.jpg textures???

[Kaliyuga]

   Hmm.... I've been doing alot of texturing stuff lately, and been de-pboing alot of different add-ons to look at different add-on makers techniques and such..... get some ideas

anyways the point is... I opened up an addon.. and all I saw were .jpgs for the textures      

 So I've always thought that you had to use texview and convert formats, all that good stuff.....

  So if you can use jpg files.. and they work....   what is the benefit of using the .paa or .pac format ?  

Just kinda surprised me....  wondering if anyone else has came across this before at all.....    

[Wires]

.jpg doesn't have alpha channels does it?

[Kaliyuga]

 Forgive my ignorance... but I'm not really too familiar with "alpha channels" ... what does having them contribute to the textures ?  BTW this is for a unit.. not a vehicle or static object if that makes a difference

[Tigershark]

Alpha channels are a fancy name for transparency in images. An Alpha channel lets you define and area of the image that should be transparent.

for example...if you drew the side of a helicopter you might want to make the windows "transparent" in the Alpha channel.

In OFP or 3d modelling...Alpha channels are used all the time. Your image may 64x64 pixels in dimension but the part you are mapping is only in the center of the image. By defining an Alpha channel you can be sure only the part you want on the model is shown.

A good example is the UNITED STATES ARMY writing on the UH60. The whole thing has to be square...but how do they get the writing on the helo withou the square background for the writing also appearing on the helo. Answer: Alpha channels.

I also believe the PAC and PAA are smaller in size than Jpgs.

[Kaliyuga]

Thanks for the low-down Tigershark
:cheers: