CmarNYC
23rd Jan 2011, 02:44 AM
I've added a Convert function to Tattooinator, and a quickie tutorial may be helpful to people using it. Here it is.
What this tutorial will do:
Show you how to convert an image using Tattooinator using three example images.
Show you what kind of results you can expect and suggest a couple of ways to improve them.
What it will not do:
Teach you how to use a graphics program.
Tools: I'm going to be using GIMP for image editing, but it's the same process if you're using Photoshop or anything else that can make .dds files.
Let's get started. First, I'm going to use a line drawing and add some color to it. I found a nice drawing of a tiger, pasted it into GIMP, and resized it.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Tiger1.jpg
Now to prepare the image. The background may look pure white, but in the pasted image it's probably a slightly off-white. We need either pure white or pure black for the background, the part of the image that will be transparent and have the sim's skin showing through. So first, use the fill tool and fill the background with white just to make sure. If necessary raise the threshold a little to get all the white areas really white. Then save as a .dds image with no compression.
IMPORTANT - save your image with NO compression. Mipmaps or not doesn't matter, but don't compress or the blacks and whites won't be pure anymore and the conversion won't work.
This would make a pretty nice tattoo just like this - lines with the sim's skin showing where the white is. Let's do that first. Run Tattooinator and click the Convert / Convert Image menu option. Select the image you just made. In the conversion options, select to 'Copy black to R channel'. 'Make pure white transparent' and 'blank alpha' should be selected. Click Convert Image and give your new image a name.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Tiger2.jpg
Now click to preview. The drawing should show as red lines over the background color. You can change the presets by making the R channel black and whatever other colors you like, enable only the R channel for recoloring, and make your tattoo.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Tiger3.jpg
Now let's try the same drawing with some color added. Use the fill tool again to fill the inside of the tiger with red. Again you may have to fiddle with the threshold to minimize the border you'll get between the red and the black lines. Just for fun, let's also color the claws green and the eye blue.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Tiger4.jpg
Now use Tattooinator Convert again, this time with 'Copy black to Red' unchecked, and with options 'Make pure white transparent' and 'Copy black to Alpha' chosen. After changing the preset to make the R channel orange, the G channel red, and the B channel yellow, this is the converted result. Make your tattoo with the R, G, and B channels enabled. Leave the A channel not enabled so the black lines will not be recolorable.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Tiger5.jpg
Okay, now let's try a more complex image. This one has a black background, and the first thing we do after pasting and resizing it is to again use the fill tool to make sure the background really is pure black. Then I'll increase the contrast because tattoos don't do subtle very well.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Fed1.jpg
Run Tattooinator convert, and this time the options should be 'Make pure black transparent' and 'Copy white to Alpha'. The presets should be the default shades of red, green, and blue. Note that the preset alpha will change to white. You can see it's not a completely accurate conversion. Depending on your image, the default preset 2 or 3 may look better than 1. You can play with the presets to find the best results, and you can change the order of the presets using the crossed arrow icons between them. Again, make the tattoo with R, G, and B enabled.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Fed2.jpg
And last, we'll convert the Mona Lisa. :) This would make a terrible tattoo but let's see what we get, as an example of converting a photographic image. After pasting and resizing, I filled the areas above and below the pasted image with black, but left the very dark background of the painting itself alone.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Mona1.jpg
The convert options should be 'Make pure black transparent' and 'Copy black to Alpha'. (Only pure black will be transparent - shades of gray will be transferred to the alpha channel.) Here's the result - in this case preset 1 looks greenish, preset 2 looks pale, and preset 3 looks black and white. Again, playing with the presets may improve the appearance.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Mona2.jpg
Important notes:
Blended colors don't generally come out well in a tattoo because of the way the game layers the color channels. Convert will do best with images that consist of pure white, black, red, green, and blue. You may or may not be able to get a usable result from a photo or a drawing with a lot of colors. You also may be able to improve the appearance by editing the converted image, but that's beyond the scope of this tutorial.
When making a final tattoo, you should first open the converted image in your image editor of choice and save it with compression to save space. DXT5 is the best choice, especially if anything has been converted to the alpha channel.
Oh, and Tattooinator will now accept any image size up to 1024 x 1024, as long as it's square. Frankly I don't think a larger image gives any better results, but 1024 x 1024 may be useful for whole body or whole face tattoos.
What this tutorial will do:
Show you how to convert an image using Tattooinator using three example images.
Show you what kind of results you can expect and suggest a couple of ways to improve them.
What it will not do:
Teach you how to use a graphics program.
Tools: I'm going to be using GIMP for image editing, but it's the same process if you're using Photoshop or anything else that can make .dds files.
Let's get started. First, I'm going to use a line drawing and add some color to it. I found a nice drawing of a tiger, pasted it into GIMP, and resized it.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Tiger1.jpg
Now to prepare the image. The background may look pure white, but in the pasted image it's probably a slightly off-white. We need either pure white or pure black for the background, the part of the image that will be transparent and have the sim's skin showing through. So first, use the fill tool and fill the background with white just to make sure. If necessary raise the threshold a little to get all the white areas really white. Then save as a .dds image with no compression.
IMPORTANT - save your image with NO compression. Mipmaps or not doesn't matter, but don't compress or the blacks and whites won't be pure anymore and the conversion won't work.
This would make a pretty nice tattoo just like this - lines with the sim's skin showing where the white is. Let's do that first. Run Tattooinator and click the Convert / Convert Image menu option. Select the image you just made. In the conversion options, select to 'Copy black to R channel'. 'Make pure white transparent' and 'blank alpha' should be selected. Click Convert Image and give your new image a name.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Tiger2.jpg
Now click to preview. The drawing should show as red lines over the background color. You can change the presets by making the R channel black and whatever other colors you like, enable only the R channel for recoloring, and make your tattoo.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Tiger3.jpg
Now let's try the same drawing with some color added. Use the fill tool again to fill the inside of the tiger with red. Again you may have to fiddle with the threshold to minimize the border you'll get between the red and the black lines. Just for fun, let's also color the claws green and the eye blue.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Tiger4.jpg
Now use Tattooinator Convert again, this time with 'Copy black to Red' unchecked, and with options 'Make pure white transparent' and 'Copy black to Alpha' chosen. After changing the preset to make the R channel orange, the G channel red, and the B channel yellow, this is the converted result. Make your tattoo with the R, G, and B channels enabled. Leave the A channel not enabled so the black lines will not be recolorable.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Tiger5.jpg
Okay, now let's try a more complex image. This one has a black background, and the first thing we do after pasting and resizing it is to again use the fill tool to make sure the background really is pure black. Then I'll increase the contrast because tattoos don't do subtle very well.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Fed1.jpg
Run Tattooinator convert, and this time the options should be 'Make pure black transparent' and 'Copy white to Alpha'. The presets should be the default shades of red, green, and blue. Note that the preset alpha will change to white. You can see it's not a completely accurate conversion. Depending on your image, the default preset 2 or 3 may look better than 1. You can play with the presets to find the best results, and you can change the order of the presets using the crossed arrow icons between them. Again, make the tattoo with R, G, and B enabled.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Fed2.jpg
And last, we'll convert the Mona Lisa. :) This would make a terrible tattoo but let's see what we get, as an example of converting a photographic image. After pasting and resizing, I filled the areas above and below the pasted image with black, but left the very dark background of the painting itself alone.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Mona1.jpg
The convert options should be 'Make pure black transparent' and 'Copy black to Alpha'. (Only pure black will be transparent - shades of gray will be transferred to the alpha channel.) Here's the result - in this case preset 1 looks greenish, preset 2 looks pale, and preset 3 looks black and white. Again, playing with the presets may improve the appearance.
http://www.timelinefiction.net/S3Tutorials/TattooConvertTut/Mona2.jpg
Important notes:
Blended colors don't generally come out well in a tattoo because of the way the game layers the color channels. Convert will do best with images that consist of pure white, black, red, green, and blue. You may or may not be able to get a usable result from a photo or a drawing with a lot of colors. You also may be able to improve the appearance by editing the converted image, but that's beyond the scope of this tutorial.
When making a final tattoo, you should first open the converted image in your image editor of choice and save it with compression to save space. DXT5 is the best choice, especially if anything has been converted to the alpha channel.
Oh, and Tattooinator will now accept any image size up to 1024 x 1024, as long as it's square. Frankly I don't think a larger image gives any better results, but 1024 x 1024 may be useful for whole body or whole face tattoos.