Game model textures, quick question...I promise :)
 

Would you recommend using a Targa file when creating textures for a basic 3D model that will be used in a game?

In Photoshop, I used a 32Bit Targa with compression and it really reduces the file size of the texture and allows me to have a nice quality with not only the texture, but with the alpha maps as well.

Thanks!

Re: Game model textures, quick question...I promise :)
 

I guess its a matter of personal opinion. You could use PNG if quality is highly important with decent compression, on the other hand if extrem compression (size) is important then JPG might be better if the texture would not needed to be highly superior or not anything you would notice.

In a game, as game textures go, I would probably just do JPG because of the supreme compression you can achieve (if needed) with, what I would say, very little notice in deterioration of quality (if we speak game textures here).

But more of a personal opinion and preference really.


(Added, if transparency is demanded GIF would also be a possible option but then you get issues with quality and compression and need to take that into account, and if important (alpha) JPEG does not support it so I would go with PNG instead).

in the actual game field, it depends on what the game engine uses. In most cases, .tga is what is used, but sometimes .bmp or .dds are used as well.