New Comic Book Theme!
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I'll be happy if you almost make the remaining comic look system logos...
@TMNTturtlguy said in New Comic Book Theme!:
(none of the images are stretched from 4:3
Yes, you are right, I was confused by the black bars from windows 10 image viewer when you are not in full screen.
Thanks for taking my suggestions into consideration. Good look with your new theme.
Regards.
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@TMNTturtlguy hi!
A question, if I may: would you happen to have the original images for each system before you apply the dithering filter?
I recalled an old iPhone app I had, called Halftone, that does the kind of visual effect I think you're trying to achieve, but whether it's because of the screen size on the phone, or something else, it looks nice.
I wonder if it'd help to, prior to applying the Halftone filter in Photoshop, manually force resizing the images to an integer multiple, and then using the filter on it.
Not my area of expertise, mind you. It's just that everything in the theme looks so sharp, but those particular images look slightly rougher, that in trying to think of ways to make them consistent.
Have a great weekend!
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@pjft +1 for that, I would like to tweak the dithering filter.
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@Nismo @pjft i am currently away and don't have access to my pi or files. The comic.png files are photoshop files and not image files, so only this with photo shop can modify them. The dither effect is pixelate layer filter applied to a copied layer and then an opacity is applied to that, so you can't actually modify the dither effect. The only way to do this is to delete the pixel layer and start over. Each image of each them is its own layer and I have tweaked them individually based on opacity and color ranges. The extreme dither is not from the photoshop file, but from superpng which is a photoshop add on for compressing png. Per @Nismo suggestion I have downloaded a different compression program and am reformatting the compression to 1920x1080 @ 512kbs.
Once I have a chance to do this I will see how it looks and post it and we can decide next steps. At this point I don't want to share all of my artwork files with the community as I would like to maintain a single but optimized theme. I think we can get some good updates in the near future to halp make everyone happy.
Thank you again for all your help and understanding. I am still learning the best techniques as we progress.
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@TMNTturtlguy Hi!
Not at all, please. You'd only share if you'd be comfortable with it - there's no insistence there :)
If you do have even just one of them, though - say one of the TMNT ones - that you can share, even for me just to see if there'd be any filter that would look different, let us know.
And, just to be clear: this is ultimately your theme - I have no expectation you'd end up doing something that you didn't like.
Thanks! Have a great weekend.
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@pjft @Nismo I have finally returned and have access to my pi and computer! Per your request I have placed the Nintendo files in a dropbox folder for your use. link removed
I have used riot per @Nismo suggestion and placed the updated png file in the folder. It is a much cleaner compression and is now true 1920x1080 and 512kbs.
@Nismo, i have placed my photoshop file for your use. You can delete or turn off the "Copy" layer for each image and the original image is beneath it. Feel free to play with this as you would like and please share the images and photoshop file back with me and I can review.
@pjft, i have placed both a png with the pixel effect, now much cleaner, and a png without any effects at all for your use and testing. The only issue with the clean png is that the gray borders might be affected by whatever filters you use, we will want to keep the gray borders clean for the final product.
I will work on recreating all backgrounds with riot and update the theme so we can review that as well. I might also see if i can devise a way to have all of the backgrounds display clean with no pixels, and see if I can find a way to easily let the user decide if they want the "newsprint" or "clean" version. Let me know if the files work and keep me posted on any progress you make. Thanks again for the help!
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Man First off this is excellent! I am working on a new build and want to use your theme. I was wondering if you take requests? Or would mind sharing source files for me o create? Specifically I'm looking for Game Gear system logo in the comic font, and a virtual-boy theme. Thanks Again!
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Thank you very much, I'll take a look ASAP.
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@modmaster thanks! I am taking request and yours are on the list! I am currently working on optimizing the current files and then will be working on the system logos followed by system backgrounds! Follow the thread for updates! Thanks
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@TMNTturtlguy Ok, so a few things.
First of all: damn, this is hard and takes a LOT of time, especially to adjust. There's no easy way out of it.
Second: you did a tremendous job so far. I am not in a position to comment on or recommend any changes, as this ends up being both up to individual tastes, as well as to one's ability to execute on that vision (which, clearly, is limited on my end).
That being said, I did a rough try to create a second attempt at a similar print effect, which I think I am happier with, and I'm sharing it here for you to compare and see what I think I had in mind. That being said, I haven't tried it out on a proper big screen where I'm running the Pi, so YMMV.
I think the main difference seems to be that my dots are... smaller? My main problem with the current theme as it was is that it has these extremely attractive, sharp logos and letters, but then the game images end up showing up as too blurry and washed out, when compared to the logo, letters and the rest. I would like to believe that it's possible to achieve a pure print effect the way you envision, while keeping a sharp, high-res-ish aspect to the overall theme. :) I'm not sure I'm getting my idea across correctly, but maybe it's useful.
I used Gimp, so it has a different filter (Newsprint). I then added it as a separate layer, same as you, and made it transparent on top of the original image.
Here you go.
https://mega.nz/#!lAEHCSxZ!P7JU_gZ5krNU9klqgZ73ZobgnUJDZV5FhFf74d_IGbA
Still, way out of my league, so I'll leave it to you and @Nismo :) Happy to help if I can.
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@pjft thanks for the quick work! I am on my phone all day, but will look at this tonight! Excited to see what you came up with.
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@pjft I like your option 2, a simple modification to the pixel filter on my end to 30 degrees and a soft glow blending instead of an opacity and i was able to recreate something really close to what you have shown. Our pixel sizes are about the same, however you only have a single dot patter where i had 4 dots each at a different color channel. By placing all the channels on top of each other it is definitely a cleaner more sharp image any may play well to the screen. It does take away from the way a newpaper prints a colored dot matrix, but in terms of a crisp image on screen, you are probably correct that this will read cleaner. I will apply this filter to the images and see if i can get it uploaded for everyone to see as a complete theme. Thanks again for this, a simple modification to the dot angles is all it took!
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@pjft I ran into an issue when going through some of the other files with different colors. When I apply the single got pixel filter I now get a diamond pattern that shows up on several of the more vibrant color fields. This is not a good look at all. I have placed a nintendo.png and an atari 7800.png in the dropbox link for review. The nintendo looks very similar to yours, the atari does not look good at all. link removed
Update: I have come up with an alternate solution, see the images in this folder as well for the same systems. Be sure to look at both links/files to compare and contrast. I think i am leaning towards Nintendo 2? Thoughts? link removed
@Nismo, any thoughts or ideas?
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@TMNTturtlguy I'll look into them when I'm on my computer, and reply in more detail - thanks for looking into this!
Want to share the original Atari image as well so I can tweak on my end if still needed?
Thanks! :)
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Well If my opinion counts for anything I like Nintendo 2 also. What about trying to knock out the system logos with generic comic backgrounds? Would that be "low hanging fruit" to push the project along? If you would like to divide it up I'm happy to help if I have the software you used. My skill set should be adequate to work the system logos. Either way I'm excited to see this theme in action!
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@modmaster thanks! I am on my phone now, but once we all pick out the pixel affect we like i can send you the base photoshop file and I would love your help creating the backgrounds for the other systems. I am working on the logos right now and have a template of illustrator and photoshop for them, so I will knock those out as you help with the backgrounds!
I agree on Nintendo 2.....I just created a dot pattern and did an overlay, you lose the color saturated dots that the pixel filter provides, but it is a cleaner image. I am also open to other thoughts.
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@pjft i have placed both a clean version of the atari 7800 image as well as the photoshop file on the dropbox page for your use. link removed
@modmaster here is a link to a base file, the pattern overlay as well as the updated nintendo file for reference. link removed
How it works, what I do is place the image i want for each area as a layer under the outline layer. Select the outline area and then select the inverse, this cleanly crops the image for each space to the outline. Once i get all of those set, i merge them, add a new layer for the dots. I simply paint bucket the pattern which i have included on its own layer, i set the paint bucket opacity to 50% and then the layer opacity to 50% (you should be able to see these settings in the nintendo file. I then select the gray area in the outline layer, delete the dots from that selection.
If you want to get the files this far and send them my way, i will save them and compress them on my end and place into the theme!
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@TMNTturtlguy This theme looks awesome ! Very polished, well done.
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Sounds good! I'll start on virtual boy and if you like it move on from there.
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@modmaster Perfect!
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