File Formats and Image Sizes used in IMVU

What they are and what they do?

 

JPG: (Products, Product Shots and Stickers) This is the simplest file type for IMVU. It is what you will use most of your product's textures. It is a simple one layer image and does not support transparency. In the world of the web and game texturing small is GOOD.

 

GIF: (Product Shots and Stickers) This is also a small file format, it achieves its small size from limiting the pallet to just a few colors. A GIF supports transparency in an all on or all off matter, there are no transparency gradients in a GIF. GIF also supports animation through layer cycling. If it moves, twinkles, jiggles, color changes, or waves at you, it’s a GIF. (Note: texture animation on products is done through tools in Create Mode and not a GIF.)

 

PNG: (Textures, Product Shots and Stickers) A PNG is a file format that opens the word of Alpha channels to you. An Alpha Channel is a grayscale image. It is a channel of information just like Red, Green, & Blue, only it is used for instructions on level of transparency for an image. White is solid, black is clear and shades of gray are everything in-between. Because of this, a PNG can go from a solid color then gradually fade into noting in a smooth attractive way. If you can partially see through the image it is a PNG. Not all web browsers support PNG files, on an older browser it will look solid. (Note: Texture transparency in products uses Alpha channels but it uses a JPG for the  Alpha channel and not a PNG.)

 

When used as textures remember a PNG is bigger than a JPG so only use them when you need the detail.

 

2x Texture, What’s that?

 

Renderers love nice even pretty numbers or they have a fit. So when folks say make it a 2x texture size there talking about the image size a renderer needs. 2x2x2x2x2x2x…and so on.

 

The 2x Pixel Sizes are

2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512… As small as you can get away with is best to keep load times down.

 

 

Your textures need to be height width combination of theses numbers.

The largest size accepted is 256×512 or 512×256.

 

If it’s just a solid color a tiny 2x2 texture works just the same as large one, so thinks SMALL.