RLE compression on targa textures

Subtle 1rony

Hey guys, I was just wondering, are there any benefits to checking or not checking compress(RLE) when saving targas out of photoshop?

Eric Chadwick

Mostly it's a good thing to use it, as it's lossless and saves storage space. But some programs don't like it, and refuse to load an RLE TGA. Test it in the software you use. However it's also easy to uncompress them later if you have any troubles.

Subtle 1rony

Okay, thanks Eric. I should've mentioned, they will be for use in UDK, which I assume will accept them compressed. Just trying to figure out best practices

tynew

Going to necro this thread. I'm just wondering is this still a common practice and is it recommended?

Eric Chadwick

Yes.

Although you should try using PSDs as your source format (if using Photoshop) because it saves all the layers. TGA does not, it's only a flattened single image.

The downside of PSD is if you create several textures inside one PSD... diffuse, specular, etc. This is fairly common, and a nice way to work. Problem is, most game engines are not able to extract specific Layer Groups, they can only see the PSD as a whole.

Fortunately we have lots of tools to solve this...
http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/PhotoshopTools#Export_Tools

tynew

Wow Eric fast response! I've been using qsave but comparing that to quick save maps in the link you shared it pales in comparison! Thank you for answering it will surely come in handy