Editing How To Create Exemplar Images (section)

== Exemplar Images ==
Hi, the stylized images are made using a 200 x 200 pixel section from an in game screen shot, saved as a bitmap (works best if you hit ALT+PRT SCR while in game then alt tab out (if not in windowed mode) then paste into the image editor of your choice, this avoids artifacts from the low quality jpg the game will save using a regular screen shot).

The effect is added using the free to use open source [http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)]. Open the bitmap with GIMP and under the menus select Filters>Artistic>Cartoon. You can play around with the values to get something that looks good, I usually use 7.00 mask radius and 0.200 percent black. Save as bitmap if you want to add lettering or as a jpg if not (all done at this point).

I usually use Padula font which is what Turbine has used for a lot of their promotional stuff (like the patch name on the splash screen when the game starts). However Padula is not a free font, you can buy it for $2 though [http://www.buyfonts.com/value_for_money/padula.htm here]. Or just use another font that looks good. Then save it as a jpg (keeping it in bitmap format until you are all done keeps from introducing more artifacts than necessary).

Also you can feel free to [[Special:Upload|upload]] the base image and I'd be happy to filter and letter it for you (save the original screen shot as a [[png]] and upload it, then leave a message on my talk page with the file name and what you'd like the lettering to be).

--{{User:Tlosk/Sig}}04:18, 20 March 2011 (EST)
[[Category:Help]]