PNG or TIF?

PNG or TIF?#287796

By w i l l - Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:25 am

- Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:25 am #287796

I remember being told that it's best to save as a PNG from mxcl. I get the impression though that TIF is regarded as higher quality in photography. Which is best to use?

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#287799

By Bubbaloo - Thu Dec 18, 2008 3:56 am

- Thu Dec 18, 2008 3:56 am #287799

hdr

hdr is saved as 32 bit while png and tif are saved as 8 bit.

Brian Looney
Maxwell + RealFlow
http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Artists/Bubbaloo
Help! I'm dispersing into a haze of probability!

#287811

By msantana - Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:18 am

- Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:18 am #287811

What about TGA? Is there any advantage to using TGA (other than smaller file size) when saving more than 8 bits of info per channel?

Mauricio Santana
Maya and Maxwell Specialist in San Francisco, CA.
Check out my portfolio:
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#287825

By -Adrian - Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:05 pm

- Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:05 pm #287825

Not over PNG i think. I love PNG and use it for anything but HDR content. It's great for lossless compression and web usage.

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe
-Carl Sagan

#287853

By w i l l - Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:31 pm

- Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:31 pm #287853

-Adrian wrote:Not over PNG i think. I love PNG and use it for anything but HDR content. It's great for lossless compression and web usage.

But isn't TIF uncompressed (optionally) - so better quality?

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#287856

By -Adrian - Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:54 pm

- Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:54 pm #287856

I was responding to msantana (TGA).

Regarding compression: So long the compression is lossless, it doesn't matter.
I found TIFF to be particularly incompatible with most applications, so i always chose PNG and TGA over it. But that's the only reason.

As Bubbaloo said, save Maxwell renders to HDR for postwork. I believe it can also get rid of the gradient banding issues in some cases.

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe
-Carl Sagan

#287862

By Thomas An. - Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:09 pm

- Thu Dec 18, 2008 6:09 pm #287862

PNG is the best in my opinion. It is losslessly compressed for small size without quality compromises (unlike JPG)

"Only the happy can escape the labyrinth, but only those who escape are happy"

#288047

By Rickyx - Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:27 am

- Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:27 am #288047

-Adrian wrote:Not over PNG i think. I love PNG and use it for anything but HDR content. It's great for lossless compression and web usage.

+++1

W Png.

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#288048

By RonB - Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:30 am

- Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:30 am #288048

Tiff sucks... There are a many different "tiff" formats and it seems about everybody has their own. You never really know what a tiff image is bringing in the backdoor with it. Some carry camera data and some carry scanner data and other stuff, not that it hurts anything really...just not needed is all. Tiff is like a special plant that is grown in a specific greenhouse and each greenhouse has their own variety...and somehow they all got loose and have become weeds in the digital imaging landscape. I spent about 5 years doing nothing but image prep and retouching at a highend imaging service that I co-owned. I stay as far away from using tiffs as I can.

I agree with Thomas, Ricky, and -Adrian, PNG's are very cool. I also agree with Bubba about HDR's. In near future we will all be operating on much higher levels as we move into 32 bit as the norm. The monitors are in the works now. Cheers, Ron