I just had 2 real quick questions... 1) What program is used to work on .dds files? I can't do anything with them in Photoshop, and the few that I have on my computer don't come up right on 3D Studio Max, even though it is a readable format (according to Max). I have heard that they are a good choice for video games because they have all of the mipmapping, etc. all contained inside one file. That has just been bothering me ever since I found out about them. and 2) Pixel shading. I don't need to know how it works (not yet, anyway) and this might not really fall under "visual arts," but I was just wondering...if you put a pixel shader on something, does it mean it is calculated by screen pixels or texture pixels? Because I've noticed, oftentimes it seems that shadows used on a pixel-shading system are too blocky to be screen pixels. Just wondering.

1) Both for Photoshop and 3D Studio Max plug-ins are available that make them support the DDS-format.

2) Screen pixels. The anomalies you saw are probably caused by the absence of texture filtering or other.

Well, let me detail that before someone rushes in criticizing. They are pixels in the back-buffer, which is essentially a surface much like a texture. And you could have a back buffer on a different resolution than the screen. But this is rare and you'd have to specifically go for it.

Greetz,

Illco

Hmm...yes, the specifics elude me as to back buffers and such as yet. But where would I get the plugin for Photoshop? And, more importantly, is it free?

They are both free. Check the websites of Adobe and Discreet. I don't exactly recall where they came from but if I remember well they are both supported by the respective companies.

The DirectX sdk has the plugins under:
"Microsoft DirectX 9.0 SDK (April 2005)\Utilities\Bin\PlugIns"