Jpeg screenshot quality settings and key assignments

[Guest Shalomar]

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!The screenshot utility from the ROTW DVD is nifty. But the quality setting (100) results in images that exceed upload limits for Avsim. I'd like to reduce the quality to medium (3 scans) maybe even to the lowest (1 scan). Just wondering what the acceptable values are. I'm guessing 010 for lowest quality and 030 for medium but I don"t want to guess. Also I am having a problem with resetting my keyboard assignments. Works fine for the session then reverts to what they were before I changed anything. My default.key properties are archive, not read-only. Thanx in advance.Best Regards, Donny:-wave

[Guest Shalomar]

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!Figured out one out of three. I changed force max size from zero to one, set max width to 800 and height to 600. Now I get properly sized screenshots for upload to Avsim. Acceptable values for quality are something else, 010 results in a smaller size file but not as small as I get with Photoshop set to medium quality.

[RandallR 444]

If you have Photoshop, I wouldn't use a screenshot utility. Any high end photo editor will give you better quality results.

[Guest Shalomar]

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!I still haven't figured out how to change resolution within photoshop. There is a "trim for size" option but that just gives you the portion you place in the overlay box, not the whole picture.

[Guest Chris Wallace]

Maybe, but are you sure? For the image resize, JpegSnap uses the built-in capabilities of the free jpeglib library, which I'm guessing uses bilinear filtering. I suppose Photoshop might use a slightly better resizing method but would the difference really be significant? When saving the JPEG, I thought the algorithm was standardized such that different implementations would produce the same image given the same inputs (raw image and quality level)?? I could very well be wrong but that's what I thought the situation was.In any case, JpegSnap was intended as a quick, convenient way to get uploadable (resized, file-size-limited) screenshots directly from the sim without having to manually load the images into an editor to resize and re-save.Chris WallaceOttawa, Canada

[Guest Shalomar]

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!It won't hurt to do a test. Setting 800X600 hasn't hurt anything. Does anybody know acceptable values for quality? I tried 010 insted of 100, somewhat smaller but file size is higher than I get in Photoshop with three scans. I want to get a file with the equivelant size of one scan. Pilot Reports on the Bush Network are better with four or five screenshots included. I get a signifigant pause/hard drive activity after a screenshot so there is an internal program running. I only have Photoshop 3.0, ROTW's utility might even be better.Key assignments are still a total mystery. I don't know how it changed with the DVD.Best Regards, Donny:-wave

[flyfisher 0]

Donny,I agree there is a very short pause after JpegSnap is activated but does this really matter?It produces excellent results and is so easy to use.

[RandallR 444]

Chris,It appears Donny has an older version of Photoshop, so he may get just as good a result with the method you describe.I've been spoiled by Photoshop 7.0, which has a Save for Web feature that allows a continuous selection (from 0 to 100) of quality levels. The original is also placed by the compression preview, allowing for an easy visual judgement and an instant file size reading.Donny,It sounds like the Snap program is a good one, but for future reference, resizing the image is done theough the Image, Image Size... menu. Set the readout to pixels and keep Constrain Proportions on.

[Guest Shalomar]

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!I'm not complaining about the pause, it only happens when I choose to take a screen shot. When I do that I'm usually seeing something that looks so cool I chose to take a picture of in the first place. The pause got significantly longer when I changed the size of the image. I'm still not complaining. I only mentioned that because it shows there is some conversion taking place. I'd rather have a pause than mess with entering Photoshop, getting a picture then exporting it etc... If I had my DVD at the time I wouldn't even have gotten Photoshop.Does anyone know acceptable values to get the lowest possible quality? Default is 100. 010 doesn't reduce it as much as photoshop.Best Regards, Donny:-wave