Does someone knows which one gives better final render quality?:
TIFF 8 bit
TIFF 16 bit
BMP
EXR
Sorry, I was thinking in TG output.
You can save in TG to EXR. :)
Hi,
OpenEXR is the "best" format if you want a high dynamic range image with greater colour information for further processing. 16 bit TIFF also has a higher dynamic range, and would be a good choice if you don't have applications which can work with OpenEXR. There is not much to choose between for the 8 bit formats, such as 8 bit TIFF and BMP, it's just down to your personal preference.
Regards,
Jo
Thx guys for the answers.
Appreciated ;)
TIFF and BMP have the same actual quality, but TIFF is a far better format because it supports compression and is more widely supported by other applications. BMP is a pretty dead format at this point, and for good reason.
- Oshyan
Why is BMP dead? Just curious because everything I save is in BMP.
Quote from: ChrisC on May 24, 2014, 10:37:11 PM
Why is BMP dead? Just curious because everything I save is in BMP.
Yeah, why is that?
It's just an older and not as well supported format compared to several others. In particular it is a Windows-centric format as it was developed by Microsoft back in the 80s and, unlike TIFF - which is a similarly old format - BMP remained largely Windows-specific. It is also comparatively more limited than TIFF (and other formats). It doesn't support embedded alpha channels or more than 8 bits per channel, for example, while TIFF supports both of these things and much more. TIFF is much more widely supported than BMP, particularly on non-Windows platforms. Basically, although BMP is "OK", there's just no good reason to use it anymore, it offers no real advantages over other formats and so has not remained very popular.
- Oshyan
Quote from: Oshyan on May 25, 2014, 07:09:13 PM
It's just an older and not as well supported format compared to several others. In particular it is a Windows-centric format as it was developed by Microsoft back in the 80s and, unlike TIFF - which is a similarly old format - BMP remained largely Windows-specific. It is also comparatively more limited than TIFF (and other formats). It doesn't support embedded alpha channels or more than 8 bits per channel, for example, while TIFF supports both of these things and much more. TIFF is much more widely supported than BMP, particularly on non-Windows platforms. Basically, although BMP is "OK", there's just no good reason to use it anymore, it offers no real advantages over other formats and so has not remained very popular.
- Oshyan
cool, I agree with the reasons for it's dis-use and thanks for explaining...hardly use it at all except in mt TG renders...maybe I'll default to .tif, like it better anyway...so...why is it the default output out of the box in TG?
Errr... What do you mean it is not well supported? I mean, you can open .bmp with literally ANYTHING! :D With Open EXR... can you...? ???
I don't agree that it is Windows-centric because I have no trouble opening it on Mac OS and in Mac OS version of Photoshop. Well?
Quote from: N-drju on May 26, 2014, 01:59:44 AM
Errr... What do you mean it is not well supported? I mean, you can open .bmp with literally ANYTHING! :D With Open EXR... can you...? ???
I don't agree that it is Windows-centric because I have no trouble opening it on Mac OS and in Mac OS version of Photoshop. Well?
It was created by M$ as a system font originally for use with their O/S back when macs wouldn't open true type hence it system specific appelation.
" I mean, you can open .bmp with literally ANYTHING!"
yup, but what do you SAVE in .bmp?
Quote from: bobbystahr on May 26, 2014, 09:33:08 AM
yup, but what do you SAVE in .bmp?
I used sometimes as an alternative. I did not want to use jpeg as that destroys the pix a bit. Instead of jpeg I used BMP and I got better quality...to some degree... :D
Quote from: archonforest on May 26, 2014, 09:50:06 AM
Quote from: bobbystahr on May 26, 2014, 09:33:08 AM
yup, but what do you SAVE in .bmp?
I used sometimes as an alternative. I did not want to use jpeg as that destroys the pix a bit. Instead of jpeg I used BMP and I got better quality...to some degree... :D
Along with Oshyan, I recommend .tif myself...overall a better choice.
Anyways, kids love to draw contemporary .bmp art in Paint. :D
There u go...
BMP will live forever :D :D
Of course EXR is not as widely supported as even BMP (it is also much, much newer), but EXR is not the format I would recommend instead of BMP. TIF has the same advantages as BMP, plus more, including compression, support of higher bit depth, etc. Many programs do support BMP, but less than TIF, and indeed saving to BMP is less well supported, which is an important factor.
- Oshyan
Hm, that's strange...
I've just completed a render (gonna post it later) and saved it in .tif, later .png and finally, just a thought, I saved it in open EXR.
To my surprise my default image viewer on Mac was able to open it. :D However the render looked very strange as it was unnaturally bright. ??? This was a night scene so that shouldn't be. Do you know why is that Oshyan?
Yes, it's because EXR has much higher dynamic range, it includes more data between dark and light, in fact it's a wider range of brightness data than your monitor can display. So there are basically 2 choices an image viewer has when it displays an image with this much dynamic range: it can "clip" the high and/or low brightness values to white/black, respectively, or it can try to remap the values of high and low to some kind of "average" or a "curve" that will let all the values fit within the display's capabilities. The problem with the latter approach is it can often unnaturally skew the brightness. I would guess that is what's happening in your case, or something similar. Anyway, it's a near certainty that it is somehow due to the higher dynamic range of EXR files.
- Oshyan
Hi,
OpenEXR support is built into OS X. Anything which uses the OS provided image services can open them. It's been that way for a long while.
I have a feeling that the EXRs look different when opened in other apps because they don't have the tone mapping TG normally applies when converting its internal HDR colour to 8 bit colour and display on the screen. I'm not 100% sure about that though.
Regards,
Jo