[UPDATE 03.06, 06:00 KST] I've managed to turn off photobucket's auto-resizing, and reuploaded the pictures, I've added a "full resolution" link to all of them in the spoilers, please check them out, they are a lot nicer, my whole point was keeping the detail but raising the resolution. ***
A while ago there was a thread where someone made a screenshot of an entire map (Blue Storm) with lots of nice battles going on at once. I've found it pretty cool, and I immediately decided to try something similar (taking screenshots of a replay, then assembling them, I just didnt do a full map, only 9 screenfuls or area). I also posted the results in the thread, but nobody seemed to care
Anyway, I enjoyed doing it -and the results-, so I've made some other screenshots like that since, and I thought I'd make a blog about it, maybe someone is interested.
The thing is, imho Starcraft has very nice graphics, its just that the resolution is considered very low by now. The reasons why I decided to do just some screens instead of a whole map is because you can see more of the nice detail this way, and its also a lot easier to make
(edit: note that you can view the full resolutions by copying the adress of the pictures and opening them in a new tab/page) (edit2: seems like I'm unable to get the original high resolution pictures from photobucket. Am I the only one having problems with this? Maybe I should use some other method for uploading them or an other hosting site? let me know.) My first try, a battle between Reach and Flash in the middle of BlueStorm:+ Show Spoiler +
Let me know what you think, any feedback is appreciated as long as its mannered I certainly plan on making more like these -regardless of the feedback here-, but if you liked it, I'd like it if you'd let me know Also, feel free to suggest moments in replays worthy of "snapshotting" like this, be it some battle, some surround, impending flank, or just some hugeass base, whatever
On June 02 2009 03:51 Lq_ fAn wrote: never heard of resoliution hack?
I did hear about it, though, never tried it, as I've heard its very buggy yet. I know I could be sparing myself some work, but actually once i got some practice with it, the only time consuming part is finding / deciding on scenes to capture.
For a previous question (How do I make these): once I'm at a spot in a replay that i like, I take screenshots (printscreen button:-p) with careful horizontal and vertical scrolling, as much as I decide to (until now that was up to 9), then assemble the screenshots with some image editor (I use gimp, but that is irrelevant), and cut it to shape. Or were you asking for even more detail, freelander?
oh man, these are so cool. I'll hafta try my hand at these someday. What kind of settings (or do you do anything special?) to make sure that you stitch them together so seamlessly?
On June 02 2009 05:25 GHOSTCLAW wrote: oh man, these are so cool. I'll hafta try my hand at these someday. What kind of settings (or do you do anything special?) to make sure that you stitch them together so seamlessly?
On June 02 2009 05:25 GHOSTCLAW wrote: oh man, these are so cool. I'll hafta try my hand at these someday. What kind of settings (or do you do anything special?) to make sure that you stitch them together so seamlessly?
I dont really do anything special. some tips from experience: make sure you dont miss out areas (overlap your screenshots, dont forget you lose lots of space on the bottom because of the control panel and its irregular shape around the edges. Also, its almost impossible to go back to an exact frame in a replay, also pretty tedious.), also dont have units selected, because the resource indicators' line is lost then too. (since I'm used to selecting things too in a replay, I select things that are clearly about to die, and then your selection disappears) About stiching them together: do it bottom-up, so you only have to cut the control panels once for precise stiching i just zoom in excessively (400-500% or more), and look for matching pixel patterns. Sounds a bit complicated, but really, once I've got the replay frozen in a good position, i can finish it in like 10 minutes.
(or shall i post a guide with screenshots? I might as well do one during the next one but its really straightforward)
On June 02 2009 05:32 FieryBalrog wrote: Love it. The way you described doing it sounds incredibly painstaking.
Anyone have a link to the screenshot of Blue Storm the OP mentioned?
About the suggestions: I'd love to do a TvZ too, but they are hard to find. I'd love if you could suggest replays. (not progames, or VODs, but actual, downloadable replays.)
Oh dude that's awesome. I'd really like a wallpaper like that but there's nothing that really speaks to me in there. I'd probably like to try making one of one of my own games.
but... this'll probably bust your balls a bit, but there's an automatic function in photoshop which can stitch pictures together like this within a few seconds though t_t
On June 02 2009 06:26 Xeofreestyler wrote: These are really nice
but... this'll probably bust your balls a bit, but there's an automatic function in photoshop which can stitch pictures together like this within a few seconds though t_t
Yeah, actually I was sure there'd be something like that. Still, I like stiching, its kindof fun Anyway, I'd need to cut off the control panels from each one before giving it to some auto-sticher, just almost as much work;) (let me keep this little solace:-p)
onihunter, thats cool, let me know if you get your hands on the replay^^ :-p
On June 02 2009 05:25 GHOSTCLAW wrote: oh man, these are so cool. I'll hafta try my hand at these someday. What kind of settings (or do you do anything special?) to make sure that you stitch them together so seamlessly?
I dont really do anything special. some tips from experience: make sure you dont miss out areas (overlap your screenshots, dont forget you lose lots of space on the bottom because of the control panel and its irregular shape around the edges. Also, its almost impossible to go back to an exact frame in a replay, also pretty tedious.), also dont have units selected, because the resource indicators' line is lost then too. (since I'm used to selecting things too in a replay, I select things that are clearly about to die, and then your selection disappears) About stiching them together: do it bottom-up, so you only have to cut the control panels once for precise stiching i just zoom in excessively (400-500% or more), and look for matching pixel patterns. Sounds a bit complicated, but really, once I've got the replay frozen in a good position, i can finish it in like 10 minutes.
(or shall i post a guide with screenshots? I might as well do one during the next one but its really straightforward)
About the suggestions: I'd love to do a TvZ too, but they are hard to find. I'd love if you could suggest replays. (not progames, or VODs, but actual, downloadable replays.)
Do you use a layer per shot to make sure that you can get it to line up right? what size canvas do you start with? (a guide would be nice - it would also be eligible for the guide contest ^^)
On June 02 2009 06:19 Pholon wrote: Oh dude that's awesome. I'd really like a wallpaper like that but there's nothing that really speaks to me in there. I'd probably like to try making one of one of my own games.
This game was pretty cute, v fast Carrier by the Protoss on Katrina and me cutting severe SCVs to get Goliaths going. You can see on the minimap they came in from all sides. I won that game os I thought I'd take it for a BG
Man, I've been playing with this. Really really cool, although you're right, finding good replays is pretty hard.
Some tips to make this easier for other people (I use photoshop, you can probably do this in gimp too). Use layers for every pasted screenshot, change the opacity to about 50% so that you can see when they overlap, instead of just looking at the edges. Screenshot the map first (the parts that have no units) so that then you can just layer on top the pieces with the units. Merge the layers after every piece, so that you don't need to keep track of as many.
On June 02 2009 06:19 Pholon wrote: Oh dude that's awesome. I'd really like a wallpaper like that but there's nothing that really speaks to me in there. I'd probably like to try making one of one of my own games.
This game was pretty cute, v fast Carrier by the Protoss on Katrina and me cutting severe SCVs to get Goliaths going. You can see on the minimap they came in from all sides. I won that game os I thought I'd take it for a BG
Thx for inspiring! :D
Snap, I knew someone would come with actual photoshop skills and steal my thunder:-p j/k, nice job, I like it. Especially the way you've left the control panel on, looks cool.
I've updated the OP, turns out photobucket was auto-resizing my pictures when I uploaded them, defeating my whole purpose, to show these pictures with the original detail, just higher resolution. Anyway, I've found where i can turn it off, and I've reuploaded all the pictures, and I've added links like this one:
This is pure awesomeness. If you're taking requests, some ZvT action would be greatly appreciated. Also, some TL.Attack / TSL reps might be screenshottable. For example, Drieven vs Mondragon had some great games.
On June 04 2009 08:40 riptide wrote: This is pure awesomeness. If you're taking requests, some ZvT action would be greatly appreciated. Also, some TL.Attack / TSL reps might be screenshottable. For example, Drieven vs Mondragon had some great games.
I already have a nice siege shot from a ret vs Xiaozi game ready, and some PvZ shots on Destination, I'll make a new blogpost about them tomorrow (or should I just update this one? I think I'll go with the new post) sometime. I'll check out TSL replays, I'm definitely looking for more TvZ stuff too. (And some TvT action with BCs preferably, let me know about such replays - if not, I'll have to resort to "rigging", as CM suggested)
EPT
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