Sprite Sheets vs. ZIP Files with Sprites

[larsenv]

Hi,

I was wondering what the benefits are if I chose to submit a sprite sheet on the Spriters Resource when uploading a submission, instead of uploading a .zip file with all of the sprites in it?

Thanks.

[Shade]

To put it simply, a sheet can be used faster. Internet speeds vary from user to user, so it's easier and less time consuming to copy/paste an image as opposed to downloading a file at the mercy of your current download speed. They're often easier to evaluate during the approval process, as well. It can also promote more specific asset organization.

ZIP archives are more appropriate when a submission has a large file size.

[puggsoy]

In addition to what Shade said, sprite sheets are much more convenient if you just want to admire the sprites, you can just view them in your browser without downloading and extracting. There are a number of sprites that I've wished were sheets because I just wanted to look at them, but not so much that I can be bothered downloading them

ZIP submissions are usually used, as Shade said, for large submissions, those which would take an unreasonable amount of effort and time to sheet, or ones that just don't work that well as a sheet (e.g. World of Goo, there are images for the eyes, bodies, connections, etc which make more sense as separate images). This is usually only the case for when you're extracting files though; hard-ripped sprites generally have no reason not to be sheeted.

[larsenv]

OK, I'll go for the sprite sheets...

[DarkGrievous7145]

Hmm...
Some of my wip/planned rips would be better as .zip, except...
vectors...

Flash games tend to use shapes instead of bitmaps, and can have sprites with thousands of shapes/frames...
Assuming I uploaded a .zip, can I provide .png and .svg graphics?

or is that still not acceptable?

[DarkGrievous7145]

Not to sound impatient or anything, but what about my recent question?

I assume the answer is no, but I'd just like to verify that.

[SuperFlomm]

According to our wiki we only accept .png and .gif. This also applies when you put them in a .zip.

[puggsoy]

Yeah, pretty sure .svg is unacceptable. The best you can do with vector graphics is just convert them to .png versions at a reasonable resolution, even if it isn't exactly "pure".

[DarkGrievous7145]

What about providing download url in the readme/credits.txt files?
(or even in a credit tag on a sheet)

I've observed some .zip's have readme files to explain a little bit about the provided graphics, themselves.
So, is there any rule against including url's to the "original" assets?

[Skyla Doragono]

I believe I was told before that as long as the file is available in either .png or .gif, you could also include a non-standard alternate for that file?

Like until Photoshop gave me grief, I was going to include both .png images of the pallets as well as actual Photoshop pallets in my Ultimax packs.

[Garamonde]

I'm pretty sure that's only for models, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong and that changed at some point.

[DarkGrievous7145]

Sounds right to me.

And I'm pretty sure it was only a few specific non-standard formats, as well.

In my opinion, so long as the files didn't eat-up a ton of extra space, having other formats wouldn't be so bad.
Reason I ask, though, is flash games (a format you can expect me to rip and post content from fairly frequently) use vector graphics for the ability to scale/rotate/stretch/skew without potentially, majorly distorting the graphic. bitmap images aren't nearly as forgiving. Another thing is vectors anti-alias by default when drawn to the screen, or rendered to a file. So, it'd be easier to edit the original files if one wanted to do an edit, or re-use the individual parts.

I could always upload a folder with all the sheeted animations, and the parts rasterized and sheeted, but the parts are generally much better provided as vectors.