptim. However many images seem to be around 200k each. This all adds up when you have many images. Can anyone advise how to best compress images further?

The quality must still be good but any tips appreciated.
Is .png the best format?
What about tif format?
Any recommended tools for compression or "save as" methods?
Can images be resized without them looking stretched or broken?

some images are based on retina display others are just on screen elements.

Your help would be greatly appreciated! I am sure I am not the only one having issues on this topic!
If any of you have free games that want reviewing please let me know, happy to help. As long as you rate mine :)

Comments

  • SlickZeroSlickZero Houston, TexasMember, Sous Chef Posts: 2,870
    GameSalad uses .png natively for images, so even if you imported another format, like .tiff for example, it would be converted to .png. There is a method of changing the .xml files, and you can use .jpegs, but I don't do that, and don't know exactly how to go about doing that.

    You can resize images evenly by holding shift key when dragging the corner of an image onscreen, or simple type in the values you want in the attributes pane for that particular image. Upscaling will give your image undesirable results if you go beyond its original dimensions, though.

    Many image tools that let you adjust .png compressions on images. Deep Blue has a Project Optimizer that works very well with helping you optimize your project. It costs money, but it's a tool I use on every project (along with a few others from them).

    http://www.deepblueapps.com/Deep_Blue_Ideas_Ltd./GS_Optimizer.html
    Warning There was an error rendering this rich post.
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    ImageAlpha is free and will squeeze a 200k file down to 20k (depending on the image) with no visible reduction in quality.
  • dugisthekingdugistheking Member Posts: 83
    ill try image alpha thanks. Will it work even if I have used ImageOptim on the images?
    I can Deep blue app optimiser - I have had better results so far better results with ImageOptim. ALthought the tool is good for telling you about images you dont use or inactive actors. They still havent fixed the bug where if you rename files it doesnt rename them properly. I'll try image alpha and get back to you all thanks!
  • dugisthekingdugistheking Member Posts: 83
    How do I do multiple images all at once? How do I know which options are best like colours to use or method. I can make it to 32 bit colour and 200kb file is 100kb
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    ill try image alpha thanks. Will it work even if I have used ImageOptim on the images?
    I don't know, I doubt it, best working from your original full quality 24 bit PNGs.
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    edited March 2012
    How do I do multiple images all at once?
    You can't (easily).
    How do I know which options are best like colours to use or method.
    For the method I tend to leave it on the default.

    How do you know which options are best like colours ? There is no 'best' - it's all entirely subjective there are no right or wrong settings, if it looks good to you then it's good, if it looks bad to you then it's bad.
  • dugisthekingdugistheking Member Posts: 83
    most images can be compressed to 64bit looking great close up. Some to even 32 with less detail. down side is manual work. But after a few hours I should be able to get my file size in half! Thank you for the feedback. I'll let you know the total savings when im done
  • Rob2Rob2 Member Posts: 2,402
    edited March 2012
    ImageOptim is lossless and juggles various tools/strippers etc to see which gives the very best compression- it does not alter the displayed file in anyway. A file that has been 'imageOptimed' is exactly the same file it just uses less disk space.

    ImageAlpha is a very different beast and is all about reducing colours to 256 and fewer (whilst keeping some alpha capabilities) and the corresponding huge reduction in file size. You can still compress a file with ImageOptim after it has been through ImageAlpha - you may get a few extra %.

    Once a file has been compressed with ImageAlpha it is no longer 'the same' file.

    There is always the 'use JPGs' trick to minimise your project size but with lots of images this can effect performance as iOS likes PNGs.

    I think it has also been noted that the Xcode build process sometimes/always inflates slightly some PNGs that have been heavily optimised with ImageOptim.
  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    ImageOptim is lossless and juggles various tools/strippers etc to see which gives the very best compression- it does not alter the displayed file in anyway. A file that has been 'imageOptimed' is exactly the same file it just uses less disk space.
    Good to know, cheers for the info. \m/
  • dugisthekingdugistheking Member Posts: 83
    all image for app content previously 14.3 mb. NEW image content - just over 3 mb ! WOW! for anyone who hasnt used alpha its a must. 64bit or 32 works a treat. In turn game should load faster and run smoother!

    SUPER thanks for the tips all! Let you know when updated game comes out!
  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922
    I use project optimizer and it works great.

    Guru Video Channel   | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS  

  • CloudsClouds Member Posts: 1,599
    . . . game should load faster and run smoother!
    Load faster, yes, run smoother, no.

  • DoguzDoguz Member Posts: 500
    @dugistheking Mind if I re-open this thread. I'm having some issues using imageAlpha.

    I have a png image saved out of photoshop and it's 1.6mb (I'm designing for iPad retina). I run it through imageAlpha and can get the file down to 458kb. Great!

    Now I import that into Gamesalad, and save the GS file. Then I do the 'show package contents' trick and navigate to the images folder to inspect my newly imported file....guess what. It's back to 1.6mb.

    Therefore is imagealpha creating some form of 'on the fly' compression/decompression. Do you think you could do this test for me and see if you have the same results?

    Just create a very large photo image so that it's above the 1MB mark. Then imagealpha it down. Take note of the size then import into a blank GS file. Then check the package contents to see the actual size.

    Anyone else care to to this test for me?
  • westwoodwestwood PRO Posts: 10
    @Doguz sorry, I have not performed your test - I have only just discovered this thread as I was worried over image file sizes too.
    It seems that ImageOptin is also a free download - so I went to the website to check it out. Then I saw this page regarding X-Code's built in optimisation. For those who have (way) more knowledge than I about this subject, perhaps you could give this dummy a heads up on your thoughts about deactivating the Xcode optimiser as suggested here:
    http://imageoptim.com/xcode.html

    Many thanks to all of you for sharing your knowledge on this forum - it's a BIG help, believe me!

    westwood
  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922
    I'm unsure how interwoven Creator and Xcode are so turning that off may not have any effect. The best ways is to make your images the exact size needed and 72dpi before import.

    Guru Video Channel   | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS  

  • DoguzDoguz Member Posts: 500
    edited November 2012
    @westwood. I cracked part of the puzzle. I believe GS Creator converts ALL images to png 24bit upon import. even other pngs go through the conversion. So when you optimise using imagealpha, you are making a png8bit. So the file is smaller in size. BUT when you import into GS Creator, it converts it to png24. And you loose the optimisation. So here is what you do:

    http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/comment/354237/
    via @slowboy

    HOWEVER. After applying this method my GS project file ends up at 26.8mb.
    BUT after publishing it, my outputted app file ends up 46.7MB.

    So where is the extra file size coming from. Could it be Xcode? Or is it 'extra' gamesalad code. I can't imagine 20mb of code being added. It's got to be coming from the images.

    EDIT: Just did a check on my outputted app file. (Show package contents)
    One image as an example was 500kb. but is now showing as 1.2mb.

    Therefore somewhere along the process of publishing, the PNGs are being converted. And they are being made larger.
  • cerealcereal Member Posts: 6
    I have been wondering the same thing, If its retina its doubling up the images, could that be the problem?
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