I found this excellent tool that runs your PNG's through various DOS-based PNG crushers, compares the results, and gives you the smallest PNG filesize possible.
It doesn't reduce colours, so image quality does not change.
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=16167
This tool combined with Web Image Guru (for custom colour reduction) is what I use on a daily basis to reduce PNG filesize for Java games.
Another program I've found useful is Paint Shop Pro, which can downgrade your PNG into 1bit if you wished. Many times I bring an 8bit PNG down to 4bit with PSP because we are fighting jar size to fit a phone in a matter of 10's and 100's of bytes. Photoshop doesn't support less than 8bit images.
For painting/re-painting an image, I definately use Photoshop. Layers, cut tools... all necessary.
KO
Received on Wed Oct 20 17:30:57 2004