22 replies to this topic

[lord_jamitossi]

NOTE: The problem has been solved. Thank you.


This has happened a few times now, and it's really unfair to the people it happens to.

To sum up the problem, here's my entry as I submitted it and as seen in this week's contest, side by side:


As you can see, all the browns have been replaced by a single colour, and the shot doesn't look nearly as good. Now, don't get my wrong here, I'm not saying that I definately would have won had I had my original shot, but I would probably have at least one vote by now. I know that I'm not the only one that this has happened to either. I've seen a shot by Shoelace (?) that this has happened to, and I'm sure there are others.

Does anyone know why this happens? I've observed that it's mostly in the darker colours and in shades of a same colour.

Also, conserning my shot, shoud I re-enter in the next contest and risk getting some "hey, I've seen that shot before somewhere!", or would a similar but new shot be better?

Edited by lord_jamitossi, 28 March 2005 - 05:50 PM.

[ShadowTiger]

.. Psht.. I don't know, but I would have voted for it anyway. That's all I have to say that you need to hear.

;-D

[Radien]

Yes, I've seen it happen multiple times, especially to Ccc. I don't know why Prince can't see it, but whatever he's doing with entries is causing some definite problems with certain people's images. Strangely, I have never had any problems with it.

Also, yes, your actual shot looks WORLDS better than the one we saw.Most of the stuff I was going to critique actually looks good in the "real" version of the image.

May I ask a question? What do you do to your image before you submit it? Do you submit it as-is, or convert it to a GIF or PNG file first? And if Prince is reading this, what do you do to BMP files before posting them? Do you convert them on your own?

[Dart Zaidyer]

I think whenever Prince touches these images in order to convert them, the palette gets maimed. Check it out... The original image is 11kb, while the SotW image is 8kb.
Valuable image data is being thrown out in order to shrink the filesize.

To avoid this, never ever ever use Paint on a gif. EVER.
Secondly, use a program that you know for sure would warn you before it will proceed to mutilate your image. I recommend IrfanView.

Are you listening, Prince?

Edited by Dart Zaidyer, 28 March 2005 - 04:52 PM.

[Kite]

The original shot looks like it is already a gif... so I really don't understand what could happen between there and uploading it to the PureZC space.

An interesting thing to note is the differences in the properties (as shown by Opera).

Original:
Depth: 8 bits per pixel
File size: 12 KB (12,213 bytes)

FTP:
Depth: 6 bits per pixel
File size: 8.5 KB (8,609 bytes)

It's like it has been converted a second time with something such as Paint. As much as Paint is reliable with BMPs, it doesn't cut it much for gif conversion (or even opening gifs). It is infamous for losing colors.

Of course, I don't know how PrinceMSC does SoTW in regards to the images besides the uploading part. We'd have to wait for him to respond. If it really is the image conversion that is the problem, I have plenty of free, small alternatives in mind.

[/M/]

Big diffrence.. So that means, PrinceMSC,Gashin,BH4,Radien,IaN, and all the good shot makers shots are even better than shown...

Edited by DragonBoy, 28 March 2005 - 05:37 PM.

[/M/]

Gashin shots, too, DragonBoy.  Gashin uses a lot of browns.

I was typing fast cause I was in a rush so I forgot to add people that I just added.

[lord_jamitossi]

Big diffrence..   So that means, PrinceMSC,Gashin,BH4,Radien,IaN, and all the good shot makers shots are even better than shown...

Hmm.... I never though of it that way. Weird.

Anyhow, as someone said, I changed it into a .gif in Paint before submitting it, because we can't submit .bmps.

^ that sentance is confusing because of the periods. Sorry.

Ahem. Should I use a different program next time?

[PrinceMSC]

Well, I figured out the problem. It has to do with my browser AOL. It has nothing to do with converting the file.

So when I use AOL to view your screenshot and the one I uploaded in your post, they look exactly the same. However, when I get on Internet Explore I can see the difference.

To fix this problem I will have to start using Internet Explore to save your screenshots to my hard drive and then upload them. So, you shouldn't have to worry anymore. In fact I'm about to fix your screenshot in SotW 83.

Thank you for letting me know about this problem. When I would see it using AOL I would always assume that's what it looks like.

The down fall though, I think anyone using AOL will see it with the colors reduced. And they will never know the difference until they are told to view it in another Internet Browser.

PrinceMSC

[lord_jamitossi]

Awesome.

So, when you look at the top of this page, you see the same shot twice? Weird.

I think it's great that this won't happen again (except for those viewing with AOL), but for this week, the damage has been done. Congrats on the win, Radien.

[Freedom]

Now there is a noble mission for wild bill, get off the IE kick for a while and focus it towards something truely discusting, like AOL.

[Dart Zaidyer]

I think this is a result of AOL's "accelerated web browsing" kick. Since most of the waiting is on images, the browser throws out image data, making the file smaller and therefore taking less time to download the image.

But I think the real question is this: Why would you use AOL-anything? Does your house exist in an isolated sector saturated with "preference towards crap" particles?

[Radien]

Big diffrence..   So that means, PrinceMSC,Gashin,BH4,Radien,IaN, and all the good shot makers shots are even better than shown...

No, actually, I haven't had a problem with it. None of my shots were affected, so they aren't any better than they appeared. It may be because I always convert my images to GIF in Paintshop Pro. Perhaps it's a combination of MS Paint and AOL which caused the inconsistency.

But I think the real question is this: Why would you use AOL-anything?

I'll have to second this. WildBill never compares Firefox to AOL, but that's because it sorta goes without saying.

Anyway, I'm glad you finally discovered the source of the problem. You couldn't have fixed it without finding the source. My sister just realized this today, when she tried to start my car with the gear in reverse...

[Shoelace]

This happened to me too. The best picture of all of my screen shots looked like my worst one with the loss of color. But at least the problem is fixed.