"Bryan Newell" <bryann at bryann.net> writes: >> I'd suggest that use of color was a good way to make it more readable >> without making it larger. JPEG is very good at handling colors -- and >> in fact handles B&W as a color image. > > I tried using about 52 jpeg compression (beyond that, the smaller text > labels become unreadable) in full color, and it clocked in at 900K (I'm > using Paint Shop Pro 8). > > I reduced it to grayscale, same compression, it dropped to 200K. Interesting, and not at all the results I get working with photographs. Actually, you might do very well with PNG compression. A 16-color pallette should be fine, if you avoid excessive textures and shading. And of course making a smaller version that you could see on screen all at once would help the size, too. > The grayscale map is not what I intended, and clearly it is causing some > problems. I think I will try making a dedicated grayscale map, with clear > differentiation between the various terrains. > > I was also debating doing a "hand drawn" look a la the famous map of Middle > Earth. That might be very interesting. -- David Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd-b at dd-b.net>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/> RKBA: <http://noguns-nomoney.com> <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/> Photos: <dd-b.lighthunters.net> Snapshots: <www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/> Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/>