Stupid File Question...

[Tzarina]

Okay, when I insert my signature onto my photos, it says I should save in PNG... why? What is flattening a file? Why does the jpeg image look the same, but is like 300kb smaller? :confused3
:qmark:

[Bruce]

When you say "signature", I assume you are talking about a watermark? Or simply text added to a picture?

[Person]

I don't know about watermarks, which it sounds like you're trying to do. But...

flattening an image removes layers (I hope you know what they are...) by merging all of them into the background.
This must be done when you save a multi-layer capable file type to another format which does not support mulitple layers, which is mostly everything, such as .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .png, etc.


PNG's actually are better at retaining image quality than jpeg's. Each time a jpeg is saved, image quality is reduced, very similar to what happens when re-encoding an mp3 to another mp3. More space is required to hold the better image.

[iha]

i dont think IE supports PNG files.

JPEG is smaller b/c of the compression. Even if you can't tell, the quality is worse.

[Person]

IE does support .png's

The only reason they aren't used so often is because of the extra file size. Otherwise they're pretty good.

[B]

Id assume you just wanted to write your sig over the front of a picture, because watermarking would be quite overkill (unless you feel you are going to be using them professionally/for profit). As said before, flattening is the process of merging all layers of an image together, for example the original picture layer and your signature layer.

IE only partially supports PNG, no full color, complex transparency, correct speed modulation, and probably more stuff i dont know. Mozilla fully supports PNG.

[Tzarina]

I don't know anything about watermarks and such :uhhh:

I was told I need to sign my photos, so I scanned my signature and made a little image that I insert into the picture, there may be a better way, but this is all I know how to do...
I've been saving both the png file and a jpeg file of every final image...
Thanks to everyone for answering my question :blue:

[iha]

IE only partially supports PNG, no full color, complex transparency, correct speed modulation, and probably more stuff i dont know. Mozilla fully supports PNG.
that's what I meant :insecure:

[Tzarina]

<-- Thanks Iha... :nana: