Appendix B A Guide to Image Formats

Due to the vast number of image formats that we have available today, it is a good idea to have a basic understanding of what each format offers and which formats are the most appropriate for you to use in your day-to-day work.

The following guide is a basic introduction to some of the most popular image formats that you may find yourself encountering or working with in the process of creating textures and rendering, as well as a number of formats that you may find useful for optimizing images intended for web output.

Microsoft Bitmap (.bmp, .dib, .rle)

Recommended for saving textures: No

Recommended for web: No

Recommended for saving renders: Sometimes (for Windows wallpaper images)

The Windows bitmap file format ...

Get LIGHTWAVE V9 TEXTURING now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.