Submodule 11.3: Layers and export of image

In WEB we mainly use the .png, the .jpg and the .gif image formats.

The .jpg format

The usual extensions of JPEG files are .jpg, .JPG, or . JPEG. This image format is widely used because it has the advantage of compressing the images more effectively than any other format, while it achieves minimum loss of quality. However, it does not support transparency and multiple layers. This means that when using this format, we have to remove the alpha channel by flattening the image. 

A very good use of jpeg format is in the case of a photograph with multiple colors. It is important to find the proper balance between quality and compression.

The.png format

The .png format is ideal for images that do not contain many colors. Good examples are buttons, icons, screenshots etc. This type of format supports transparency. When using this type of format we also have to flatten the image, however, we do not lose the transparency. 

The .gif format

This type of image format is ideal to create animations, as we will see in the next chapter. However, it does not support some basic properties such as print resolution. Thus, if you need these properties you may choose a different format (e.g. png).

You can find the file of the video at: courseGimp>xcfFiles>image700.gif, image700.jpg, image700.png

Flattening function is to combine all layers into a single background layer. You should only use it after you are sure that you have your satisfied result since after using flattening you are no longer able to edit the layers.