I’m working with Crytek’s Sandbox 2 engine and it brings in the 16 bit .raw files perfectly. I’d like to edit the 16 bit files but can’t seem to import them into any image editing program from the files WM exports. I’ve tried Photoshop CS3, The Gimp, Pixel, Paintshop Pro.
What are all you using to edit the 16 bit images? If so, what format are you exporting from WM to be able to edit them?
I’m on Windows XP and Vista.
Thanks!
Hi there,
Try using Photoshop’s Open As command. WM exports as a .r16 to denote the difference between an 8bit and 16bit raw, but photoshop expects all raws to have .raw extension, even if they’re 16 or 32bit.
Any alternative that does not cost 700$ (like Photoshop)?
The photoshop trial.
The Gimp might also work and it’s free.
GiMP does not support 16 bits depth (among MANY other things…).
From my experience, you can just change the extension from .raw to .r16 and visa versa, then you can use any graphics program to edit.
I’m not certain, but Cinepaint is a GIMP variation designed for 16 and 32 bit color channels. Since it is designed for 3d work among other things, it may be able to import and export 16-bit greyscale. It’s free (open source) but I don’t have time to download and test just at the moment.
EDIT: Latest windows build isn’t ready, but here’s the old one:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=57007
Corel PhotoPaint supports 16-bit formats and is considerably cheaper than PhotoShop.
I bump this thread to inform that the 2.5 development branch of GIMP uses a new engine and supports 16 bit per channel data. Being a development branch it is acknowledged to be unstable but the news is that GIMP is starting to get “advanced” features after years of wait.
I will also have the HMES limited feature public beta available in a few months, which is designed to work with 16-bit and 32-bit heightmap/grayscale files and supports a wide number of file import/export formats and a number of heightmap-specific editing features and filters.
HMES isn’t a “paint” program in the conventional sense though, it is more specifically designed for working with heightmaps so its editing and filter functions are specific for this purpose, and it is also designed for performing file conversion.
HMES will be a free utility as is HMCS. A number of game studios already use the older and more limited HMCS software to convert files from software like World Machine.
An update to my info about GIMP 2.5: the only thing that is currently available are the sources, so, unless you are a Linux user willing/capable of building the thing, ignore the above 2.5 alert. Sorry for the needless warning (I assumed that a Win32 binary had been released… I will never learn how much Windows is despised by Penguinistas).
i am using this image application to edit 16 bit image in .net environment. i don’t know whether it will work for yo. hope it is the tool you are looking for.
Possibly another alternative is Photoline: http://pl32.com/
They have a trial and I’ve seen some favorable comments about it on the Newtek (Lightwave) forum.