This pack is a series of four profile settings for nVidia\'s .DDS import/export utility for photoshop. They make attempts to keep mipmaps for .dds compressed images sharper, and maintain more detail. The stock sharpening options left me wanting, so I spent quite some time testing and comparing different settings until coming to solutions that I was satisfied with.Now and again, I tinker more, and tweak values some, so here are my 4 \"favorites\" that I\'ve cooked up.

These were created on v8.23.0307.1915 of the .dds plugin, and it is available at:

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nv_texture_tools.html


Mipmaps are scaled down versions of the base texture, to try and keep distortions down when a mesh is viewed from different distances, and to provide an easy frame for lower-end video cards to work from.Many games have the option for Small, Medium and Large settings for Texture Size- these settings tell the game to use mipmap x instead of the full sized image. Large or equivalent will use the base image, but in many games, the camera needs to be VERY close to a model in order for the base image to even be seen! Try using the \"Invert\" option when saving mipmaps to see for yourself.


By default, the .dds plugin does not use any sharpening when saving the image. These resizings introduce a very blurry effect for each mipmap as more color data is lost due to the downsampling.Finer details, like engraving on a sword, for example can be preserved better by using these profiles. Why spend time painting in fine details only to lose them?




Here is a basic description of each, keep in mind that the differences may be slight, it is largely dependant on what the texture looks like to begin with.


###keep details: This will keep the mipmaps sharp, with a good balance of contrast, but can introduce color noise along sharp edges. This one is still the best overall of the group.(This one hasn\'t changed from my previous version.)

###keep details-LessNoise: A little sharper than the standard flavor, but without the color noise at the loss of some constrast.

###keep details-LessNoiseSofter: A slight variation on \"keep details-LessNoise\", the result is a little blurrier than the rest, and loses more detail, but is better than using no sharpen filters, in my opinion.

###keep details-contrastSharper: A variation on \"keep details\', it simply sharpens more, with a slight increase



More info in the included readme.


## I've uploaded a new profile that i've been using as my personal preference for the hair texturing I've been doing.It should help keep mipmaps in shape for lots of close contrasting changes, as is common with hair. Also, it switches the compression mode to "grey" as I do all my hair texturing in greyscale.