Now if only I knew the difference between Raster and Vector! And, had any talent at any form of drawing, and, could see and match colours properly! Than I could make my own sig too! Thanks to Gill, I have not had to do any of this
Vector images are those that use mathematical equations to code an image. Raster images are the rest, ie those that use single-coloured pixels.
Just went through a buncha videos and the lion is definitely the major theme in NW, there are lion images everywhere.
one head side profile b&w
one full body sideprofile b&w
and one head profile full golden
not to mention all the statues
hehe, forget the symbology, here's an avatar b:victory
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade! Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
Now if only I knew the difference between Raster and Vector! And, had any talent at any form of drawing, and, could see and match colours properly! Than I could make my own sig too! Thanks to Gill, I have not had to do any of this
Vector images as vin explained are mathematical form. So when they are scaled, they are still smooth. e.g. A circle is "x^2+y^2 = r^2" If you change its size, you are just changing the values of its radius. Similarly, fog is an effect which is applied on the image each time you scale it, not just changing colors.
So when you increase its size, scale it, it remains "smooth" and "clear".
Raster Images are basically pixels - each pixel storing information of its color. When you scale it, a good algorithm may be able to retain the smoothness by faking pixels around it to have a gradient - but you will soon notice when you zoom that the image is just "boxes".
Even when vector images are just "equations" your "quality" is as limited as your dedication to the image. But this one image can be scaled to any level without any loss of information whatsoever. A vector image created by hand. Another one. Usually people are lazy so they just use svg to create simple icons.
EDIT: svg means scalable vector graphics which just means a vector image.
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bubbabinskyMember, Moonstars, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 161Community Moderator
And Gillrmn! what a difference from this to my current sig!
Thanks for putting the power of The Gimp in my hands!
One thing I've noticed, my sig tends to be a bit compressed out of focus and smaller than a lot of others. What size canvas are you using or is there a compression trick or something?
J
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade! Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
Vector images as vin explained are mathematical form. So when they are scaled, they are still smooth. e.g. A circle is "x^2+y^2 = r^2" If you change its size, you are just changing the values of its radius. Similarly, fog is an effect which is applied on the image each time you scale it, not just changing colors.
So when you increase its size, scale it, it remains "smooth" and "clear".
Raster Images are basically pixels - each pixel storing information of its color. When you scale it, a good algorithm may be able to retain the smoothness by faking pixels around it to have a gradient - but you will soon notice when you zoom that the image is just "boxes".
Even when vector images are just "equations" your "quality" is as limited as your dedication to the image. But this one image can be scaled to any level without any loss of information whatsoever. A vector image created by hand. Another one. Usually people are lazy so they just use svg to create simple icons.
EDIT: svg means scalable vector graphics which just means a vector image.
You know something, Gill? That actually made sense! Not that I want to sped the time to actually be able to do these things, but I now appreciate the differences a lot more. Those pics you linked were amazing!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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zebularMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 15,270Community Moderator
One thing I've noticed, my sig tends to be a bit compressed out of focus and smaller than a lot of others. What size canvas are you using or is there a compression trick or something?
My signatures are made at dimensions of 500px by 100px which leaves 50px (height) open for a single line of forum text so it doesn't go over the 150px max signature height - which includes images and text in our current regulations. I also work at 100ppi instead of the "standard" 72ppi or 96ppi. but they're then saved into .jpg at 72ppi.
I'm guessing the reason why your signature is being shrunk here is because you're uploading an image (630x170) that exceeds the limits stated when you are at the upload screen. Try re-sizing it in GIMP first, to fit within 500x150 (or 500x100 if you want a 50px buffer for a line of forum text in your sig), before uploading. Save the image as a new file, so you keep your original to work on if you want, then re-size the copy.
ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
edited October 2012
I love the new "Neverwinter" and Jade Scimitars in your signature Jade!
Not a major change and yet it looks a thousand times better.
(not that the original was bad, that's just so much better)
My signatures are made at dimensions of 500px by 100px which leaves 50px (height) open for a single line of forum text so it doesn't go over the 150px max signature height - which includes images and text in our current regulations. I also work at 100ppi instead of the "standard" 72ppi or 96ppi. but they're then saved into .jpg at 72ppi.
I too, really like the addition of the scimitars.
Thanks Zebular! Finally got the resolution problem and the size of the sig fixed! I am learning SO much about electronic artwork! My signature has evolved SO much! How did you make the frame surrounding Truth's and Ambi's sigs? My "border" function does not make a border like that.
I love the new "Neverwinter" and Jade Scimitars in your signature Jade!
Not a major change and yet it looks a thousand times better.
(not that the original was bad, that's just so much better)
Thanks Ambisinisterr! With all the good looking sigs around, I am trying to just keep up! I got the idea from your guys "floating" Neverwinter names on your sigs.
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade! Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
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zebularMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 15,270Community Moderator
Thanks Zebular! Finally got the resolution problem and the size of the sig fixed! I am learning SO much about electronic artwork! My signature has evolved SO much! How did you make the frame surrounding Truth's and Ambi's sigs? My "border" function does not make a border like that.
Thanks Ambisinisterr! With all the good looking sigs around, I am trying to just keep up! I got the idea from your guys "floating" Neverwinter names on your sigs.
Your signature is really nice! You truly have done an amazing job on it!
The borders I made were actually used from the web borders here on the forums. I saved each piece then opened them up, cropped bits apart and then pasted them all together and re-sized them, not necessarily in that order. For the colors I just adjusted their hues, saturation and brightness until they matched the color tone I was going for or trying to match.
To get things like the drow's head, wizards staff and hand and dragon wings and head above the border, I copied those portions then pasted them each as a new layer, resting above the borders. This allowed me to apply a black glow to the borders on Bubba's and Truth's that faded the main images while allowing the overlaying pieces to pop out without being shaded by the border's black glow. If I were to have simply cropped out those parts of the border, when applying a glow effect, it would have still shaded those parts I wanted to pop out. When applying that effect to Ambi's however, it just didn't look as good to me and detracted from the scenery and made the red seem brighter than it was and what I wanted, so I didn't use that effect on his.
Thanks Ambisinisterr! With all the good looking sigs around, I am trying to just keep up! I got the idea from your guys "floating" Neverwinter names on your sigs.
Hey Gil. Not to be a copy cat, but it *does* look nice having the Neverwinter highlighted outside the signature ("floating, as Jade so aptly puts it). Do you think you could "float"Neverwinter on mine, but maybe put it underneath so that it's different than all the rest?
Hey Gil. Not to be a copy cat, but it *does* look nice having the Neverwinter highlighted outside the signature ("floating, as Jade so aptly puts it). Do you think you could "float"Neverwinter on mine, but maybe put it underneath so that it's different than all the rest?
Thanks
If you want things outside border, applying fog effect to the image would be moot. It would rather be better as something like this.
The borders I made were actually used from the web borders here on the forums. I saved each piece then opened them up, cropped bits apart and then pasted them all together and re-sized them, not necessarily in that order. For the colors I just adjusted their hues, saturation and brightness until they matched the color tone I was going for or trying to match.
I can see it now! As Sherlock Holmes would probably say, "I looked at it before but did not truly see it until now!"
To get things like the drow's head, wizards staff and hand and dragon wings and head above the border, I copied those portions then pasted them each as a new layer, resting above the borders. This allowed me to apply a black glow to the borders on Bubba's and Truth's that faded the main images while allowing the overlaying pieces to pop out without being shaded by the border's black glow. If I were to have simply cropped out those parts of the border, when applying a glow effect, it would have still shaded those parts I wanted to pop out. When applying that effect to Ambi's however, it just didn't look as good to me and detracted from the scenery and made the red seem brighter than it was and what I wanted, so I didn't use that effect on his.
Hehe, this I was able to figure out on my own! The effect is subtle on my sig for now but the head is popping out over the fuzzy border while the waist is below the fuzzy border. Should be more dramatic once I add a better border.
What do you think? No border like below or border?
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade! Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
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zebularMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 15,270Community Moderator
What do you think? No border like below or border?
I kinda like it better with no border, between the two. :-)
However, it looks like the green glow effect is too solid and doesn't have any softness to it to make it blend into the image better. I think it would look a lot better with maybe a 3-6 halo offset and a softness of say 8-12. Maybe try ranges between 65%-90% opacity as well. I don't have GIMP installed and haven't used it in a while, so I am not sure if these are the same terms GIMP uses, let me know if this is confusing, hehe.
On the image he's using now, maybe try just erasing only the orange fog that is behind "Neverwinter" leaving the shadow spark and the rest. Then give "Neverwinter" a very small shadow drop to keep parts of it from blending too much with the shadowspark. That would probably make a desire-able effect similar to what he was looking for?
I kinda like it better with no border, between the two. :-)
However, it looks like the green glow effect is too solid and doesn't have any softness to it to make it blend into the image better. I think it would look a lot better with maybe a 3-6 halo offset and a softness of say 8-12. Maybe try ranges between 65%-90% opacity as well. I don't have GIMP installed and haven't used it in a while, so I am not sure if these are the same terms GIMP uses, let me know if this is confusing, hehe.
Very confusing as those aren't the terms I am familiar with Gimp. Which program do you use, it begs to be asked? As for the border, I will take the path of least work/laziness and just leave it as is with fuzzy fade to black.
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade! Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
Very confusing as those aren't the terms I am familiar with Gimp. Which program do you use, it begs to be asked? As for the border, I will take the path of least work/laziness and just leave it as is with fuzzy fade to black.
Basically he is saying that the inner border of the border looks hard along the edge. I had a close look after zooming in, and it is because you didn't cut the inner edge properly (were too lazy? ).
The solution he suggests is to make inside of inner border fuzzy so it blends to alpha.
Better solution is to select the dark line of inner color and delete it in border layer.
Try using this. It is smudged at the ends making it look more bendable. If it still looks hard along the boder, select the border layer and use Filter -> Blur -> Tileable Blur... but only on the border image.
On the image he's using now, maybe try just erasing only the orange fog that is behind "Neverwinter" leaving the shadow spark and the rest. Then give "Neverwinter" a very small shadow drop to keep parts of it from blending too much with the shadowspark. That would probably make a desire-able effect similar to what he was looking for?
That still won't give any out of the box feel as there are no edges in the background of my image. Although it would make NW logo a bit clearer.
Only way to do it would be recreate the smoke in a box of width 40-50 pixels (to allow for fade along the edges to be noticeable). But that would make the width too small for the effect of darkness spreading from the center (The darkness rises as a smoke from the center of signature and starts hiding orange color from a beholder who can see orange).
Basically he is saying that the inner border of the border looks hard along the edge. I had a close look after zooming in, and it is because you didn't cut the inner edge properly (were too lazy? ).
Caught! Hehe. It was only a "rough draft" done in haste just to see if I could do. ;-)
Will use your border corner tonight when I get back to my pc..
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade! Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
Yeah - I think I'll stick with the original one. That one changes it too fundamentally for me. Appreciate your continued support!
This can also work as "out of box". It has some elements with straight edges which make a sort of guide to eye for border. Even though this image is also a bit random due to clouds.
Caught! Hehe. It was only a "rough draft" done in haste just to see if I could do. ;-)
Will use your border corner tonight when I get back to my pc..
Your green symbols are not standing out. I would suggest making them glow a little. Its quite easy, just follow these steps and see if you like it:-
Select the layer(Ctrl/cmd+L) containing symbols (lower line). Everything else should be alpha apart from the symbols.
Next, duplicate the layer.
For the new layer, go to Filters->Blur->Gaussian blur, and blur it with 3 in X and Y.
Choose the layer from layer selection menu(Ctrl/cmd+L). Now at top there is a dropdown box named mode. Click on it and choose overlay.
Move the blurred layer just above the original layer containing symbols.
You can also experiment by setting glow layer below original layer and setting it as normal, while choosing original layer as overlay. This will make the glow bleed.
This can also work as "out of box". It has some elements with straight edges which make a sort of guide to eye for border. Even though this image is also a bit random due to clouds.
Man, Gill -- I really like this one. It's just the right mix of colour and mystery! I even love the slogan at the bottom! You've out done yourself. This is now my new signature. I really appreciate your efforts!
Maybe she finally got the Cult of the Dragon to do her bidding?
The blue one looks a bit too fresh for the Cult of the Dragon, but there is a dracolich shown in the second Siege of Neverwinter trailer, so may be...
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade! Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
Comments
Vector images are those that use mathematical equations to code an image. Raster images are the rest, ie those that use single-coloured pixels.
one head side profile b&w
one full body sideprofile b&w
and one head profile full golden
not to mention all the statues
hehe, forget the symbology, here's an avatar b:victory
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
Nice one !
Vector images as vin explained are mathematical form. So when they are scaled, they are still smooth. e.g. A circle is "x^2+y^2 = r^2" If you change its size, you are just changing the values of its radius. Similarly, fog is an effect which is applied on the image each time you scale it, not just changing colors.
So when you increase its size, scale it, it remains "smooth" and "clear".
Raster Images are basically pixels - each pixel storing information of its color. When you scale it, a good algorithm may be able to retain the smoothness by faking pixels around it to have a gradient - but you will soon notice when you zoom that the image is just "boxes".
Even when vector images are just "equations" your "quality" is as limited as your dedication to the image. But this one image can be scaled to any level without any loss of information whatsoever. A vector image created by hand. Another one. Usually people are lazy so they just use svg to create simple icons.
EDIT: svg means scalable vector graphics which just means a vector image.
Nice!, welcome to the new sig club!
And Gillrmn! what a difference from this to my current sig!
Thanks for putting the power of The Gimp in my hands!
One thing I've noticed, my sig tends to be a bit compressed out of focus and smaller than a lot of others. What size canvas are you using or is there a compression trick or something?
J
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
Looks really nice. Such talented graphics people around here!
You know something, Gill? That actually made sense! Not that I want to sped the time to actually be able to do these things, but I now appreciate the differences a lot more. Those pics you linked were amazing!
I'm guessing the reason why your signature is being shrunk here is because you're uploading an image (630x170) that exceeds the limits stated when you are at the upload screen. Try re-sizing it in GIMP first, to fit within 500x150 (or 500x100 if you want a 50px buffer for a line of forum text in your sig), before uploading. Save the image as a new file, so you keep your original to work on if you want, then re-size the copy.
I too, really like the addition of the scimitars.
You've very welcome, glad you liked it!
Thank you. :-) I enjoyed working on that female to make her a drow.
[ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
Not a major change and yet it looks a thousand times better.
(not that the original was bad, that's just so much better)
Thanks Zebular! Finally got the resolution problem and the size of the sig fixed! I am learning SO much about electronic artwork! My signature has evolved SO much! How did you make the frame surrounding Truth's and Ambi's sigs? My "border" function does not make a border like that.
Thanks Ambisinisterr! With all the good looking sigs around, I am trying to just keep up! I got the idea from your guys "floating" Neverwinter names on your sigs.
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
Your signature is really nice! You truly have done an amazing job on it!
The borders I made were actually used from the web borders here on the forums. I saved each piece then opened them up, cropped bits apart and then pasted them all together and re-sized them, not necessarily in that order. For the colors I just adjusted their hues, saturation and brightness until they matched the color tone I was going for or trying to match.
To get things like the drow's head, wizards staff and hand and dragon wings and head above the border, I copied those portions then pasted them each as a new layer, resting above the borders. This allowed me to apply a black glow to the borders on Bubba's and Truth's that faded the main images while allowing the overlaying pieces to pop out without being shaded by the border's black glow. If I were to have simply cropped out those parts of the border, when applying a glow effect, it would have still shaded those parts I wanted to pop out. When applying that effect to Ambi's however, it just didn't look as good to me and detracted from the scenery and made the red seem brighter than it was and what I wanted, so I didn't use that effect on his.
[ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
Hey Gil. Not to be a copy cat, but it *does* look nice having the Neverwinter highlighted outside the signature ("floating, as Jade so aptly puts it). Do you think you could "float"Neverwinter on mine, but maybe put it underneath so that it's different than all the rest?
Thanks
If you want things outside border, applying fog effect to the image would be moot. It would rather be better as something like this.
Yeah - I think I'll stick with the original one. That one changes it too fundamentally for me. Appreciate your continued support!
I can see it now! As Sherlock Holmes would probably say, "I looked at it before but did not truly see it until now!"
Hehe, this I was able to figure out on my own! The effect is subtle on my sig for now but the head is popping out over the fuzzy border while the waist is below the fuzzy border. Should be more dramatic once I add a better border.
What do you think? No border like below or border?
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
I kinda like it better with no border, between the two. :-)
However, it looks like the green glow effect is too solid and doesn't have any softness to it to make it blend into the image better. I think it would look a lot better with maybe a 3-6 halo offset and a softness of say 8-12. Maybe try ranges between 65%-90% opacity as well. I don't have GIMP installed and haven't used it in a while, so I am not sure if these are the same terms GIMP uses, let me know if this is confusing, hehe.
[ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
On the image he's using now, maybe try just erasing only the orange fog that is behind "Neverwinter" leaving the shadow spark and the rest. Then give "Neverwinter" a very small shadow drop to keep parts of it from blending too much with the shadowspark. That would probably make a desire-able effect similar to what he was looking for?
[ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
Very confusing as those aren't the terms I am familiar with Gimp. Which program do you use, it begs to be asked? As for the border, I will take the path of least work/laziness and just leave it as is with fuzzy fade to black.
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
Basically he is saying that the inner border of the border looks hard along the edge. I had a close look after zooming in, and it is because you didn't cut the inner edge properly (were too lazy?
The solution he suggests is to make inside of inner border fuzzy so it blends to alpha.
Better solution is to select the dark line of inner color and delete it in border layer.
Try using this. It is smudged at the ends making it look more bendable. If it still looks hard along the boder, select the border layer and use Filter -> Blur -> Tileable Blur... but only on the border image.
That still won't give any out of the box feel as there are no edges in the background of my image. Although it would make NW logo a bit clearer.
Only way to do it would be recreate the smoke in a box of width 40-50 pixels (to allow for fade along the edges to be noticeable). But that would make the width too small for the effect of darkness spreading from the center (The darkness rises as a smoke from the center of signature and starts hiding orange color from a beholder who can see orange).
Caught! Hehe. It was only a "rough draft" done in haste just to see if I could do. ;-)
Will use your border corner tonight when I get back to my pc..
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
This can also work as "out of box". It has some elements with straight edges which make a sort of guide to eye for border. Even though this image is also a bit random due to clouds.
Select the layer(Ctrl/cmd+L) containing symbols (lower line). Everything else should be alpha apart from the symbols.
Next, duplicate the layer.
For the new layer, go to Filters->Blur->Gaussian blur, and blur it with 3 in X and Y.
Choose the layer from layer selection menu(Ctrl/cmd+L). Now at top there is a dropdown box named mode. Click on it and choose overlay.
Move the blurred layer just above the original layer containing symbols.
You can also experiment by setting glow layer below original layer and setting it as normal, while choosing original layer as overlay. This will make the glow bleed.
Man, Gill -- I really like this one. It's just the right mix of colour and mystery! I even love the slogan at the bottom! You've out done yourself. This is now my new signature. I really appreciate your efforts!
I completely missed that. Nice touch. By the way, is that Valindra Shadowmantle at : of the video?
Maybe she finally got the Cult of the Dragon to do her bidding?
The blue one looks a bit too fresh for the Cult of the Dragon, but there is a dracolich shown in the second Siege of Neverwinter trailer, so may be...
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |