I am sure most repainters did it......

[huub vink]

Yesterday evening I did it again. I opened a texture file on which I had been working for a week. When I opened the overview with all layers I noticed there was only one left.... the background. Obviously I had overwritten my multi layered file by the completely merged version.....
As the original was over written no way to retrieve it again and file which was left is useless for repaints..............

As I was drawing in a different format than the texture was, I had to convert it to one single layer to be able to resize it in one go.....

Although I already had realised that all my work would be gone if I saved the file in the wrong format, I kept delaying my back-up, until it was too late. A weeks work gone

Don't you just love repainting.................

Huub

[Sascha66]

Yes, been there, done it, banged my head on the wall, promised myself to do better next time ...

[Rokl57]

Probably this happens to most painters occasionally. PSP or PSD image changed (forgotten to save in this format) > merge layers > save as BMP or TGA and when you close the paint program, you realize that only the latter is present. As a result, I have learned to back up every time before a paint session. This only ruins a few hours work if anything goes wrong.

Rob

[Mick]

Yep, been there, done that.

[Bushi]

the maddening part is.. I've done it more than once!!

Usually after a long session.. and your mind is going..... accidentally close a psd while it's still a bmp......

This is why it's good to keep a bottle of scotch handy.. LOL

[Duckie]

Huub, I feel your pain. I did it this week when I blew away the left wing layered texture file on Ole Smokey! Not near as much time invested in mine as you did in yours. Still, for a split second I felt like putting a shoe through the monitor! Fortunately I had the right wing textures still intact.

Thing is, inspite of all the safeguards and backups we vow to make, it will happen again!

Hang in there brother.

[Bjoern]

GIMP fortunately discriminates between saving (native .xcf format) and exporting (any other format).
The only hairy situation is exporting a .dds file since this requires a flat (one layer), y-axis flipped image. But as long as you save before doing that and don't forget to say "No" when closing the tool, or revert the latest changes after exporting, you're fine.

[nigel richards]

Yesterday evening I did it again. I opened a texture file on which I had been working for a week. When I opened the overview with all layers I noticed there was only one left.... the background. Obviously I had overwritten my multi layered file by the completely merged version.....
As the original was over written no way to retrieve it again and file which was left is useless for repaints..............

As I was drawing in a different format than the texture was, I had to convert it to one single layer to be able to resize it in one go.....

Although I already had realised that all my work would be gone if I saved the file in the wrong format, I kept delaying my back-up, until it was too late. A weeks work gone

Don't you just love repainting.................

Huub

Yikes!

Always make backups - ALWAYS!

Save as, Save as, Save as...

[huub vink]

Thanks guy, it is a comforting thought that I'm not the only one who does clumsy things like this

A week's work may sound as a lot, but much time is spend on experimenting with noise layers, layer setting etc. Which you don't have to do the second time. And I do not spend more than a few hours per day on a texture.

The nice thing from "rebuilding" a paintkit is that you know what you did, and also what you did wrongs. Errors which were not corrected, because this took too much time and effort can easily be avoided when you re-do you work.

So in that way its a positive thing.

Cheers,
Huub

[Sascha66]

don't forget to say "No" when closing the tool

That one's a real killer - right at the very end when you're ready to call it a day and your mind is on your first beer of the evening!

[Dev One]

And don’t you just love it when Gmax does something similar, like you have saved it, but when you come to open it the next day..........
Keith

[gandalf]

Huub my old friend, be assured I have done this so many times I felt like giving in and stopping!

[fsafranek]

Have done it a few times. Often losing several hours work.

Even worse is when it wasn't your doing and the PC memory just clogs and the only solution
is to reboot and lose that fantastic texture file that you hadn't even saved once yet.
That was a tough lesson many years ago and I now let the paint program do auto saves.
(I still use PSP7 because I know it inside and out and can work very quickly.)

Yes, we've all been there to varying degrees.

[Moparmike]

Yup. Have done it many times in the past. Not only in PS or PSP, but I do it at work in Rockwell FactoryTalk View Studio too.

Having been a die-hard PSP user for so many years, I've just gotten so used to having "F12" as a one-key Save As... shortcut that I will remap to that key on any program that allows remapping.
Yeah, I know Ctrl+Shft+S is an easy one-hand command but one key is easier to do and rememeber than a three-finger-salute.
I'm a "chronic saver"...even with an auto-backup feature I save my work excessively often. If I always use the Save As..., the pop-up dialog for filename/type is an easy reminder to double-check if I've been merging down layers or changing formats for export. If no change, just hit enter again to go ahead with the current name/type.

That way, there'a almost always the original file hiding in the background somewhere.