Home› Technical Talk

Saving over TIFF Files?

melviso
polycounter lvl 10
Offline / Send Message
melviso polycounter lvl 10
Just want to very sure, if u save over a TIFF files multiple times, will it lose details painted before? Can use it as a working file like psd? Also why is it u can't see a thumbnail of a psd file in the windows explorer?
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Replies

  • Yerus
    Offline / Send Message
    Yerus polycounter lvl 5
    A TIFF file is one of the least wornable file formats. You can't see a PSD in Windows because it's a PhotoShopDocument format, and it's  owned by Adobe. 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • poopipe
    Offline / Send Message
    poopipe grand marshal polycounter
    In theory you can store layers in a TIFF so you could keep your working data  but honestly I just wouldn't.   Stick to PSD and find a psd thumbnail plugin for windows - there must be hundreds


    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • musashidan
    Offline / Send Message
    musashidan high dynamic range
    Bad
    Yerus said:
    A TIFF file is one of the least wornable file formats.
    Bad information. TIFF files are lossless even when compressed and can be saved as many times as you like without data loss, and are a high quality format. I've been using 16-bit TIFFs for years for offline rendering without problems. The downside is large file sizes, but the lossless compression alleviates this.

    However, depending on what I'm doing I'll often use .PSD as a working 'master' file and save 16-bit TIFFs from that.

    Until EXR became standard TIFF was one of the main file formats for offline rendering.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • melviso
    Offline / Send Message
    melviso polycounter lvl 10
    @poopipe I think I would do that.
    @musashidan What about 8bit TIFF files? Are they lossless as well.
    Yeah, I have been hearing about EXR as well for offline rendering. Is it way better than TIFF or its just the cool new file format everyone is using. Not used in games though? TGA is the preferred file format?
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • musashidan
    Offline / Send Message
    musashidan high dynamic range
    Yes, 8-bit are also lossless.
    .EXR is not new, ILM released it to the public in 2003. The power of 32-bit full float EXR lies in compositing. Multiple channels/passes can be embedded in a single file. Also, a renderer like Vray can atlas the maps and drastically reduce ram usage at rendertime. (Arnold does similar with .TX files)
    The main reason you would choose EXR over TIFF for offline is the multi-channel embed and the 32-bit option, but really, TIFF is fine unless you're doing high-end compositing.
    .TGA is the preferred choice for game textures. TIFF/EXR are way too large memory-wise for game purposes.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • melviso
    Offline / Send Message
    melviso polycounter lvl 10
    @musashidan
    Thanks so much for the clarification, mate.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • musashidan
    Offline / Send Message
    musashidan high dynamic range
    You're welcome, mate.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Sign In or Register to comment.