FS9 2D panel bmp format

[Dangerousdave26]

I am making some changes to the 2D panel in the Freeware Alphasim Tigercat.

What for mat should I save the .bmp file?

I have saved it in 32 bit .bmp but the size is much larger than the original.

When I look at other 2D panels Martin Wrights Bmp editor tells me they are DXT1 no alpha.

So I convert the 32bit bmp to DXT1 no alpha and it does not show up in FS Panel Studio.

I am using Gimp for my image tool and Martin Wrights DTXbmp for file conversion.

[Moparmike]

The default panels are 256-color or 8-bit format.
If you can do an "indexed" 8-bit palette in Gimp, this will give you the best results
I know you can down-convert using Gimp...I'm not positive where the palette depth commands are right offhand though.
Just remember when you reduce the palette depth that you need to keep 0,0,0 pure black in the palette for the window transparency.

In PSP8 and PSP12, I use the "Optimized Octree" palette, "Error Diffusion" reduction, and the "Reduce Color Bleed" option when down converting panel and gauge BMPs to 256-color.


32-bit will work in the sim, but as you noticed with the file size they hog a lot of memory when the panel is loaded.
I don't remember if any of the compressed BMP formats (like DXT1, DXT3, etc) will work in the panel or not...I do know that FSPS can't display them and pretty sure they won't show in FS either.

[Dangerousdave26]

Menu

Image/mode/indexed

Leave color settings at 255 colors.

Don't ask me why it is not 256 but if you leave it 256 you can not get 0,0,0 black.

Which makes for a very good IFR Panel.

Thanks

Mopar

[Milton Shupe]

Hmmm, 0 to 255 is 256 numbers .. but 0,0,0 is black and not a color, simply the absence of light. :isadizzy:

[Moparmike]

Hmmm, 0 to 255 is 256 numbers .. but 0,0,0 is black and not a color, simply the absence of light. :isadizzy:

Yeah...I'm thinking 0-255 is a Gimp thing (and is also 256-color).
I'm not sure if 0,0,0 is automatically allotted a spot on the palette unless you "kick it off" with one more color.
I'm not sure how Gimp goes about indexing a palette either...in PSP and PS, the colors are sorted by frequency of occurance. The most often used color gets the 0 slot, second gets 1, etc...

I never really did understand how to work with a paletted image in Gimp...I almost always got some funky color renditions when reducing the color depth in it so I usually did my final artwork in PSP instead.
This wasn't a big deal for me since I had to switch over to Windows to to my gauge builds with MSVC++ anyway so I just did the final artwork in Windows too.
(Many of my gauge projects were started and coded on Linux, but finished up and tested in Windows).

[Dangerousdave26]

Hmmm, 0 to 255 is 256 numbers .. but 0,0,0 is black and not a color, simply the absence of light. :isadizzy:

Well then now it makes sense.

I did not think of it that way.

I should have but I did not. In the communications field specifically the products I work on we start counting with 0 not 1.

I use Gimp in Windows and I have been having good success on figuring out how to do things that I need done.

My final product (yeah right I like to tinker) came out how I want it. Cosmetically I think it needs beat up more. I like the look of a used panel rather than a pristine panel that has never been used some times.

[Moparmike]

Well then now it makes sense.

I did not think of it that way.

I should have but I did not. In the communications field specifically the products I work on we start counting with 0 not 1.

I use Gimp in Windows and I have been having good success on figuring out how to do things that I need done.

My final product (yeah right I like to tinker) came out how I want it. Cosmetically I think it needs beat up more. I like the look of a used panel rather than a pristine panel that has never been used some times.

Yep...I usually think numbers starting from 0 too thanks to working with PLCs everyday at work.

Gimp in Windows works just like it does in Linux. I used to use it quite a bit in both OSes but since I've been able to run PSP8.1 on Linux (using Wine) I don't use it much anymore. It's a good program but a pretty clutzy interface (to my brain anyway).

Either way, glad that ya got it working!
Any chance of a sneak peek at your artwork?