[Zz] DDS

DDS is short for DirectDraw surface. It is a product of DirectX texture compression (dxtc.

Dxtc reduces texture memory consumption by 50% or more. There are three dxtc formats available: dxt1, dxt3, and dxt5.

Dxt1 compression ratio: 1: 8

The compression ratio is the highest. It only has 1 bit Alpha, and the alpha channel information is almost completely lost. Generally, images without Alpha channels are compressed into this format. Satellite images such as WorldWind

Dxt3 compression ratio: 1: 4

With 4-bit Alpha, there can be 16 alpha values, which can be well used for alpha channel sharpness, strong contrast of semi-transparent and hollow material.

Dxt5 compression ratio: 1: 4

The linear interpolation 4bit Alpha is used, which is especially suitable for alpha channel soft materials, such as highlight mask materials.

Many 3D software, including most games, use the DDS format, also known as "Textures". Many fans can generate special display effects by modifying the DDS file.

NVIDIA provides a plugin for Photoshop to use DDS, which can also generate a DDS file.

The command line nvdxt.exe is used to generate a ddsfile.

Adobe Photoshop normal map and DDS authoring plug-ins installer(.exe) (Photoshop DDS plugin)

Http://www.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html

Windows texture Viewer (DDS image viewing tool)

Http://developer.nvidia.com/object/windows_texture_viewer.html

NVIDIA texture tools (Private DDS tool)

Http://developer.nvidia.com/object/texture_tools.html

DDS thumbnail Viewer (you can view the DDS file directly under the Windows thumbnail view)

Http://developer.nvidia.com/object/dds_thumbnail_viewer.html