An journey on creating an Island

[Landdon]

Hello all,

After years of admiring everyone work, I have set out on the journey to learn how to create Arma 2 terrain. I have successfully completed several tutorials and use them as my bibles. I am currently building myself a custom map based on Bushluker’s source file for Limnos. I have been successful in getting it into the game, and recently with the help of this forum resolved the map grid system. Currently I am try to perfect or update the Sat_Ico.png, by removing the Google map information that came over during the Sat_Ico.png creation. I’m using Adobe Photoshop CS 6, and have a question for those that are familiar with the program. I would like to know the difference between "Flatten Image", "Merge Visible, and "Merge Layers"? Specifically, which one does not increase file size or increases it in the least?

V/R
Landdon

[phaeden]

Simply, a flat image will be the smallest size (and is needed for the game to work).

Flatten Image takes all the layers and flattens them into one.

Merge Visible will merge (flatten) any visible layers (any invisible layers will not be merged).

Merge Layers will merge the layers you have selected.

[Landdon]

Thanks! I knew there was some photoshop Gurus out here.

[Jakerod]

I never use flatten image. If you flatten the image you lose your layers obviously which can be a pain in the ass if you realize you need to change something. If you save it as a png, which you have to at some point anyway, it will automatically flatten it when it saves. Then I save it as a psd... or more recently a psb. There might be some advantage to flattening before saving as a png but I tend to have to go back a lot because I am not happy about something. Additionally, there is also Merge Group which you get the option for if you have a folder of layers selected.