Merricksdad's Free Stock Images

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

I just started building a stock images project line on the new vault, the first of which can be located here:

 

http://neverwinterva...ock-images-bark

 

Once I get the hang of this, or a faster connection, I will blast away at the others. This should be hundreds of images, if not approaching thousands. I'll probably reach into previous albums and dig up some old flower and wildlife photos too.

 

If you have suggestions, questions or concerns about this project line, feel free to voice them here, as talking on the new vault comments is simply difficult for me.

 

I'll be doing a separate project for each stock type, as per Rolo's suggestions. Each project will be comprised of stock photos at the largest size settings for my camera, although image shape may vary. Each project will contain both individual images for viewing directly or for right-click downloading, and will also be packed as a single zip. The package download could take some time for me to prepare, so bear with me as I get started.

 

Now...where do I use FTP on this thingy? That would be much better than trusting this browser uploader, and might provide me with better tracking.

 

 

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

I'm wondering, can I make the full zip package, upload that to the vault via ftp, and then unzip it on the vault end to individual files and move them to the attached images directory?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               

<sneaking over...>

 

Let me talk to Niv in chat tomorrow and see what we can do.

Currently, the ftp dropbox is not working, but it hasn't been an issue with a 2gb upload limit :-P

 

Alternatively, of course, you could jump over to the #nwvault channel and ask him yourself ;-)

 

<...from a legitimate job>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

I was just thinking to tinker with this today. I'll wait a bit to get serious with it, especially seeing as soon as I get unpacked from vacation, I gotta compile the CCC stuff before deadline.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

These images are 6meg each (3k x 4k res). Should I shrink them or leave them as is? I know they are way too large individually for any realistic use in NWN, but they might provide something special for somebody if left the way they are. Not sure what I should be doing.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

It's just a thought but why not put them into one or more (depending on just how many megs/gigs of data there is) iso (for burning to cd/dvd) files and post these compressed into 7zip files.

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rolo Kipp]

               

<laying out lots...>

 

Just in the interest of bandwidth, I like TR's idea of ISOs or at least 7z archives... and make/bundle a pdf contact sheet of the contents (with FastStone image viewer :-)

Upload screenshots of the content thumbnails to the project page so people know what they're downloading.

 

That way the page load isn't monstrous and people can see what they're downloading.Makes it simpler for uploading too...

 

Just make sure you catalog what 's inside :-)

 

<...of colored inks>

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

They don't seem to be compressing more than a tiny percent beyond their initial size. I'm doing highest compression setting on 7z and they barely budge. Would putting them in an iso format first help with compression values? There will be gigs of data for sure, at least for two of the packages.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

<laying out lots...>

 

Just in the interest of bandwidth, I like TR's idea of ISOs or at least 7z archives... and make/bundle a pdf contact sheet of the contents (with FastStone image viewer :-)

Upload screenshots of the content thumbnails to the project page so people know what they're downloading.

 

That way the page load isn't monstrous and people can see what they're downloading.Makes it simpler for uploading too...

 

Just make sure you catalog what 's inside :-)

 

<...of colored inks>

This seems like the prime option. I better go get that program

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

oh yes, this is much better

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               

Would putting them in an iso format first help with compression values? 

 

In a word: No.

 

Double compressing files (putting a zip in a 7z file) will only increase file size, by making 2 compression indexes instead of just the more efficient one. 

 

The 7z Format is definitely the way to go, hands-down-without-question-end-of-story-period.

 

 

 Its not only clearly the fastest (up to 10x speed of default WinZip)...

 

 

..but also has the best ratio of all the major compression formats by a large margin (5x Zipping), plus its open-source-multi-platform too.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

ok, so the overall compression size in 7z format is about 3.73%, even set on ultra. My camera's jpeg format must be doing some really good loss-less compression.


If I package all of just recent bark and close wood texture pics, this gives me a file of 1.108Gb. This seems extreme. Should I break it up? 15 images is just under 100Mb.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MerricksDad]

               

nope, I take it back, overall file size is a pinch bigger than all individual files (on ultra), so they must have been maximized in their previous jpeg compression.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Carcerian]

               

Basically how compression options tend to work is speed-vs-size, the more the file is compressed, the longer it will take. (Except in rare cases)

 

It can depend on your data, however,  when used to compress large server haks default mode is fairly impressive in both speed and end size, but for images you might want to experiment with a few images using different compression options, to see what gives you the best results.

 

Also, keep in mind, that using 2000 pixel vs 4000 pixel = 1/4 of the file size, in basic lossless png/bmp math terms, and thus 4k to 1k = 1/16th.

 

Optimally for nwn modding, most non-tileset texture images only need to be 1024x1024 max, while 512x512 should be fine for most purposes.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

Also you might like to try experimenting with the degree of loss that is acceptable. The more loss you are prepared to accept, the smaller the jpg as a general rule. Alternatively you could try converting them to png which is both lossless and uses a compression algorithm on the image. Finally if you want to (to a lesser or greater degree) put a hidden watermark into your images check out steganography. This would be to try to stop people using your images for commercial gain without overly degrading the images.

 

TR