.psd and making assets

Hi all
I'm making a bunch of models for the Asset Store and was wondering what file format to include for the textures.
Because Unity always changes the files anyway, the larger more useful .psd (Photoshop) files seem like a good choice.
My worry is, if an end user does not have Photoshop. I know they can get plugins and/or use Gimp, but would it be better to include other formats as well? like .tga, .tiff or .png?

( I had a go with SuperPNG, because I wanted the alpha for my specular maps, but I ended up not wanting to use it. )

anyway, thanks for any thoughts...

 

The TGA-format is quite common for textures on the asset store. However, I think TGA doesn't support Photoshop's alpha channel, so you might have to export the alpha as a separate texture or layer if you're going for TGA. PSD is pretty common as well, but as you said, not everyone has access to it.

Quality-wise, there isn't much of a difference between a .psd or a .tga file as they're both uncompressed.

 

TGA holds an alpha channel just fine, it just need to be a true alpha channel, and not layer transparency(like what you get with a PNG). When saving a TGA it will prompt you to choose the bits/pixel, and select 32(24 is RGB, 32 is RGBA). I use TGA because they aren't as lossy as PNGs, which can be quite bad.

 

32-bit PNG is lossy?

 

Thanks guys, yes I like the idea of using .tga wonder if I should include both ( .tga .psd )

 

Nope, no PNG is lossy. PNG files use LZW lossless compression.

--Eric

 

If I didn't use Windows Explorer extension called MysticThumbnails that generates thumbnails for any image file including .psd and .dds, then I would prefer PNGs over TGAs just because Windows can generate thumbnails for PNGs.

 

Yes, it's always good to find the psd files along with an asset.