Making WC DVD-case covers (1. try)

THE_WUQKED

Spaceman
I hope this is the right section. :)
I finally started to create Covers for DVD-Boxes where I'll put in my Wing Commander games. Although I haven't played Privateer yet, that was the first one I started with. Nope, it's not a REAL DIY, just copying and pasting stuff together - Front is from WCnews wallpaper, back from my Privateer CD case and rest from Battlefiled 1942 DVD-Cover. I know it looks very noobish, but hey, everyone once started, right? ;)
I also excues myself for the extrem bad quality, the original is much bigger and sharper - infcat it's way to big for my Modem to upload it :( - And you can see the main things anyway ;)

If you are wondering why I put the EA Logo at the front, covering some parts of the Privateer cover, that is cause other wise the image would be stretched too much. I also don't know what font to use to for the writing on the case side.
But now start posting your opinion about it. :)

Oh, btw, for making this I used the cheapy iPhotoPlus 4, that once came with my first Scanner - only programm besides paint (brush) I know how to ^^^
And one other question: Do you know any good tool to make images smaller, but still looking great? I use ACDSee, but that sometimes disturbs quality too much when making files too small - Or I'm simply too stupid to use it correctly.

P.S.: @admins/mods: If I'm not allowed to upload such combined pic stuff, plz delete thread at once and tell me. - I'm not sure if this is allowed, so sorry, if it's not
 

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For me the cover looks quite good...never made any DVD Covers...just a CD cover for our Mod
cdfront.jpg


cdback.jpg


The text is not correct anymore..but you get the idea ^_^



About your problem...how many DPI do you use? Mostly for printing you use 300dpi thats provides quite good printing quality, but when showing stuff in the internet 72-75dpi is quite enough and just use jpg instead of what ever format you used to create your cover.
Mostly that is enough to reduce the size of the cover.
 
Thx for the feedback :)
Nice CD-Cover, gevatter Lars - The front looks really cool :cool:
About your problem...how many DPI do you use? Mostly for printing you use 300dpi thats provides quite good printing quality, but when showing stuff in the internet 72-75dpi is quite enough and just use jpg instead of what ever format you used to create your cover.
Mostly that is enough to reduce the size of the cover.
I used 300dpi for scanning it and working with it :D (600 dpi would be a too huge file and the privateer Image I used is only 640x480, so wouldn't look better after stretching anway. But cause it's a DVD Cover it's even bigger than CD-covers in BMP
But can't use JPG for working, cause the iPhotoPlus JPG quality is very bad (at least my version) and don't bother size anyway - if it's under 200MB or so ;) But my problem was, that I had to resize the image to get it under 100KB for Inet upload and it already lost quite lot of its quality there, and then I had to use 55% jpg Kompression (setting in ACDSee). And I thought there was a better way to get smaller jpg files with better quality - With 100% quality it was still 1.3MB, only 300k smaller than BMP. No idea how many DPI, though.
can you made a DVD cover for Wing Commander 4 Double SIde DVD edition
Hehe, guess what is one of the games on the to do list ;) I want to try to make covers for my:
-WC Kilrathi Saga
-WC 1&2 CD
-WC III DOS Version
-WC 4 DOS Version
-WC 4 DVD (double sided)
-WC Prophecy
-WC Secret Ops
-WC Aramada
and WC Privateer, which I already started with. But there are some problems I'm having, though:
1. I don't have my WC Prophecy BOX anymore (both, bought it twice, long story), so can't scan it in
2. I've got WC3 EA Classic Version only, which has got a "not so nice" Box
3. My WC1&2 CD Box also doesn't look that good, but guess it's an OK.
 
you should use TIFs for lossless compression.
What's iPhotoPlus anyway? it sounds like something included with scanners.

Edit: hehe...I just read your original post. I guess it is included with scanners.
 
Edit: hehe...I just read your original post. I guess it is included with scanners.
:D Sometimes it also comes with a PC or printer ;) - My main problem is, I just seem to be unable to get used to those proggies like CorelDraw and Adobe Photoshop, although I have got both (CorelDraw 8 once came with my father's PC, so LE only, I guess). Till now I only use it for color converting stuff (if I need 256 color only, for example, or when i make gifs)
Oh, opne more question: How can I get so cool looking colored fonts, like gevatter Lars made them? - That's one part where iPhotoPlus is lagging, and as I said I'm just trying to start with Adobe or Corel.
And thx for the TIF tip, I'll try that out next time ;)
 
P.S.: @admins/mods: If I'm not allowed to upload such combined pic stuff, plz delete thread at once and tell me. - I'm not sure if this is allowed, so sorry, if it's not

It's no problem, you're welcome to post things like this.
 
Amazing, you have exactly the same version of priv I have - the european budget one, in a double size cd jewel box. Neat.

Tips for working on this stuff:
-Use Photoshop to work on bitmapped images (even if in formats different from bmp), that includes jpgs, gif, pngs etc.

-Fireworks is also great, and very easy to get (used to be a full featured demo on macromedia's site) - although it's web focused.

-Both programs are great for resizing - remember, sizing a picture down is easy, making it bigger is the complicated part.

-Corel/Illustrator/Freehand are better when you want to create the layout, positioning the different picture and texts.

Ask me more about specific functions, like how to make a decent jpg file using photoshop.

-The Saga box looks great, but the bumpy/shiny/shady text effects are not really necessary - even more when you consider they don't look half as "cool" when printed. It is always better to avoid them, like the dreaded <blink> tag in html.

Personally, apart from the technical issues with above mentioned effects, I find them not good looking, and I think the already beatiful design will look even better without them.

The grey-almost-white confed logo is really nice, though.

All in all, great jobs, you two.
 
P.S.: @admins/mods: If I'm not allowed to upload such combined pic stuff, plz delete thread at once and tell me. - I'm not sure if this is allowed, so sorry, if it's not


It's no problem, you're welcome to post things like this.

Thx for making this clear :)

I have tried out TIF yesterday and I mus say WOW! - Nearly no quality loss (even less than jpg with no compression) and the image is still smaller than jpg! (bmp:~20MB, jpg: ~10MB, TIF: ~3.2MB) I haven't resized them yet. I'll try to fiddle around some more with Photoshop, cause I have got that one already anyway. Thx for all the info, Edfilho and be prepared to get some newbish questions this weekend ;)
 
This is a scan of a printed version of the cover
Coverscan.jpg

My printer isn't the best, but still it looks quite good if you ask me.

About sizeing the pics...my original cover is in psd format and about 16,9MB
the jpg file is just 238,4KB.
So for doing good quality graphik things I would recommend Adobe Photoshop.
From the progs I know one of the best...not very cheap but good.

About the fonr I used..search with google for free font pages...there are some in the net...don't know where I got my from.
 
About the fonr I used..search with google for free font pages...there are some in the net...don't know where I got my from.
I found the font itself at wcnews files section. - But my problem is I don't know how to make it colored in such a way / similar way :( But the printing appearance should depend on the printer, I'd guess. They are getting better and better anyway ;)
To the size stuff: Is that ~200kb with lower DPI/resolution? Cause I haven't resized mine for converting to TIF, which looks nearly 100% the same as the bmp and I also didn't fiddle around with the settings that much. So TIF could get much smaller I guess. But I'll also try out Adobe for resizing (as I said, already have it, v. 6.0 if I remember right. No idea what's the latest). Maybe I'll start testing it a bit more tomorrow.

P.S.: Hmm, the cover-pic you uploaded is 400KB and the last one ~150kb. So which one were you refering to by 238,4KB? The back? Ah, doesn't matter anyway. My TIF file was still over 3kx3k res and so far away from 800x800...

EDIT: Just retried TIF format with resized pic @ ~1600x1200 and size now is ~850kb. But cause iPhotoShop isn't that good for resizing it still lost some sharpness. Anyway looks way better than any pure jpg I tried - yet.
 
Ok, I have created my Armada DVD cover yesterday (can't upload it, no internet at the moment :( ). This time I used 600dpi and wow, it looks even better :D I'll try out 1200dpi for my next dvd covers. Oh and I also tried adobe photoshop for resizing and saving as jpg, and that one looks as good as tif, about same size. So I'll keep using that one ;)
I'll upload some more covers and privateer beta cover version 2 next weekend, when I've got internet again.
 
thx for the tip. Maybe I'll try out that one, too - when I get my Internet back ;)
And thx for the fonts :D - Although already over 1000 fonts came with my Corel Draw and some more with other proggies etc. :) - My question about the fonts was mainly cause I do not know how to make the colors appear in such a way. Anyway, for my Armada version I didn't need to do so, cause I have got the box and just scaned everything I needed ;)
Another question: does anyone know a link with the WC Prophecy Box Cover in high Res or can amybe scan it in and send it to me? - Cause, as I said, I don't have my Prophecy Boxes anymore :( - Oh, and same goes for my WC3 Box, which doesn't look that good, but that's not that important.
 
As one would type with Microsoft, I guess.

Seriously, though. Layer effects are a terrible way to learn design. I seldom use bevels and dropshadows in my designs. I use them where appropriate, but that is not very often at all. If I want a 3d look, I'll often do it manually or at least challenge myself in some way to make it look how it should and not do the "hey cool! that effect will do!" design approach.

Of course, many may not care about my pedanticism.
 
I normally do such stuff manually myself. But I was unable to get a metallic look with iPhotoPlus (no matter whether for fonts or something else :( ) And that is what I wanted to get. I also try to get 3D font effects with the help of different shadows etc. But now I wanted to get on and so want to know how to get such mettalic effects etc. (similar to your cross avatar, for example). IPhotoPlus only allowed me to go from collor a to color b, and that doesn't looke that well at all :(
 
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