CupidsArt's Card Tutorial

[CupidsArt]

This is a small tuturial to help anyone who may need it..
1. I use Photoshop (6-CS2 I'm sure would work fine with this).
2. I choose the desired General (Ullar, Jandar, Utgar).
3. Find a card with the most amount of background showing.
4. Scan the desired card

Step 1. You may see that the image is a bit grainy. Don't worry a few little filters and that will soon be gone. In the filters menu you may choose what works best for you, but I first BLUR the image. This may sound odd to some.
Step 2. Look for the filter SMART BLUR in the same menu.
These are the levels I use
RADIUS 29
THRESHOLD 27
Quality: LOW
Mode: NORMAL
Step 3: Using the EYE DROPPER tool (looks like the name), select a the color you want to use
Example: I want to get rid of the name, select the green background.
Select your PAINT BRUSH and begin to paint over the undesired area.
If you don't like how hard the brush paints you can change the opacity and/or flow. I cover over anything I don't want, the image area is a little tricky, but with some patience and creativity you can do it.
Step4. Find the desired image of the figure you would like to use, import it or past it to a new layer. Personal photo or image on the net. You can use steps 1-3 to help the image become more attractive, Shrinking or Enlarging it here needed. Lastly fading the bottom, be careful, you don't want to get rid of any needed elements.
Step 5. Placing your text, this can become exasporating if you get too imatient, that is why I do my text in a seperate program and export it as a TIFF or JPEG. I also try to use fonts close to the actual cards, Arial Narrow and Swiss 729 work well for me. You can even use Helvetica, Incised, anything you like. I like my text area clean and simple, adding things such as background or color can be great, it's your card, but I feel it is better for the reader that that area is clean.
Step 6. After placing your text creating an image, painting/cloning out all unwanted elements, you may then flatten your layers and print your card.

I like to work in high resolution, tweak colors here and there. Another fun tool is VARIATIONS (image/adjustments/variations), I use it on occasion, if the look of the card is too dull or a little bland this can help.

http://www.heroscapehq.com/uploads/forums/tut_link.jpg

[Doc_Savage]

After reading this advice on HQ I have been using the photoshop smart blur and I can say it works great!

[Alastair MacDirk]

What about the HS toolbox? Can't you use that to make custom cards too?

[CupidsArt]

What about the HS toolbox? Can't you use that to make custom cards too?

Yes but I made this tuturial for Photoshop. I've never used Toolkit, if I ever do I'll more than likely make a tuturial for that.

Keep your eyes open I do have plans for more tutorials in the future.

[SyvarrisX]

I have got photoshop. I have found that I like using card templates, are those over here yet?

[ph1zh]

I've noticed that some cards need to be re-sized. What size works best?

[jcb231]

How would you suggest using the templates and HCC together to make something decent looking?

[shakey_snake]

I've noticed that some cards need to be re-sized. What size works best? Well, that depends on how many dpsi you're going to print at.

[hextr1p]

I've noticed that some cards need to be re-sized. What size works best? Well, that depends on how many dpsi you're going to print at.
What would work to get as close a size as possible to the official cards is this:

1. Measure an official card's length and height.

2. Set-up a new image file using these measurements. You'll want to set your image resolution to 150-300. Go no lower than 150.

3. Take the image file of the card that needs to be resized and drag a flattened copy into the newly created image file.

4. Adjust the size of the layer of the card image to fit the canvas, and voila.

Note that the quality of the final printed image may vary depending on the resolution of the original image.

[shakey_snake]

and make sure that you crop the image to a pixle perfect size otherwise the card will be slightly smaller.

[CupidsArt]

I've noticed that some cards need to be re-sized. What size works best?


i like to work at 8 inches and 400 dpi, afterwards I make a new file and size it down to 7 inches at 100 dpi. 7 inches at 72 to 100 dpi is around the best size for a forum, this way you don't tick people off because the image takes 20 minutes to load.

Any of the cards I print out I keep larger than actual HS size and put them in a menilla folder at home. The only reason I keep them bigger is due to the fact that I'm too lazy to by the right paper stock to fit them on, :D

[DoesntCompute]

Basic Photoshop question here...

Whenever I print 8x10s they come out looking sharp as can be but whenever I try to print smaller photos (or HS cards) I get massive blur. What am I doing wrong in Photoshop.

[robaula]

Great tutorial! I find GIMP the easiest thing for me to use at the moment. Have you tried that one?

[Malechi]

Basic Photoshop question here...

Whenever I print 8x10s they come out looking sharp as can be but whenever I try to print smaller photos (or HS cards) I get massive blur. What am I doing wrong in Photoshop.

With the available facts you have given, it sounds as though you are allowing the printer preferences to adjust the print size instead of using photoshop to resize the image. More facts of exactly what you are doing and what is occurring would help.


• ARMY CARD CREATION 'MASTER CLASS' TIP •
As for working with Photoshop for Army Card creation I did not see Cupid's Art mention, color. Before saving the final image for print a good thing to remember is to save the file as CMYK rather than RBG [Image->Mode->CMYK Color]. The reason for this is although the image will look fantastic as RBG while on your computer when printed the colors will be ... wrong.

Here is the reason why this occurs; RBG color is luminous color, I.E., the colors you see right now on your computer screen. In other words light is actually creating the color you see. CMYK color is reflective color, I.E., any printed material. In other words you need an outside light source to see the color. The two modes require different color components to create the colors you see.

[srmalloy]

• ARMY CARD CREATION 'MASTER CLASS' TIP •
As for working with Photoshop for Army Card creation I did not see Cupid's Art mention, color. Before saving the final image for print a good thing to remember is to save the file as CMYK rather than RBG [Image->Mode->CMYK Color]. The reason for this is although the image will look fantastic as RBG while on your computer when printed the colors will be ... wrong.

Here is the reason why this occurs; RBG color is luminous color, I.E., the colors you see right now on your computer screen. In other words light is actually creating the color you see. CMYK color is reflective color, I.E., any printed material. In other words you need an outside light source to see the color. The two modes require different color components to create the colors you see.
The only time that this is going to make a significant difference is if you are sending your images out to be professionally printed. The driver software for color printers incorporates the logic for converting additive color (RGB) to subtractive color (CMYK); there may be some issues with the color displayed on the screen not being the same as the color printed on the paper, but that is more often a case of the display not being calibrated correctly for its color gamut. Additionally, the color range for monitors, LCD displays, and color printers are generally different, which makes calibration of the display more crucial in having the displayed image match the printed image.

[CupidsArt]

• ARMY CARD CREATION 'MASTER CLASS' TIP •
As for working with Photoshop for Army Card creation I did not see Cupid's Art mention, color. Before saving the final image for print a good thing to remember is to save the file as CMYK rather than RBG [Image->Mode->CMYK Color]. The reason for this is although the image will look fantastic as RBG while on your computer when printed the colors will be ... wrong.

Here is the reason why this occurs; RBG color is luminous color, I.E., the colors you see right now on your computer screen. In other words light is actually creating the color you see. CMYK color is reflective color, I.E., any printed material. In other words you need an outside light source to see the color. The two modes require different color components to create the colors you see.

If I expected any of the members to be sending there stuff to a production dept. then I may have mentioned it. As it sets my little diddle here is just a basic, I don't think many of the members here will care if the cyan in their image looks 55 on the screen and prints 59. :)

However if you would feel better I can icorporate it into my tutorial, :)

[whitedog45]

Thanks ! :P This was very informative. Walrusmen here I come

[turkeye]

About the hitzones on custom cards, do i have to use paint and cover the whole picture in red? And is there any way to make the cards without downloading anything? also, were can i get mini figs, and hs bases?
:poke: :?:

[Taelord]

Is there anyway I can get Photoshop without paying upwards of $100? anyone able to burn a copy or is that not possible?

[Einar Gen.]

Question! I'm not the best with computers, so... Does having Photo impression 6 make a difference?...

[whitestuff]

:reaper:

whoa... this is an old one...

As for Photoimpression, I don't think it supports layers which will make your job much more difficult. You might be best served by using the GIMP (which is free & supports layers).