Infixo submitted a new resource:
Real Great People - Pictures of real Great People
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Real Great People - Pictures of real Great People
Read more about this resource...
- Thread starter Infixo
- Start date
Current situation
How to prepare an icon using paint.net
1. Find a good picture on the internet. Good means having a background that can be easily removed. If you see that background and head/hair
are of the same color/shade - don't use it. Also, find a picture that you can extract a head of the size of at least 150x150 pixels, the more the better.
1a. @CivLuvah assembled all pictures here.
2. Open it in paint.net, resize if necessary and cut the circle with head centrally placed. This is very important step - the relative size of the head and
its placement will stay until the final icon! Also flip horizontal if necessary to make head facing to the left. I use "Copy" and then "Paste into new Image".
3. Now resize it to approx. 1000x1000. It will be easier to get rid of the background.
4. Remove background. This is very important step - whatever is left around the head/hair will be later visible. Some manual work here is usually
required for best results. I use Magic Wand and then Eraser manually.
5. Now you can do some brightness/contrast adjustments, if necessary. Just make sure that the picture isn't too dark.
6. Apply the Sepia effect.
7. Resize to 160x160 and save as .dds with file name in format RGP_Great_Person_Name.dds. Must use underscores. DDS format A8R8G8B8 (default in paint.net).
Icon's ready
Helpful tips
- Admirals (19/19) - completed by @Infixo
- Artists (20/20) - completed by @Desertmoongw
- Engineers (18/18) - completed by @Infixo
- Generals (21/21) - completed by @DemonEmperor
- Merchants (21/21) - completed by @natchuy
- Musicians (16/16) - completed by @Infixo
- Prophets (16/16) - completed by @Sun Ce of Wu
- Scientists (21/21) - completed by @Gabrielino77
- Writers (25/25) - completed by @SeelingCat
How to prepare an icon using paint.net
1. Find a good picture on the internet. Good means having a background that can be easily removed. If you see that background and head/hair
are of the same color/shade - don't use it. Also, find a picture that you can extract a head of the size of at least 150x150 pixels, the more the better.
1a. @CivLuvah assembled all pictures here.
2. Open it in paint.net, resize if necessary and cut the circle with head centrally placed. This is very important step - the relative size of the head and
its placement will stay until the final icon! Also flip horizontal if necessary to make head facing to the left. I use "Copy" and then "Paste into new Image".
3. Now resize it to approx. 1000x1000. It will be easier to get rid of the background.
4. Remove background. This is very important step - whatever is left around the head/hair will be later visible. Some manual work here is usually
required for best results. I use Magic Wand and then Eraser manually.
5. Now you can do some brightness/contrast adjustments, if necessary. Just make sure that the picture isn't too dark.
6. Apply the Sepia effect.
7. Resize to 160x160 and save as .dds with file name in format RGP_Great_Person_Name.dds. Must use underscores. DDS format A8R8G8B8 (default in paint.net).
Icon's ready
Helpful tips
Last edited:
Desertmoongw
Chieftain
It would be very helpful if you supplied a to-do list, so we knew who exactly needed done.
PS Really nice mod, definitely going to be using this. This should be a part of CQUI default, simply because its aesthetically pleasing.
PS Really nice mod, definitely going to be using this. This should be a part of CQUI default, simply because its aesthetically pleasing.
Done
Desertmoongw
Chieftain
How's this?
Very good as for the first try
1. The bottom arc is wrong, probably from a bigger circle? See here:
Once you cut the circle you cannot crop the image or the arc will change. It is important since the icons go into a circle-shaped frame in GreatPeoplePopup which is exactly 160x160 if the arc is wrong, it will touch the frame.
2. The picture is too dark, especially the hood. This is where finding a good picture really matters. I would probably go for this one:
It has distinctive background and brightness/contrast is perfect.
3. Last thing is minor. Try to leave a small space above the head, like 5-10% of the picture. There's a type icon at the right-top corner that might interfere a little if the head is too high.
1. The bottom arc is wrong, probably from a bigger circle? See here:
Once you cut the circle you cannot crop the image or the arc will change. It is important since the icons go into a circle-shaped frame in GreatPeoplePopup which is exactly 160x160
if the arc is wrong, it will touch the frame.2. The picture is too dark, especially the hood. This is where finding a good picture really matters. I would probably go for this one:
It has distinctive background and brightness/contrast is perfect.
3. Last thing is minor. Try to leave a small space above the head, like 5-10% of the picture. There's a type icon at the right-top corner that might interfere a little if the head is too high.
It may happen that there won't be any good picture of a person, like in Rublev's case. Especially for older Eras (who knows how these guys from Medieval really looked like?). I think that if we use an imaginative picture, like from a movie or a not-so-reliable painting, probably this icon should me marked somehow, e.g.question mark in top-left corner. That would indicate that we really don't know how he/she looked like.
@Desertmoongw I've added some tips in a graphical form. Should better explain why some things are important.
Sun Ce of Wu
Warlord
Here there are 3 tests made to see if I got the process right. Tell me what do you think. By the way O no Yasumaru might be too anime-ish so i will search for a better one if you want.
Quite nice, actually. You've got the process right.
- Confucius - little too much of a torso left, that makes the head little too small, I would make it like 20% bigger; unless you wanted to include his entire beard - in that case probably the space above his head could be halved
- Luther - his hat is black, unfortunately black elements don't look as good as whiter ones; but I understand that this picture with the hat is his most popular depiction, so let it be; overall - very good icon
- Yasumaru - icon well done (well, space above head is missing) but the style will not fit others; also, isn't he too young for a prophet - he was at least 45 when he completed the Kojiki; use the wikipedia pic (Portrait of Ō no Yasumaro by Kikuchi Yōsai (19th century))
- Confucius - little too much of a torso left, that makes the head little too small, I would make it like 20% bigger; unless you wanted to include his entire beard - in that case probably the space above his head could be halved
- Luther - his hat is black, unfortunately black elements don't look as good as whiter ones; but I understand that this picture with the hat is his most popular depiction, so let it be; overall - very good icon
- Yasumaru - icon well done (well, space above head is missing) but the style will not fit others; also, isn't he too young for a prophet - he was at least 45 when he completed the Kojiki; use the wikipedia pic (Portrait of Ō no Yasumaro by Kikuchi Yōsai (19th century))
Sun Ce of Wu
Warlord
Thanks for the suggestions ;D I will correct them and do the other prophets as fast as i can
SeelingCat
Warlord
I started on the writers - I found pics for all of them and have finished Jane Austen, Bhasa, Karel Capek, Margaret Cavendish, Cervantes, Chaucer and Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy, if you want to give them a look-over.
@SeelingCat Nice icons!
- Aulnoy, Cervantes, Austen, Capek - really great, I'm adding them to the mod (btw, Austen is beautifully done)
- Bhasa - I understand there's no better picture of him, so unless we find one - it's ok
- Others need some corrections:
- Chaucer - it's too dark and only half face is visible; try with this picture https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6f/ab/83/6fab83bce589dd4fd8eb3a0ffeba4f09.jpg
- Cavendish - head too small, too much torso; CivLuvah has a good picture of her (see below).
Last edited:
SeelingCat
Warlord
Here's some more; I redid Chaucer with the picture you provided and gave the pic I had of Cavendish another go (what can I say, I like the crown). I finished Fitzgerald, Goethe, Homer, James Joyce, Li Bai, Machiavelli, Murasaki Shikibu, Ovid, Edgar Allan Poe, Pushkin, and Qu Yuan.
@SeelingCat
OK: Fitzgerald, Chaucer (great!), Goethe, Homer (nice), Li Bai, Machiavelli, Cavendish (since you like the crown
), Shikibu, Poe, Pushkin, QuYuan
To fix: Joyce, Ovid - same problem, profile picture will not fit.
I think for Ovid try either this pic: http://www.famousauthors.org/ovid or look for a better shot of the statue.
For Joyce there's a ton of pictures: http://williambertrand.fr/james-joyce/ or this one https://www.estantevirtual.com.br/autor/james-joyce.
So, by my count not many are needed to complete the writers: Ovid, Shakespeare, Shelley, Joyce, Tolstoy, Twain, Wells and Tagore. You are really fast!
OK: Fitzgerald, Chaucer (great!), Goethe, Homer (nice), Li Bai, Machiavelli, Cavendish (since you like the crown
), Shikibu, Poe, Pushkin, QuYuanTo fix: Joyce, Ovid - same problem, profile picture will not fit.
I think for Ovid try either this pic: http://www.famousauthors.org/ovid or look for a better shot of the statue.
For Joyce there's a ton of pictures: http://williambertrand.fr/james-joyce/ or this one https://www.estantevirtual.com.br/autor/james-joyce.
So, by my count not many are needed to complete the writers: Ovid, Shakespeare, Shelley, Joyce, Tolstoy, Twain, Wells and Tagore. You are really fast!
SeelingCat
Warlord
And here's the last of the Writers: Shakespeare, Shelley, Tagore, Tolstoy, Twain and Wells.
SeelingCat
Warlord
And here's Joyce and Ovid 2.0
Sun Ce of Wu
Warlord
Here is my try with all the great prophets, hoping to having corrected and implemented all of your suggestions.
Desertmoongw
Chieftain
Are these alright? This is proving to be much more difficult than I thought, Boris' hair blends in perfectly with the background and Claudes picture has no space above the head (using the images by CivLuvah).
@SeelingCat
I will just write what to fix. The rest is ok. I sometimes make them brighter, but it's not a problem.
I will just write what to fix. The rest is ok. I sometimes make them brighter, but it's not a problem.
- Tagore (profile again), also there are great pics: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XwUMo3CB7...Ago/08SWzAsM8Q4/s1600/rabindranath_tagore.jpg or this one: http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/jun/GettyImages-3241197.jpg. Yep, beard is difficult but it's got a good contrast.
- Tolstoy - too much profile, and he is kind of old, there are much better pics: https://cdn.theculturetrip.com/images/56-183714-leo-tolstoy-portrait.jpg, or this one is really great: https://pufflesandhoneyadventures.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/db_jcm_aged_in_40s_-1-11.jpg. Another beardy guy...
- Shakespeare - it's not a bad icon, but he seems kind of cartoonish and his head is egg-like; English guys will kill us... let's make him a little more serious, like here: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/3283836/images/o-WILLIAM-SHAKESPEARE-facebook.jpg. It's really great picture, but we need entire head. Try this it has good contrast: https://simonclark3.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/shakespeare_william.jpg
