I k33l j00 n0w!

[azurite]

Have I mentioned how much of a PAIN IN THE @$$ Photoshop is? Because it is. I love it, but it's a pain in the ass. I hope my Intro to Comp Graphics course will help me solve some of the constant issues I have with the program. To outline:

Today I was working on skins for Dragonfayth. They're primarily based off the bluepurple skin that is offered with eFiction. There's a very nice background (you can see it if you look at DF now) with this cool beveled square thing going on. I tried to mimic it-- gradient overlay, layer overlay... no good. So I decided to try making the background myself.

I started with my gradient-- a nice blend of blues and yellow. Very summery colors, and if I can get DF finished by the end of August, it'll be perfect! Anyway, so I found a pattern that, when used as a Bevel and Emboss Texture Overlay, it looked great! Only problem was these LINES going down the middle... I tried Filter/Offset, but that didn't help any. Blurring, smudging... none of it worked. The problem is that on one side of the image, there are these *shadows* that I can't seem to get rid of. The last row of blocks on the right is not the same as the first row on the left-- which means when I use it as a background, you can see the "seams." Does anyone know how to help? /.\ I'm desperate here...

On the plus side, I'm having success with the icons... I've developed this sort of rainbow-colored set that I might end up using. They're 75x75, and are embossed using a Style that's predefined in PS7. All I'm doing to change the buttons is alter the color, the text (obviously), and the image (again, obviously). Thus far...

• Priest Seto - Alternate Universes - Golden Yellow


• Prince Yugi (you read right) - Alternate Realities - Ocean Blue


• Anzu - Challenges - Pink


• Honda - Continuations - Scarlet


• Haga - Crossovers - Orange/Vermillion


• Jounouchi - Oneshots - Kelly Green


• Mai - Songfics - Violet

There's still Drabbles, MSTs, Multi-Chaptered Fics, Poetry/Songs, and Round Robins to do... so I'm wondering, if I make this entire set, what characters should I use for the remaining categories, and what color should their backgrounds be?

The images I've been using are *.gifs from the various video games that have been released-- mostly Forbidden Memories, but a few from other games (Eternal Duelist Soul, I think). I have Bakura, Dark Yuugi, Yuugi, Teana, Pegasus, Sugoroku (Grandpa), Heishin, Kaiba, Jono, Ryuuzaki (Rex), and Shimon Muran. If anyone wants to donate more, then feel free!

The one thing that's pissing me off in the creation of these icons is this snapping of text thing. If I have a block of text (say 'Realities' at the bottom of the icon) and I change it to say something else (say 'Fanfics') and I want to center it, it keeps snapping back to where it originally was. I turned Snap and Snap To off, so I don't know why it's doing this. It usually takes me about five or six tries to get the text where I want it, all because of these dumb "snaps." Does anyone know what's happening?

...Okay. So I've got it set up so that the category images I've made thus far display for all the categories in every skin. The default skin is bluepurple, and when you first create an account, eFiction is the default skin after logging in. You can change all this good stuff in your account settings.

Though we're still in "broken" mode at this point, I invite all interested authors to set up an account now... and, those interested in helping me moderate (esp. specific categories... see further down), let me know.

I listed all the categories up above, but you can also help me with News, Skins, or other areas of the site that might need the er... more genteel touch than someone like me? If you'd like to apply for a mod-job, let me know which categories you're interested in staffing for.

Yep. So without further adieu, SIGN UP FOR DRAGONFAYTH at http://azurite.incandesce.org/drfa

I know it looks a bit narsty right now, but we're going to fix that soon... ^_^ and by we, I mean YOU AND ME, right? *grin grin*

Comments

[mklutz]

Heh, well I might be able to help you with one thing, but it sounds like you understand eFiction a lot better than I do. (<--having her ass kicked daily by eFiction.) The best way to make a repeating background is to make a file much bigger than you want it to be and then use guides to divide the area into thirds vertically and horizontally. (Just go new guide >> 33% and new guide 66%, easy.) Then make the pattern you want in the center block. From there it's easy enough to copy and drag parts of it around the block to make sure everything lines up. When you think you've got it, crop to the center block and save. Easy!

@_0

[azurite]

I did something a bit like that with the pattern in question... it's just that when I bevel the surface (to get the cool puff-block effect, like in the bluepurple skin background), this shadow appears along the right side of the square, and no matter what I do, I can't get rid of it- even when I change the shadow opacity to 0%. I know there's a way to make seamless backgrounds, but I just don't know how to do it!

[rhapsody-dragon.livejournal.com]

^-^ Those icons look nice. I know if you go to Google and search under each characters name you can get those game pics like one hundred times.

As for the background... Gah, I'd need a visual to see what's going on...

^-^ Hoo! I signed up! I'm not on my own computer so I'll have to go putz around later there... XD

>.> The AU category sounds like a good place - if you'd like I can help mod there. Just give me some info. Otherwise anyplace that I could possibly help is fine. As for 'colors' you still have black and white, even though black technically isn't a color... :P

Background problems

[azurite]

The two backgrounds that I created are these:

and


If you tile them in a webpage editor or something, you'll see what I mean-- there's a distinct mark where you can see when one background tile begins and another ends. I want to make it seamless so you CAN'T tell... but I'm not sure how to go about fixing it.

Re: Background Solutions?

[rhapsody-dragon.livejournal.com]

Try that, it's a bit better. What you need to do is make sure that each rim is exactly the same as the one opposite of it. So the top edge needs to be the same colors and patter as the bottom edge - same with right and left. >.> I couldn't get the exact gradient so this is just a sort of 'example'... You can tamper with it all you want. ^^ Hope this helped.

Re: Background Solutions?

[azurite]

I tried it out in Dreamweaver, and I could still (barely) see some seams. Yesterday I downloaded some new filters and tinkered with them a bit, producing some much nicer results (in terms of shape and stuff). I'm not sure which one to use, so I might screen-cap them all and ask ppl for their opinion.

The gradient I used was one of the defaults in the Color Harmonies 2 set-- I just deleted the greens.

Re: Background Solutions?

[rhapsody-dragon.livejournal.com]

^^; Yes, I know the seams were still there a little bit, I was just trying to demonstrate a point... ^^ Making it longer so that the purples blend together should probably fix it right up.

[atlantian-magic.livejournal.com]

Well, there's always Bakura, who could be given a grey/silver background. Shizuka could be the character for poetry but I don't know what color you would give her. Mako for Round Robin. Marik/Malik for multi-chapters. Isis for Drabbles. Mokuba for MST. Just throwing some ideas out. Instead of Weevil/Haga for crossovers though, why not use Duke/Otogi? We gotta get his cute face in there somewhere... And you can use background colors more than once. Don't limit yourself to single-uses of colors.

Whoo hoo!

[azurite]

Okay, so I've officially finished the first set of category icons for the Dragonfayth version 0.1 alpha/beta skin! ^_^

We have:
Priest Seto - Alternate Universes - Gold
Prince Yugi - Alternate Realities - Blue
Anzu - Challengefics - Pink
Honda - Continuations - Red
Haga - Crossovers - Orange
Isis - Drabbles - Blue
Mokuba - MST Parody Fanfics - Yellow
Ryou - Multi-Chaptered Fics - Silver
Jounouchi - Oneshots - Lime Green
Shizuka - Poetry/Songs - Carnation Pink
Otogi - Round Robins - Emerald Green
Mai - Songfics - Violet

I know I should probably give Marik some screen-time, but... >_>

Well, so I had this other idea-- main character themed skins. I could do a few different ones, but the primary ones I'm looking for would be:
* Kaiba (blues, silvers, black)
* Anzu (pinks, yellows, and other pastels)
* Yugi/Yami (purple, maroon, and black, maybe with gold accents)
* Bakura (black, white, and gray)
* Marik (lavender, tan, and crimson)
* Mai/Shizuka (violet and pink)

And then there'd be the default Dragonfayth skin, which is "dragon" colors-- blue, green, and gold.

What I really need right now are a few adventuresome and creative souls to make the endeavor for a main banner-- roughly 472 x 100, as I'm basing it off the bluepurple skin. You can look at the eFiction skin as well and give me something that fits for that, as well.

Any and all comments and suggestions are welcome!

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

You got Shizuka's first name wrong, it's Kawai. Just thought you'd like to know.

@_o

[azurite]

Actually this is fanon. Nowhere in the manga have I seen her referred to as Shizuka Kawai, and since Japanese names are given in reverse, she has no "first" name-- she has a given name and a surname/family name. Her given name is Shizuka, and she hails from the Jounouchi family. Her mom divorced her father *after* she was born, so Shizuka would, for all intents and purposes, keep her original name.

Re: @_o

[miss-matched.livejournal.com]

Taken from KnN (http://kokorononaka.net/FAQ/Character.html)

Q: But Shizuka's Jounouchi's sister. Why isn't her last name Jounouchi as well?

A: Their parents were divorced. One assumes her mother either remarried or went back to using her maiden name, and Shizuka's name followed.

Re: @_o

[azurite]

Yeah, just to point it out, but KnN is a website. Nowhere on the site do they show scans of the manga saying where it says her name is 'Kawai Shizuka,' and nowhere in the anime have I ever seen her referred to by that name. So, forgive me for being a bit skeptical, but if it's not in the actual canon, I won't believe it.

Re: @_o

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

Isn't Jounouchi Jounouchi's last name? I thought his first name was Katsuya. In the Manga I have he is called Katsuya Jonouch.

i

Re: @_o

[azurite]

Like I said before, in Japanese culture, people do not have "first names" and "last names." You have given names and family names. The given names tend to be the ones you're most familiar with when dealing with characters-- Anzu, Yuugi, and so on. However, Jounouchi, Honda, and Kaiba are all FAMILY names-- meaning that their siblings have those SAME EXACT NAMES. They have different given names of course (Mokuba Kaiba, Shizuka Jounouchi), but when referring to said character, you call them by their FAMILY NAME. It's usually out of respect, but some people (like Honda and Jounouchi) do it just to be rude.

The Mod Squad

[guardian-kysra.livejournal.com]

I think Atlantis already made this inquiry BUT . . .

Could you give a run-down of what moderators are going to be moderating ^_~ I'm interested, but when I'm in school I have a tendency to sort of ignore everything but my studies ;-;