How do I post a picture?

[Kirsdarke]

Could anyone tell me, step by step, what I need to do to take a screenshot of something on my screen and be able to post it on coolrom.

[Kit]

1. Take a screenshot using Printscreen or whatever.
2. Paste it into Paint and save it, best to save as a JPEG
3. Upload it onto an online image storing website, such as photobucket.com
4. Get the hyperlink of the image, and to post it, surround it with these tags:

"your hyperlink here"

[Kirsdarke]

trying to get it to work

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q234/90Kirsdarke/IPSexe.jpg

wow Kit thanks alot!

[Kit]

No problem, I've been to a lot of forums so I know basic posting tools. :D

[Kirsdarke]

No problem, I've been to a lot of forums so I know basic posting tools. :DYeah it was annoying because I wanted to do the rom patching thread but I wanted pics of the program so people could follow what I said. Thanks to your help I actually got that thread posted and now everyone can marvel at me (or patch their roms, their pick)

[Iconoclast]

Do not use JPEG format. Only use JPEG format if you're saving a video game screenshot or something like this.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Nintendo%2064%20Screenshots/LegendofZeldaThe-MajorasMaskUsna-1.jpg

And the only reason why that image doesn't have any blurriness or pixilation in it is because I used Paint Shop Pro to save it, not Microsoft Paint. Paint is one of the worst programs, if not being the worst, for saving images in JPEG format.

For images that have N64-ish colors, PNG format is lower on file size.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Nintendo%2064%20Screenshots/MarioKart64.png

Lastly, for images that have fewer than 257 colors or have large areas of one color spread across a fairly big portion of the image, use GIF format.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Nanaki3.gifhttp://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/GIF%20Animations/GreenRupee.gif

Also use GIF format if the file is animated or has a transparent background.

It takes a lot of questioning to decide whether you should save in either PNG or GIF format, but let me tell you one thing: JPEG format sucks, as it always causes some kind of blurriness in the saved image. Only use JPEG format for images generated by digital cameras or other very colorful images, at your own risk.

[Kirsdarke]

Only use JPEG format for images generated by digital cameras or other very colorful images, at your own risk.Actually at this point thats all I wanted to do was take screen snaps of certain programs so JPEG worked fine. If I ever start posting screen shots then like you said I'd have to be more careful of what format I use.

[Kit]

Damn you and your proving me wrong. :(

Well, PNG files are good, but I was told that Macromedia Fireworks gets rid of the PNG file and replaces it with something. GIFs, I never use, because of the colour limit.
The blurriness caused by JPEGs dont affect most images, and they are still usable and are a decent file size, so I just use it for most images anyway. But I assumed that it was for the game screenshot thread, so I said to use JPEG. :]

Oh, and I know never to assume because of the "a**" of "u" and "me" thing, I just did it anyway. :D

[Iconoclast]

But it's stupid. Copy and paste any of those images in my previous post, and save it in JPEG format without losing any image quality. You will fail. For images like that one that you posted, PNG format would have been 5 times lower, maybe more, in file size than JPEG, without any quality loss.

You can keep using JPEG if you want, but I just thought I'd warn you that it actually kind of sucks. Whether anyone on this whole site listens to me or not, fine.

[Kit]

Copy and paste any of those images in my previous post, and save it in JPEG format without losing any image quality. You will fail.

Actually, you can do it with Photoshop, just save the image as a JPEG and the quality doesn't go down like it does in paint. I'll show you when I'm on my own computer. :)

[Iconoclast]

Damn you and your proving me wrong. :(

Well, PNG files are good, but I was told that Macromedia Fireworks gets rid of the PNG file and replaces it with something. GIFs, I never use, because of the colour limit.
The blurriness caused by JPEGs dont affect most images, and they are still usable and are a decent file size, so I just use it for most images anyway. But I assumed that it was for the game screenshot thread, so I said to use JPEG. :]

Oh, and I know never to assume because of the "a**" of "u" and "me" thing, I just did it anyway. :DNothing can replace PNG format. PNG is the only optimized image format that can have partially transparent pixels and a transparent background. GIF is the only other image format that can have a transparent background, but it cannot have partially transparent pixels. PNG is called a 32 bit color depth format because it has four color channels: Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha. GIF is an 8 bit format because of the 256 color rule, which is very important in making the file size low for images that don't have more than 256 colors.

Who, on this whole site, can post an exact replica of this image in any format other than GIF in a lower file size?

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Help%20Images/Forum_Tools.gif

No one, thats who. Sometimes GIF is better than PNG, and sometimes vice versa. Hell, even JPEG format has its uses, but the only two formats I ever use are PNG and GIF. Actually, you could make SWF animations, which can have any number of colors instead of just 256 like GIF format, but that's another lesson.

[Kirsdarke]

:confused:

Normally I'm quick to catch on but you're speaking another language here....

[Iconoclast]

Using the best possible quality setting for JPEG image format, and reducing the file size as much as possible for GIF format without losing quality:

JPEG format:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Help%20Images/Image1.jpg

GIF format:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Nanaki3.gif

Observations on GIF format:Correctly has a transparent background No sign of quality loss 8 KB in file size

Now for JPEG:Failure to use a transparent background color Ugly quality, looks like a wet painting 57 KB in file size.The only time JPEG format is ever lower in file size than PNG or GIF is for 24 bit full color images, such as 3-D video game screenshots, particularly those that somehow don't get blurry or crusty because of the format.

[Kirsdarke]

Oh okay I can actually see the difference between those 2 (other than the backround) The jpeg is slightly darker with a little bit of blurriness to it. Obviously I can't see the file size but that's a big deal too.

What would be the best way to take a GBA screenshot, edit out all but one area and enlarge it to maintain the best quality?

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q234/90Kirsdarke/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance_01.png

I want to take the character highlighted by the light and enlarge it. How would I best do that?

[Iconoclast]

Oh okay I can actually see the difference between those 2 (other than the backround) The jpeg is slightly darker with a little bit of blurriness to it. Obviously I can't see the file size but that's a big deal too.

What would be the best way to take a GBA screenshot, edit out all but one area and enlarge it to maintain the best quality?

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q234/90Kirsdarke/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance_01.png

I want to take the character highlighted by the light and enlarge it. How would I best do that?Difficult...I would say GIF. The GIF version, at default, is lower in file size, and GBA screenshots don't use up too many colors. However, if you use Paint Shop Pro and force 8 bit optimization when saving it in PNG format, PNG becomes lower in file size than GIF. If that doesn't make sense...just stick with GIF.

As for the image you requested....

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Kirsdarke_Request.gif

How to enlarge it...well, I can't really say what program resizes images the best. They all pretty much use the same method, even Microsoft Paint.

In Paint Shop Pro, you can use the Shift+S shortcut to resize an image. I do not know how you Photoshop guys do it, but try to look for a way. One of those menus has an option that should say something like "Resize Image" or "Resize".

Using Jasc Paint Shop Pro, I resized it as this:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Kirsdarke_Request2.gif

[Kirsdarke]

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Kirsdarke_Request2.gif
That actually looks much better than what I orginally did (get ready to cringe) I just used paint to white out the backround and copied it to word and resized it there. Didn't turn out to good.

But hey now that I know how to get a decent resizement I can finally finish (well really start) my project of making FFTA stuff.

[Systemeth]

That actually looks much better than what I orginally did (get ready to cringe) I just used paint to white out the backround and copied it to word and resized it there. Didn't turn out to good.

But hey now that I know how to get a decent resizement I can finally finish (well really start) my project of making FFTA stuff.

Assuming you is using the VBA here....

You can just use the OAM Viewer inside of VBA for sprites like that.

[Kirsdarke]

Assuming you is using the VBA here....

You can just use the OAM Viewer inside of VBA for sprites like that.That is an intresting piece of info how do I do so?

[Systemeth]

Open the VBA.
Then open a ROM.
While in game when you see the sprite you want click Tools, OAM Viewer.
A window will popup. Then just scroll through the sprites til you see what you want. The OAM Viewer only displays sprites that are ON SCREEN at the time you activate it. Some sprites you may have to piece together as they are animated or layered.

[Kirsdarke]

Open the VBA.
Then open a ROM.
While in game when you see the sprite you want click Tools, OAM Viewer.
A window will popup. Then just scroll through the sprites til you see what you want. The OAM Viewer only displays sprites that are ON SCREEN at the time you activate it. Some sprites you may have to piece together as they are animated or layered.Sweet I've always wondered how to do this! Thanks meth.

[Systemeth]

You is quite welcome.

[Fierce Deity]

Here are rules of photo formats as far as I know, and how to use them.

GIF - for vector based images that have mostly lines and colors, such as cartoons and the like. Also for animated images, although you can only have 256 colors in it.

JPEG - Use for anything that GIF doesn't support enough colors for, or real-life images, or images of video games, etcetera. JPEG is a relatively great format, as long as you keep the quality high enough for what is contained in it. Everytime Iconoclast complains about a JPEG, the quality ends up being like 30. It goes up to 99 or 100, dependent upon your program, but 72 is considered the standard, and for some reason, loads much faster than 73+. It isn't important for web page sunless you expect many low level dial-up users.

PNG - best picture quality, and portable among most different graphics editing programs. Supports animation, but only as information for exporting in GIF format; you can't actually see the information when the PNG is embedded in a page.