Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 4:16 pm Post subject:
Cameos get Blurry + Destroyed with Custom Picture
Everyone knows that cameo from Ra2/YR/TS .. etc all have the same 60x48 pixels WxH. As i was trying to make my new cameos with internet pictures (they are usually super large compares to the size of cameos)
The Pictures i have was 1000x650 pixels, then i used variaties of photoshop program to resize it to 60x48 pixels but they all ended up collapsing and the picture was extremely blur and kind of destroyed to small grid.
Meanwhile, original cameo from ra2 and alot of cameos i saw from the internet or other forum they all have great quality and all smooth, detailed, and attractive.
The RA2 cameos are designed to work with in the limited cameo colour palette, trying to use images with lots of colours not included within the pal will result in a blurry mess. You can get around this by using Ares & PCX cameos with custom palettes.
Secondly the base image you have chosen is a blue tank on blue snow with a blue sky. For the best results use images with different contrasting elements, which will help keep the details more defined when downsizing the image. _________________
The result you get depends on how you resample the image when resizing.
In the attachments, I've shown the result of several techniques in photoshop at 1x and 5x magnification. From top left, going right:
1. resampled using bilinear interpolation.
2. resampled using "bicubic sharper" interpolation. This is the default setting for downsizing in modern version of photoshop.
3. resampled using "bicubic" interpolation.
4. resampled using bilinear interpolation, then sharpened once.
5. downscaled in "steps" using bilinear interpolation. The image was sharpened one step before the last.
6. resampled using "nearest neighbor" interpolation setting.
Basically, the best technique depends on exactly how much detail you want. For my cameos, I use #4 and #5 (bottom row, left and middle), depending on how big the original image is.
You guys are right "technically" but not artistically.
The problem with the cameo is not that it destroys the image, but that you need to accentuate lights and darks, use colour separation to create boundaries etc. You can't go in expecting any fidelity with such a loss of pixel data, so you have to creatively add contrast that isn't merely about sharpness.
So using your example Tiger, this means getting rid of the smoke for a pure blue sky, you can add some lightness in the form of white clouds, this will separate the unit from the sky by colour. Then You can lighten the frontal plates of the tank to simulate a harsher lighting separation from the darkness of the side.
You may want to remove the track stowage on the front lower plate because it adds too much detail to an area that needs to look different from the tracks beside it. Optionally you need to add a highlight line on the side panels top edge, the light (or medium tone let's say) line will help the body separate from the turret where both are almost equally dark.
What I recommend is doing what I mentioned, but scaling the image down in two stages, do the large edits first, resize to 300px wide, you can unsharp mask a bit at this point. Only then will you be able to see where you need to remove detail or add highlights for the final shrink.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
Cameos get Blurry + Destroyed with Custom Picture
