Best Texture Format

[pagan]

Does anyone know what is the best texture format for objects in terms of speed and quality?
Also if I want to use tiff do I need to have a separate file with an alpha channel or can I use the alpha within the tiff file?

Thanks
N

[rcallicotte]

I hate to sound so generic, but this all depends on what you're doing.  JPG is good for speed.  TIF and HDR are good for quality.

[EBAndrew]

In the games industry, .dds's and .tga's are pretty common (from my experience) since they have high quality - though .dds's don't have support for alpha channels. The .png format is supposed to retain a really high quality from source work, and it also supports an alpha channel.

I've never worked directly with the .png format, though I have a little experience with .dds's. I'd say, just from my usage of the format, .tga is the best one I've used so far... as mentioned though, I'm not sure how that applies to ultra-high-res, doesn't-need-to-be-30+fps rendering.

[pagan]

Thanks alot for your advice I will test the tga option.
However I was wandering if you could help in this, 'couse I have spent so much time on it and really don't know what is cousing it....

In the image there are two plants with both tiff textures applied, there is no alpha channel however I have saved the tiff with transparency option.
The plant on the right side is perfectly working while the one on the left has a black edge, as you can see.
There is no problem with the textures because I have tried to swap them, the problem is with one of the model wich are both exported directly from xfrog into an obj and then re-imported into terragen with obj reader.
Now I don't really want to use another tool such as PoseRay because it would take me ages as I have quite a lot to do.
I was just wandering if anynone knows the reason why on my left model the texture is not working.

Many thanks
N.

[bobbystahr]

Well you could send me or post the models and I could have a look...it could be a number of things, or post a screen grab of the Opacity Tab in the related Deuault Shaders in the Multishader...that would be a good start.. ...

[Mandrake]

Apply the same tiff to the opacity tab and check alpha.

[pagan]

Ahhh
OK it works now! Do you think it is better to create an B&W alpha channel or simply use the same color map?
Many thanks!

[Mandrake]

It depends on what tg2 does with your alpha channel.
I use C4D and it alters .tiff's in a way that is not compatible with tg2
So, I use a png in C4D and save the tiff for tg2.
But to answer your question, no, I don't like the B/W