Article link: How To Convert Images 1.1

NOTE: The article is no longer being maintained on TESNexus.

The current version can be found on the CS Wiki

This tutorial will demonstrate how to convert a .BMP screenshot into a .JPG picture using Microsoft Paint (which comes with Windows XP). This will allow the author to upload the image to TESNexus (or just about any hosting site) and showoff the mod. The .JPG image format is much smaller and TESNexus can automatically generate thumbnails of your pictures when you upload your mods.

NOTE: If you already have .JPG files and they are over 300kb, you probably do not have any compression enabled and are waisting valuable bandwidth. Follow these steps and simply re-save over the same file. Generally speaking, individual screenshots should not be larger than 200kb. If your argument for larger images is for greater detail, try zooming in (cropping) the images to concentrate the viewing.

Steps

Here are the steps to convert an image file (.BMP, .TIF, .PNG, .GIF) to .JPG:

1. Find your image file, right-click on it and open with Paint.
2. From the menu, click File, Save As, and change Save as type to JPEG (*.JPG;*.JPEG;*.JPE;*.JFIF)
3. Click Save
4. Close Microsoft Paint and delete or archive your old file since you now have a JPG version.

Here are some file size changes you can expect to see when converting from BMP to JPG:

* BMP = 7,681kb, JPG = 415kb
* BMP = 3,596kb, JPG = 252kb
* BMP = 1,475kb, JPG = 100kb
* BMP = 900kb, JPG = 45kb

HOW YOU CAN HELP TESNexus !!!!

TESNexus' big support issue is bandwidth. By cropping your images and saving them in compressed JPG format, you could save TESNexus more bandwidth than you might know.

Example:
Let's say you uploaded 4 images that were 1.5 MB each. Let's also assume that each download of the mod also equals the same number of image views each. If your mod was popular and received 1,000 downloads, that would generate 6,000 MB of bandwidth. (4 x 1.5 MB = 6 MB) X 1000 = 6000 MB

If you compressed those files as .JPG and each file was only 100kb each, that same number of downloads would only generate 400 MB. (4 x 0.1 MB = 0.4 MB) X 1000 = 400 MB.

By simply choosing the right image format, you could save the hosting site 5.6 GB of bandwidth with this example. That's larger than a DVD at 4.5 GB !!!

Source: http://lhammonds.game-host.org/obmm/tutori...nvert_image.asp

I would suggest that you make tutorials for the GIMP, as that is both free and fully functional. Can Oblivion even USE any of MSPaint's available formats?

I've seen MS Paint retextures. I can tell you it was'nt very pretty.

If you can afford it, buy Photoshop CS2. Or download the trial version and check it out for 30 days. I havent tried this GIMP thing but I heard it was good. Though personally im using photoshop.

I remember when I was a kid, MS Paint was my favorite program. I must of drew hundreds of drawings on it... Ah good ol' times.


This tutorial is a good idea. Alot of people dont know how to do that. I was mad at first since I couldnt upload any .bmp files. So I opened it with paint, changed a little something, and when I go to click Save As, well what do you know. BANG. JPEG. YESSS!

The story of my life.

If you don't mind the sometimes *puzzling* layout of GIMP, it's better than Photoshop. Especially compared to the price because - well - GIMP is $0. Photoshop is like $1500.
You can even run Photoshop plugins with GIMP.

OK, let me clarify something pretty quick. This tutorial is for authors that creates something in Oblivion and then takes a screenprint (.BMP) and then wants to upload that picture on TESSource.net. TESSource.net will not work with any format other than .JPG for thumbnails. Anyone (and I mean anyone) who is running Oblivion can follow this tutorial without having to download (GIMP) or buy (Photoshop/PaintShopPro) any other software.

If you plan on converting images into .dds textures, you'd better have something MUCH more powerful than MS Paint that can save alpha channels and export into Adobe PhotoShop format (.psd) for use with DDS Converter 2. But then again, this tutorial doesn't cover any of that.

There's also a good freebie program called 'Faststone image resizer'
Just Google for it, I've been using it for quite some time now and is very versatile since it lets you resize, crop, convert between different image formats...

But thanks for this nice and clean tutorial!

mf

lhammonds tutorial threads rock the forums!

Drive-by comment incoming:

PaintShop Pro is another nice application for graphics file manipulation and conversion. It's nearly as good as PhotoShop and a helluva lot cheaper.

From what I've seen, however, GIMP is the way to go for modders. It's not ALWAYS free, however.. If you try to find a version of GIMP that is a ready-to-install executable, then good luck.. the only ones I found all wanted 50-70 bucks for a copy of it. The free version on the official GIMP site can not be run by itself... it needs to be compiled first.

I know SourceForge has a Windows installer for the uncompiled version of GIMP, but that page always seems to be offline whenever I check it.

That's odd. Where have you been looking? I've downloaded GIMP for free, and I never had to compile anything or pay. It was just an executable. Seems like a silly question I know, but are you sure you've checked the official GIMP site properly?

Yup, the official GIMP site was my first stop. Either I missed something, or they were only offering the uncompiled version. They have a link there for the Windows installer version, but it's from SourceForge and that page wouldn't load for me when I clicked the link.

I'll try it again... I may have messed up somehow the last time.

EDIT: yep it was my error.. I was looking in the wrong place.
I grabbed a working copy and it's fine now.

Just an FYI; TESSource should also be able to thumbnail .gif images. Thanks for the tutorial.

@Everyone - Thank you for the questions and comments. They are all welcome and help educate others that read this thread and have similar thoughts.

@DarkOne - TESSource may be able to thumbnail .gif files but I wouldn't recommend that format to anyone since .JPG images can be millions of colors but .GIF files are limited to 256 colors which doesn't flatter any photo-like image.

@Tessera - GIMP (compiled or not) is free and I've downloaded each Win32 executable version that comes out without a problem. Official Site and compiled Win32 executable site. GIMP does require the GTK+ Runtime Environment 2.8.18 or later (also available on that page).

@mindfeeder & Tessera - There are a ton of good graphics editors available (free and otherwise) that can get this job done but I try to keep my tutorials focused on what EVERYONE has available to them without having to "find" or "pay" for additional software. I personally prefer Paint Shop Pro (PSP) mainly because I've been using it for so long and it's very inexpensive...PSP may not be suitable to professionals but I'm no professional and it suits me just fine. Although, MS Paint comes in very handy in situations like this because it can be started and fully load a picture in under a single second. This means that I can usually re-save/convert/crop images faster than what it takes PSP or Photoshop to simply load up.