PNG export quality slider 1 - 10
Posted: 10 Jul 2022, 16:11
My Feature Improvement request is that the slider which sets the compression ratio (a sliding scale from 1 - 10 ) for PNG export would display how large the resulting PNG files will be in KB.
When moving the slider the actual frame size value in KB (for the current frame) will be displayed as you move the slider. I believe this feature was requested and "To-Do Listed" in 2014 , but was never implemented , so I am resubmitting this as a new request.
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Some further explanation of the reason for requesting this improvement to the PNG export :
It is my observation that there is generally some confusion for new users (or even long-time uses) over the 1 - 10 compression ratio sliding scale when exporting images as PNGs.
In my experience speaking with users who are confused by this sliding 1 - 10 scale, the confusion is usually: "what do the numbers 1 - 10 represent ?"
I think that most people tend to assume 1 means lowest image quality and that 10 means the highest image quality.
In fact, the 1 - 10 scale has nothing to do with the image quality. It is about the time it takes to complete the export and the file size of the exported PNG files . I don't believe this is explained anywhere in the User Guide (perhaps it is explained in the soon-to-be-released new User Guide , but not in the current User Guide).
Setting the export compression ratio to 1 means that the speed of the PNG image sequence export will be FAST , but the file size of the exported PNGs will be much LARGER.
If the export compression ratio is set to 10 the export time is SLOWER , but the file sizes will be much SMALLER. The image quality is not impacted by choosing a compression ratio of 1 or 10 or any number between 1 and 10.
For example, as a test I exported an Image Sequence of 24 drawings. With the compression ratio set to 1 the export took 6 seconds. The total size of the PNG files = 200 MB.
With compression level set to 10 the export took 21 seconds. But in this case the total size of the PNG files = 3.4 MB. That's a huge difference in total file size.
At the very least an explanation of the compression ratio scale 1 - 10 when exporting PNGs needs to be explained clearly in the User Guide. It would be nice if the Tool Tip explained:
"NOTE that the image quality of the exported PNGs is not affected
by the compression value, only the time it takes to export and the
final file size of the exported PNGs.
Compression value of 1 = Fastest export time, larger file size .
Compression value of 10 = Slowest export time, smaller file size."
Even better would be when moving the slider the actual frame size value in KB (for the current frame) will be displayed as you move the slider.
.
When moving the slider the actual frame size value in KB (for the current frame) will be displayed as you move the slider. I believe this feature was requested and "To-Do Listed" in 2014 , but was never implemented , so I am resubmitting this as a new request.
--------
Some further explanation of the reason for requesting this improvement to the PNG export :
It is my observation that there is generally some confusion for new users (or even long-time uses) over the 1 - 10 compression ratio sliding scale when exporting images as PNGs.
- TVPaint_PNG_Export_Compression_Ratio.png (42.22 KiB) Viewed 5059 times
In my experience speaking with users who are confused by this sliding 1 - 10 scale, the confusion is usually: "what do the numbers 1 - 10 represent ?"
I think that most people tend to assume 1 means lowest image quality and that 10 means the highest image quality.
In fact, the 1 - 10 scale has nothing to do with the image quality. It is about the time it takes to complete the export and the file size of the exported PNG files . I don't believe this is explained anywhere in the User Guide (perhaps it is explained in the soon-to-be-released new User Guide , but not in the current User Guide).
Setting the export compression ratio to 1 means that the speed of the PNG image sequence export will be FAST , but the file size of the exported PNGs will be much LARGER.
If the export compression ratio is set to 10 the export time is SLOWER , but the file sizes will be much SMALLER. The image quality is not impacted by choosing a compression ratio of 1 or 10 or any number between 1 and 10.
For example, as a test I exported an Image Sequence of 24 drawings. With the compression ratio set to 1 the export took 6 seconds. The total size of the PNG files = 200 MB.
With compression level set to 10 the export took 21 seconds. But in this case the total size of the PNG files = 3.4 MB. That's a huge difference in total file size.
At the very least an explanation of the compression ratio scale 1 - 10 when exporting PNGs needs to be explained clearly in the User Guide. It would be nice if the Tool Tip explained:
"NOTE that the image quality of the exported PNGs is not affected
by the compression value, only the time it takes to export and the
final file size of the exported PNGs.
Compression value of 1 = Fastest export time, larger file size .
Compression value of 10 = Slowest export time, smaller file size."
Even better would be when moving the slider the actual frame size value in KB (for the current frame) will be displayed as you move the slider.
- File size displayed with compression sliding scale.png (29.14 KiB) Viewed 5059 times
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