Tokens, best technical size?

[Nickademus]

Yes, there is always technically a technical advantage to using a base 2 size image. But this is for video cards not FG. And, technology has long since surpassed this even being a concern for 2D software like Fantasy Grounds. You would see only the smallest spec of improvement using diagnostic tools were you to conform your tokens to base 2 sizes.

[Phystus]

True dat.

The bigger issue as far as performance is file size, which is only partially related to pixel size. Reducing color depth can often do wonders without much change in appearance.

And just for another data point, I use 30 pixels for man-size creatures.

~P

[Griogre]

*Grin* and I use 32 pixels for medium sized creatures. To further elaborate on Phystus' point though, one of the best things you can do to reduce the file size of images is go from 32 bit color to 8 bit color per pixel. On almost all monitors the change is not visible and file sizes of the 8 bit images are about quarter the size of the 32 bit ones. Almost all modern art programs default to 32 bit color which is needed for printing but not for monitors.

Edit: 32 bit colors is usually called "millions and millions of colors" while 8 bit color is "256 colors".

[Nickademus]

reduce the file size of images is go from 32 bit color to 8 bit color per pixel

Oh no, you are NOT taking away my periwinkle!

[Blacky]

To further elaborate on Phystus' point though, one of the best things you can do to reduce the file size of images is go from 32 bit color to 8 bit color per pixel.

That's besides my original question, and besides the 3.0.0 test version, but while on 32px tokens going from rgb to indexed (24/32bits to 8bits colors) shouldn't be visible, one should keep usually the alpha transparency. A bad transparency is very visible.

[unerwünscht]

That's besides my original question.

If I follow the thread correctly the original question is "Why is there not a standard size?"
The simple answer is "Because the gaming community has never been able to agree on anything."
What we basically need is for Smite Works to step in and say "This is the way things will be for OFFICIAL content".
Then the community has a set size to work from, but not one set in stone. The vast majority of community content will begin to comply with the official content, and what doesn't will just go away.

The topdown tokens are great, but the 'official' ones have no variation in scale, and the artist changed his ToS so many times since the start of that project that it was, in my opinion, a bad investment. The community is not allowed to modify or redistribute his artwork (not even within the FG platform) even tho that was the point of the project to begin with.

Devin Night also makes some very awesome topdown tokens, and last I checked his do have varying scales. However, his are so larger by default that they are difficult to use with anything else.

So there you have it. My opinion. It is worth what it cost you.

[Blacky]

If I follow the thread correctly the original question is "Why is there not a standard size?"

Absolutely not.

The thread's question was for the FG developers and is: “is there FG specific things relative to token size and performance, in the 3.x branch?”

[Moon Wizard]

There are very few technical considerations for graphics in the FG code. Any individual graphics greater than 2048x2048 will be scaled to that size, unless they are image/map files. Also, large graphics are broken into 512x512 chunks for processing. Other than that, the other considerations include: transfer time, resolution, and relative sizing for miniatures on maps.

As a separate but related question, should SW even attempt to set a standard given the vast disparity between token sets? I actually spoke with Doug briefly about this topic at Gencon. I'd like to eventually offer the option to specify which size you want to download tokens your purchase/receive from the FG update server, so that your tokens are all relatively sized. I'm torn about what size is correct, since it's all up to the people playing and what level of detail they want. Also, I have been thinking of ways to perhaps automatically perform token scaling when tokens from the combat tracker are added to a map with a grid. (i.e. we have a token size, a grid size and a ruleset specified creature size; so use them.)

Regards,
JPG

[Callum]

I have been thinking of ways to perhaps automatically perform token scaling when tokens from the combat tracker are added to a map with a grid. (i.e. we have a token size, a grid size and a ruleset specified creature size; so use them.

This idea is really good. It won't work all the time, of course, but where those pieces of information are all available, it would be great to auto-resize the tokens by default.

[Blacky]

There are very few technical considerations for graphics in the FG code. Any individual graphics greater than 2048x2048 will be scaled to that size, unless they are image/map files. Also, large graphics are broken into 512x512 chunks for processing. Other than that, the other considerations include: transfer time, resolution, and relative sizing for miniatures on maps.

Again, thanks a lot.

Several urban legends killed at once.