IS THERE A WAY TO AVOID HAVING TO RUN MY IMAGES THROUGH PHOTOSHOP?

author=tardis
i'm thinking i should maybe write a "HOW TO PIXEL IN PHOTOSHOP" tutorial.

yes plz

author=GreatRedSpirit
8-bit and indexed image formats like 8-bit BMP and PNG and GIFs use a color index with 256 indexes each index being a 24-bit color (CORRECTION: 8-bit PNGs use 32-bit colors). Each pixel of a picture isn't a color but a number indicating what index the pixel's color should be. RM2k(3) use the first index color as the transparent color by default since BMPs and 8-bit PNGs don't support transparent colors (GIF does though) (CORRECTION: PNG's 32-bit colors support alpha channels).

I'm not sure how to make an image not use the first index so RM2k3 won't have transparencies issues. If you need an image to not have any transparencies I'd just work around it: Expand a dimension of the picture by one pixel, fill it in with a color you aren't using, and set that one pixel wide strip of useless color to be the transparent color.


*edit*
In a way, this post shows that RM2k(3) support PNGs about as well as Paint does. In that "not at fucking all" sense.

This is one of the reasons iDraw is helpful - it's very easy to work with the palette. Use index 0 as the transparent color if you want one, don't use index 0 for anything if you don't want one. You don't need some patch of actual image you're not using to designate as transparent, and you never need bother with the stupid 2k(3) graphics import window again.

(Think you overcorrected a touch, too: well-formed indexed-color PNGs can still be 24-bit RGB without any alpha channel.)

Work in photoshop, problem solved...or use irfan view.

author=tardis
i'm thinking i should maybe write a "HOW TO PICK A PENCIL TOOL AND ZOOM" tutorial.

author=Dookie
After you get a working PNG in rm2k3, then open it in paint and you can edit it. Erase the image and save it as a template, just open this already functioning png image with paint and do your edits. Saving with paint when its an already functioning png works fine for me. I didn't explain that very well but that's what I do.

yeah this is a really stupid way to do things. paint is a crappy program for this because it throws any and all concepts of image degredation to the wind.

you know all those ripped/edited chipsets where some of the tiles look... a little wrong? like the colours aren't quite what they originally were, or some shades have been 'averaged' together?
this is image degredation in .pngs.

applications such as photoshop and gimp don't have these problems because they allow you more control over the image and how it is saved.