Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => Arts & Talents => Topic started by: Singh on March 20, 2004, 04:57:28 am

Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 20, 2004, 04:57:28 am
Just doodling for a few hours. Came up with this banner for the SCP. The theme with the diemos has been a bit overdone I think. The background is from an actual in-game screenshot with the new nebs and other stuff.

any comments welcome.

(http://anandraj.sphosting.com/banner.jpg)
Title: banner
Post by: kasperl on March 20, 2004, 08:48:32 am
the text, dunno, the font, it's just that, it's too boring, i'm afraid.
Title: banner
Post by: diamondgeezer on March 20, 2004, 09:22:12 am
Yay Stop font
Title: banner
Post by: Turnsky on March 20, 2004, 09:25:06 am
Quote
Originally posted by diamondgeezer
Yay Stop font


yes, stop font good

(http://users.bigpond.net.au/Turnsky/images/stopfont.jpg)

two font comparisons, both would work equally well

one you all love and know, and another can be found at www.blambot.com
Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 20, 2004, 09:42:00 am
Quote
Originally posted by kasperl
the text, dunno, the font, it's just that, it's too boring, i'm afraid.


ok. note one is to change font, anything else? I know it seems too boring, any way to spruce it up? That's an actual in-game screenshot btw :)
Title: banner
Post by: kasperl on March 20, 2004, 10:01:05 am
the color of the text is wrong too, can you get the deimos to fire a beam, or get hit by a shivan or something? you can put nice and black text over the beam, giving you instant contrast.
edit:

aslo, make the text one line, move the deimos to the outside, or the make the neb bigger.
Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 20, 2004, 10:35:16 am
A beam? O_o
how do you make one of those in photoshop? :/
Title: banner
Post by: kasperl on March 20, 2004, 10:36:16 am
dunno, gradient tools applied on a rectangle?
Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 20, 2004, 10:45:57 am
Quote
Originally posted by kasperl
dunno, gradient tools applied on a rectangle?


Not too sure of that....I think you can apply a texture,but it only seems to look for .psd files for textures, as opposed to the .pcx files used for the FS2 textures...hmm, maybe I CAN use them...the problem is creating an explosion.
Title: banner
Post by: kasperl on March 20, 2004, 10:51:59 am
rip it from the FS2 ani, using anibuilder.
Title: banner
Post by: Turnsky on March 20, 2004, 06:53:59 pm
thick line, guass blur, blending options --> outer glow, and fiddle with it from there..
Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 20, 2004, 11:37:19 pm
ok, ive managed to get hte beam and explosion stuff in (but the latter really sucks), now al i need are the fonts. how do you add font types to Adobe photoshop? :/
Title: banner
Post by: Turnsky on March 20, 2004, 11:38:03 pm
stick 'em into your windows font folder, PS picks it up automatically
Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 20, 2004, 11:44:27 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Turnsky
stick 'em into your windows font folder, PS picks it up automatically


I did. unfortunately PS refuses to see its there...hmm, i'll try to stick itinto the other folder. Will PS pick up hte new font while its running or does it need to be restarted?
Title: banner
Post by: Turnsky on March 20, 2004, 11:45:55 pm
PS would have to be restarted, the font, however, has to be with the other fonts, like Arial, Courier, etc
Title: banner
Post by: StratComm on March 20, 2004, 11:47:17 pm
It probably needs to be restarted, as most programs like that build their font list at startup.  You may also need to properly install the font (not necessarily dragging by it in to the fonts directory), and each version of Windows treats that differently.
Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 20, 2004, 11:55:07 pm
ok. got that to work - thanks :D

One more question, if you dont mind. How do I get the beam 'edge' to fade into the explosion, as opposed to simply having an edge into it?
Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 21, 2004, 12:56:17 am
update...bit better I think, but the explosion just sucks.
Title: banner
Post by: kasperl on March 21, 2004, 02:57:44 am
the beam is not thick enough, compared to ingame. also, i suggest using a different frame, and using a few frames pasted next to eachother on different layers, so you can play with transperency.

that's how i'd do it in PSP anyway.
Title: Re: banner
Post by: Carl on March 21, 2004, 03:01:37 am
Quote
Originally posted by Singh
Just doodling for a few hours. Came up with this banner for the SCP. The theme with the diemos has been a bit overdone I think. The background is from an actual in-game screenshot with the new nebs and other stuff.

any comments welcome.

(http://anandraj.sphosting.com/banner.jpg)


screen screen SCREEN!
Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 21, 2004, 03:01:52 am
Quote
Originally posted by kasperl
the beam is not thick enough, compared to ingame. also, i suggest using a different frame, and using a few frames pasted next to eachother on different layers, so you can play with transperency.

that's how i'd do it in PSP anyway.


Frame? That is similar to a layer, right?
Title: Re: Re: banner
Post by: Singh on March 21, 2004, 03:02:23 am
Quote
Originally posted by Carl


screen screen SCREEN!


huh? :wtf:
Title: banner
Post by: Carl on March 21, 2004, 03:59:22 am
use the screen blending option for all effects.
Title: banner
Post by: Bobboau on March 21, 2004, 04:01:11 am
get a better shot, maybe a close up of the new fenris, and... something else.
Title: banner
Post by: Setekh on March 21, 2004, 05:49:39 am
Nice effort. Just keep working on it, try new stuff, go nuts with PS and different effects. You have a lot of power at your fingertips. :)
Title: banner
Post by: kasperl on March 21, 2004, 05:53:19 am
Quote
Originally posted by Singh


Frame? That is similar to a layer, right?


i meant frames from the ani. if you look at it in ani view, it has multiple frames. use a few from those, put them all on different layers, and play around with blending through transperency. it appears that Carl thinks the screen function might be usefull :)
Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 21, 2004, 08:24:20 am
ok. Lets give it a try with the new fenris then - ive got all night to come up with a good screenshot :D
Title: banner
Post by: Singh on March 22, 2004, 08:59:22 am
ack. after hours of work, all I get is this lousy piece of sh!t!

(http://anandraj.sphosting.com/BANNER4.jpg)
Title: banner
Post by: Lightspeed on March 22, 2004, 10:35:23 am
1) beam doesnt look quite right

2) good piece of advice: *never* have text that is directly at the image border. Move it some pixels (2-3 at least) up/down into the image.

3) Font seems a bit odd.
Title: banner
Post by: Bobboau on March 22, 2004, 12:02:40 pm
make the finres bigger and get rid of the beam glow, or what ever that ugly ugly thing is
Title: banner
Post by: StratComm on March 22, 2004, 02:35:32 pm
That looks more like a Trek font than a Freespace one.  And, I said it but it seems to have dissapeared: switch the relative locations of the Fenris and Rakshasa.  Right now the low-detail one is in the foreground, and the high-detail one is in the back, so you make the whole picture look lower in quality than it actually is.
Title: banner
Post by: adwight on March 22, 2004, 05:32:39 pm
The Fenris should be firing, that would make it look a lot better than just charging up.