Please Help! Reduce to windows 16 colors

[xclicks]

Hello,

I have an image that is 16 million colors with shading and stuff.
I need to reduce it to standard windows 16 colors using
Paint Shop Pro. I have tried many experiments and it always
turns out looking really bad.

sorry I cannot attach the file because it is too large.

Thanks

[Jade Dragon]

It is very difficult to scale the colors down to 16 and get any worth while image out of it. Here' some steps to try.

first save the image as a gif, optimize for no transparency and use window colors with 100% dithering and 256 colors.

that drops the colors down to 256 & won't lose to much detail.

now try the same process again this time drop the colors to 200.

repeat and keep droping the colors down bit by bit.

You will start seeing pixilation in the image. this is normal.

If you get to a point where the image file size is down, upload to server and post link. I know of several graphic processes which can drop the colors to 16 for a "cartoon" effect.

[muijefr]

There might be some color replacement opportunities or color count and what are your objectives. It might just be a .jpg compression. But me can do better if we know more.

[xclicks]

Thanks,

I will try a few more experiments and post the image for
you. I really appreciate all the help from everyone.

The cartoon effect is what I am trying to accomplish. I will
be required to reduce several images this way. The images
are goiing to be used for a touch screen control panel
that will operate automated assembly equipment.

Thanks again

[antizero]

I've never used PSP, but if you post the original images, I'd be more than happy to try my hand at it. I've done something similar in the past. I'm sure there's other methods, but here's what I did...

I opened the file in Flash and used the "trace bitmap" function to make it look like a cartoon. If you've got Flash, give it a try. Play around with the settings to tweak the effect. Just go to Modify->Trace Bitmap.

If you don't have Flash, I'll try for ya. :D