My wallpapers go all noisey :(

[stanni]

Hey,

I've recently gotten into designing desktop wallpapers, the thing is though when I "save them for web and deviceses" and open them they look fine but as soon as I apply them as my wallpaper they get noise around the words and blurry :(

Any tips?

I'm using Photoshop CS3 btw.

Thnx, Stanni.

[VaKo]

Resolution!

[Sparda]

Example please?

[RogueHart]

make sure that the wallpaper is the same resolution or larger than yours. when you "stretch to fit" the wallpaper it will shrink it down without much distortion. but scaling up distorts even the highest quality pictures

[stanni]

here is one I made, 1400 x 1050 res:100

[digip]

Because its a PNG. PNG files do not allow windows to use the clear font method overlays and leaves blocky squares around icons and such. What happens if you save them as JPG's?

edit: Are we talking about the words in the image itself, or text for icons on the desktop? As for saving for web and devices, this setting compresses and reduces the quality of the image. You won't se eth echanges until reopening the image. I would just use the save a copy as or save as function. Do not use the optimize tools as they corrupt the quality of the saved output.

[Sparda]

Because its a PNG. PNG files do not allow windows to use the clear font method overlays and leaves blocky squares around icons and such. What happens if you wanve them as JPG's?

Windows won't do that to any image, it doesn't know there is text there.

[Mat]

Because its a PNG. PNG files do not allow windows to use the clear font method overlays and leaves blocky squares around icons and such. What happens if you wanve them as JPG's?

That's both untrue and misleading.

Selecting a png or jpg image for a wallpaper in windows make no difference to anything, windows will handle the image internally in the same way, if I remember correctly, it converts it to a device independent bitmap anyway.

As for the original poster, I think he's talking about jpg compression artefacts, but without a screenshot, zoomed on the affected area, I dont think anyone can help worth more than a guess.

[digip]

You guys missed my point!

I was talking about two different things. If you set a JPG as a wallpaper in windows, you get the clear text around fonts and icons on the desktop. If you set a PNG as a wallpaper, you get the blocky squares around your icons text(Not the image itself, but the desktop itself).

The other things I was tlaking about using the save for internet feature in PS is DO NOT USE IT. It compresses the images and you don't see changes until after you reopen the file. Save for Internet is to reduce file size for displaying on web pages, and they do so by removing bits in the image, thus lowering the pictures quality. Instead, I use the save as or save a copy as feature in PS to keep the full quality and resolution.

Look at the Screenshot attachment. The one on the left is a JPG wallpaper. The one on the right is a PNG set as wallpaper. Windows doesn't render PNG files the same as it does JPG's. This is what I thought he was tlaking about at first. I then edited my original post asking if this is what he meant, but said to NOT use the save for internet feature as I figured he was talking about the Image itself.

[RogueHart]

You guys missed my point!

I was talking about two different things. If you set a JPG as a wallpaper in windows, you get the clear text around fonts and icons on the desktop. If you set a PNG as a wallpaper, you get the blocky squares around your icons text(Not the image itself, but the desktop itself).

The other things I was tlaking about using the save for internet feature in PS is DO NOT USE IT. It compresses the images and you don't see changes until after you reopen the file. Save for Internet is to reduce file size for displaying on web pages, and they do so by removing bits in the image, thus lowering the pictures quality. Instead, I use the save as or save a copy as feature in PS to keep the full quality and resolution.

Look at the Screenshot attachment. The one on the left is a JPG wallpaper. The one on the right is a PNG set as wallpaper. Windows doesn't render PNG files the same as it does JPG's. This is what I thought he was tlaking about at first. I then edited my original post asking if this is what he meant, but said to NOT use the save for internet feature as I figured he was talking about the Image itself.

i think theres something off about your windows settings(assuming your using windows). i set one of my wallpapers as my background and had no issues. they are all .png because it has a higher quality over the net than jpg and it can hold transparency

[Steve8x]

Well I always thought that saving as a JPG/JPEG reduces the image quality every time you save it. Since JPEG is a lossy image type.

Not sure if thats true for photoshop. But try it for MSPAINT, save an image as a jpeg immediately it loses quality. Now open it and save it again! Even without editing it at all, each time you save it it loses more and more quality. Now try the same with a PNG, it wont lose quality. Thats why I always save as PNG instead of JPEG ;)

[digip]

.png because it has a higher quality over the net than jpg and it can hold transparency

Yes, PNG are higher quality, and yes, they can do transparency. I know this. What I was talking about is if you use the save for web feature, it compresses the images, reducing the image quality of the images. That is point #1.

Point #2, if you set a PNG as a wallpaper on windows, you get the blotchy pixels around your ICONS and TEXT on the desktop. Not in the image itself, but how windows renders the PNG file, it doesn't do the "ClearType" around fonts and icons. It instead leaves it looking like as if you clicked "Lock Web Items on Desktop" and you get the colored pixels around the icon and text.

And it has nothing to do with my windows settings, as any XP install I have ever used does the same thing on my pc or other peoples that I have used.

[digip]

Well I always thought that saving as a JPG/JPEG reduces the image quality every time you save it. Since JPEG is a lossy image type.

Not sure if thats true for photoshop. But try it for MSPAINT, save an image as a jpeg immediately it loses quality. Now open it and save it again! Even without editing it at all, each time you save it it loses more and more quality. Now try the same with a PNG, it wont lose quality. Thats why I always save as PNG instead of JPEG ;)

MSPaint saves them at a compressed percentage. So each time you save, open and resave it, it loses quality. it doesn't save them at 100% compression.

[RogueHart]

Yes, PNG are higher quality, and yes, they can do transparency. I know this. What I was talking about is if you use the save for web feature, it compresses the images, reducing the image quality of the images. That is point #1.

Point #2, if you set a PNG as a wallpaper on windows, you get the blotchy pixels around your ICONS and TEXT on the desktop. Not in the image itself, but how windows renders the PNG file, it doesn't do the "ClearType" around fonts and icons. It instead leaves it looking like as if you clicked "Lock Web Items on Desktop" and you get the colored pixels around the icon and text.

And it has nothing to do with my windows settings, as any XP install I have ever used does the same thing on my pc or other peoples that I have used.

#1 i wasnt talking about that at all lol

#2 i already knew what you meant when you said icons and txt and what i said before still stands because NOTHING like what happened in the picture you showed happened. there is no difference between jpg and png on my computer.

[digip]

there is no difference between jpg and png on my computer.

Really. What OS and SP are you running? I have seen it on XP SP1 2 and 3. (Im not using vista)

[snakey]

here is one I made, 1400 x 1050 res:100

post more of your wallpapers they look sick

[Swathe]

There is no difference on my desktop either. Xp SP3

[digip]

Hmm. I have never seen an XP desktop that has rendered PNG's the same way as JPG's. Ever. All the XP machines I have ever worked on leave the desktop in a state similar to as if you lock all the icons, where it can't display the clear type around fonts and icons.

(I use the standard "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" to set my images as wallpapers, btw.)

Are you guys setting this from saved files on the PC, or from web pages themself? If using Internet Explorer to set PNG files as wallpaper, they come out smooth, becasue IE saved them as JPG's, not PNG's. I can make a PNG appear like that of a JPG if set as wallpaper directly from Internet Explorer, but when its a SAVED PNG FILE on my pc somewhere, and I right click it and then set it as wallpaper, it shows up as a true PNG image(Transparencies and all) and you get that blotchy look, just like the example I attached in the post above.

So, to test this on your pc, can someone save a PNG to their desktop, and then set it as wallpaper, but NOT from their Internet Explorer web browser. This does make a difference since IE is not saving the image as a PNG.

[RogueHart]

Hmm. I have never seen an XP desktop that has rendered PNG's the same way as JPG's. Ever. All the XP machines I have ever worked on leave the desktop in a state similar to as if you lock all the icons, where it can't display the clear type around fonts and icons.

(I use the standard "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" to set my images as wallpapers, btw.)

Are you guys setting this from saved files on the PC, or from web pages themself? If using Internet Explorer to set PNG files as wallpaper, they come out smooth, becasue IE saved them as JPG's, not PNG's. I can make a PNG appear like that of a JPG if set as wallpaper directly from Internet Explorer, but when its a SAVED PNG FILE on my pc somewhere, and I right click it and then set it as wallpaper, it shows up as a true PNG image(Transparencies and all) and you get that blotchy look, just like the example I attached in the post above.

So, to test this on your pc, can someone save a PNG to their desktop, and then set it as wallpaper, but NOT from their Internet Explorer web browser. This does make a difference since IE is not saving the image as a PNG.

i dont use windows pic and fax viewer to set mine.

i open it in firefox.

i dont upload or save it. i just goto "open with>firefox"

then i rightclick the pic and set image as wallpaper.

i havent always done that but i have almost always saved my wallpapers as .png and i have never once had the problem you mentioned.

windows xp pro sp2

[digip]

I suspect FF is doing the same thing and saving it as either jpg or bitmap, and not as a PNG.

[Sparda]

XP can't use png or jpg files for the desktop, it always converts them to bitmap.

[digip]

XP can't use png or jpg files for the desktop, it always converts them to bitmap.

That's not true!

Only converts them from the browser. JPG's can be set, the same way Animated Gifs can and Transparent PNG's(Although 256 bit seems to be windows desired settings to see the transparency, otherwise it fills in the transparency with a light pink color).

To prove what I have been saying, save this file: http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa240/f...loo-Gif-ani.gif to your desktop.

Now, load it in a browser and set it as wallpaper, and it becomes a static Non animated image because windows saves the image as a bitmap from the browser.

Now, open the file from your desktop(NOT IN A BROWSER) and set as wallpaper, and it plays the animated gif over and over again because Windows Picture and Fax Viewer does not resave the image to another format when setting as wallpaper. ;) You can even right click, bring up the desktop properties and browse for th eimage to set it and does the same thing, leaving it in its orginal format.

Bitmaps and Jpegs can't do animation, so how is it I have animated Gifs on my wallpaper? Because I am not setting them from the browser, but from a program that DOES NOT convert it to another format. Hope this finally clears it up for people what I have been saying all along.

If you set a PNG from the browser and were to go and find the temp file created by the browser, you would see it is no longer a PNG file. If you saved it to your pc, and set it directly from windows, it would still be a PNG file, and rendering it would NOT look the same as when done from the browser. It would instead leave the blotchy pixels around the icons and fonts.

..Im done...We hijacked the thread long enough and the Op never came back to even explain the problem any further, so I can only speculate what was going on...

[Sparda]

If you check the registry keys that tell windows what wall paper to use, you'll see that any image format (except gif) is always converted to bitmap. Vista can use jpg and png files as it's desktop background.

A couple of these keys are located at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.

Additionally, I was not able to simulate your results of broken icon transparency.

[digip]

If you check the registry keys that tell windows what wall paper to use, you'll see that any image format (except gif) is always converted to bitmap. Vista can use jpg and png files as it's desktop background.

A couple of these keys are located at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.

Additionally, I was not able to simulate your results of broken icon transparency.

Here are the files I created in Photoshop. You can download the zip file and set each of them as a background from within windows and the PNG will exibit the problem I have been describing, while the Jpg does not. I'd appreciate it if someone would test this for me and post a screen shot.(XP only - Not vista)

http://www.twistedpairrecords.com/digip/Testing_123.zip

Instructions are in the Zip file.

[Sparda]

For the jpeg Windows converts it to a bitmap. The png, however, does indeed brake transparency on the icons. Once the transparency is removed (not that any is visible) this problems disappeares and starts converting it to a bitmap again.

Getting slightly back on topic. Why would you use transparency on a desktop background? If you find you are having this problem, the answer is to remove transparency, or save your background as a bitmap since that's all windows can use properly regardless. Only use png as it's name suggests "portable network graphic" with no transparency.