Logos / Signatures and such..

Quote by Halish

Great job, Justjon. It looks great!

When I try to use screenshots in my animated gifs they go grainy as well. If you work out a way to fix that, let me know pleaaase!

I will continue to look but my assumption would be it will always be grainy as a gif is automatically limited to 256 colors where a normal screen shot has more than that. If I do happen to find a solution I will pass it along though!

Quote by Justjon

I will continue to look but my assumption would be it will always be grainy as a gif is automatically limited to 256 colors where a normal screen shot has more than that. If I do happen to find a solution I will pass it along though!

Quoted for truth.

GIF compression works based on color where JPEG works based on pixel data. GIF will only ever allow 256 colors max, which is what causes the graininess. JPEGs by comparison can reproduce three times that (256 each of red, green, and blue at 8bit) at a minimum, and as many as 65k colors (in 16bit).

The only way that I am aware of to do animation without the limitations of GIFs would be HTML 5 (which I know nothing about) or using a Flash animation. I'm not sure if either would work in our forums though.

Quote by DakonKor

The only way that I am aware of to do animation without the limitations of GIFs would be HTML 5 (which I know nothing about) or using a Flash animation. I'm not sure if either would work in our forums though.

Only one way to find out! I'll give it a go and see what I find out.

I am having a very hard time capturing a screen shot. Print screen just creats a black box when I hit it. Anyone have a tip for me to help me get my character's picture?

-Kevin ~ Captain Xal Starlighter

:woohoo: WOW!!!!!!!!!! :woohoo: VERY impressive guys! What program/online service do you use to create a signature? I've used an online service for WOW, but don't know if the same one will also create SWTOR signatures as well. I'll go check that one out again then I have to figure out how to save it to our forums. :unsure: I, unfortunately, know absolutely nothing about this kind of cool stuff. Someday, I hope..........

Kevin,

Not sure why you are getting a black box.

That said, I tried a few methods to get the best possible shot of my character.

Right now there are two models used in game a high-resolution model/texture in cut scenes for detail (because what is drawn can be controlled), and a lower resolution one for general game play.

I personally believe (thought I could be wrong) the character select screen uses the high-resolution versions and provide a good framing for a bust shot. If you have Picasa (if you don't, you can get it free at picasa.google.com), simply open up Picasa then alt-tab back to SW:TOR. When you hit "Print Screen" Picasa will generate its own screenshot (SW:TOR does not recognize the Print Screen button at the character select screen).

Because of the looping animation, you should find a few "poses" that convey the right 'look' you want your character to have. As that pose approaches spam the Print Screen key a few times. This will give you a good selection of images to narrow down to the one you like best.

Once you have that, anyone with intermediate skill in Photoshop should be able to remove the background around your character.

Well... that's what I wound up doing anyway and am quite pleased with the character shot I was able to get using this method.

Thanks. I will try that tonight, or when my charater finds some better clothers to wear. LoL. We can't all be studly troopers with great armor.

-Kevin ~ Captain Xal Starlighter

Thanks. I will try that tonight, or when my character finds some better clothers to wear. LoL. We can't all be studly troopers with great armor.

-Kevin ~ Captain Xal Starlighter

Just whatever you do, don't ask him how long it took to get looking that good in the armor! It hasn't been easy for him.

I can only imagine. I was using the same jacket I got on my starter world. Smuggler gear sucks until level 50 I am assuming. I saw some PVP styled gear I like.

Just one other thought. Like the real world, the best portraits can really only be achieved by a third party. Get someone who has a good photographic eye (or at least a basic understanding of photo composition) to take the pictures for you. Especially if you have a specific scene you'd like to be part of the image. Maybe your betrothed?

Worst case scenario, I can help you get a shot. If you can't get the character creator working (to get the high-res models) for you (still getting the black screens) we can team up and use the opening cinematic of a Heroic quest to get some screenies of your high-res model. I make this offer to my own hubby as well (who would be giving me the stink-eye if I didn't ;-) ).

Thank you so much for the link to a signature generator! I am totally impressed with what you ALL have designed but know nothing about this cool stuff. I am still trying to figure out how to post a video....lol

Quote by SorenStarkiller

I am having a very hard time capturing a screen shot. Print screen just creats a black box when I hit it.

You need to change to 'windowed mode'. In the settings there are two switches dealing with this. You need to change one of them. Print screen doesn't work in dialog mode.

Also if you have the "Paint" program on your computer, after you've hit PRTSC you can paste it into that program and save it. But it's probably easier to do it Nniicc's way.