[Custom Covers] Blanks, Templates - get them, share them, help to modify and create

[BetterRed]

Thanks MiniMouse - I will look at it tomorrow. I just had 90 minutes on the phone to my ISP's help centre, so my nerves are frazzled.

Didn't know the artist who did the Brunhilde drawing was famous, found it when I was looking for a Guanshiyin image to put over Hilary C stuff, never did find one, settled on an Hindu deity who's name starts with a K

BR

[MiniMouse]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Didn't know the artist who did the Brunhilde drawing was famous, found it when I was looking for a Guanshiyin image to put over Hilary C stuff, never did find one, settled on an Hindu deity who's name starts with a K

BR

I don't know if driany is famous, I just checked her out because I wanted to know who made this and if there is more...

She also made one of a woman with blond hair in a chinese princess style dress MIDORI, maybe something for your Hilary?

MiniMouse

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by MiniMouse

Try and let me know if it worked, if it is easy enough and what you think.

And one last question, you like the textures with a book margin like the covers in this post or without? Let me know.

I presume you mean the stripe on the left edge - I think I would prefer no stripe.

Hi MiniMouse - OK. I had no trouble at all following your instructions to bake a few less boring covers.

For the first cover, in the Layer 1 step I happened to choose a picture that was 1100px wide x 1630 px high. the result was that I had reasonable size borders - bit bigger than I would of preferred but...

However, for the second cover, in the Layer 1 step I happened to choose a picture whose size was 2592x3888, now I had no borders. But I was able to resize the picture by dragging the blue dots with the shift key so that it was contained within the background, then I could drag that small image to the centre and resize it again, this resulted in excessive loss of image quality, jagged edges, blur etc.

I could resize the foreground images first, I have Faststone's right click gadget, but it would be 'nicer' if I could resize the foreground image by a percentage and not have to save it before repositioning it.

I saw 'something' that said I could do this layering with MS Paint - I might have a go at that tomorrow, using your backgrounds - to add a bit of spice I'll grab the kaleidoscope series.

Meantime I have to figure what to do with the three components that go into baking a cover onto which Generate can scribble the title and author - the background image, the foreground image and the composite image. I'm thinking I might put them in a RAR with a filler and drop them onto the book. Then I'll know where they are if I want to change or reuse something - or maybe I will make a library of them

I'll let you know how I get along with Paint - PIXLR was very sluggish, probably because the servers are a long way from where I am

BR

[MiniMouse]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I could resize the foreground images first, I have Faststone's right click gadget, but it would be 'nicer' if I could resize the foreground image by a percentage and not have to save it before repositioning it.

If PIXLR is too slow from your side of the world, I can understand if you want to try other programs. However I wanted to add that you CAN change the size of your first layer also directly in PIXLR. Go to 'Image' on the toolbar and select 'Image size', there you will see the pixel size of your picture (Weidth/Height). You can change the size there and even unable 'Constrain proportions'. BUT it will only work for the whole picture (with all layers in it).

AND you can also reposition your layer while you're in the 'Free transform'-mode, just move your curser a little bit inside of the window with the blue dots and your curser will change from a dobble-ended black arrow to only the tip of an arrow with a little cross. Now you can pull your layer (like drag and drop) where you want it to be positioned before confirming the change. And you can always click CTRL + Z for undo or CTRL + Y for redo (or go to 'Edit' on your toolbar).

Didn't tell you that because I thought you would start with one of my linen covers and they have all a usable cover size. So it was more about how to change the size of the second layer. Didn't want to make it too complecated but maybe I should have told you that too.

I will start on making you some textures (without a book margin)

MiniMouse

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by MiniMouse

If PIXLR is too slow from your side of the world, I can understand if you want to try other programs. However I wanted to add that you can change the size of your first layer also more directly in PIXLR. Go to 'Image' on the toolbar and select 'Image size', there you will see the pixel size of your picture (Weidth/Height). You can change the size there and even unable 'Constrain proportions'. BUT it will only work for the whole picture (with all layers in it).

Didn't tell you that because I thought you would start with one of my linen covers and they have all the same size. So it was more about how to change the size of the second layer. Didn't want to make it too complecated but maybe I should have told you that too.

I will start on making you some textures (without a book margin)

MiniMouse

@MiniMouse - I'm attaching a zip, the background and foreground I selected and the result. What seems to happen in PIXLR and Paint is that the 'canvas' (I think that's what its called) expands to accommodate the biggest picture but if you resize that picture so that its smaller than the other picture the canvas doesn't shrink. Then when I save the result I have an image as big as Mother Russia - that mainly looks like Russia in Winter - white.

I can over come the difficulty by ensuring that the foreground picture is not larger then the background

Re the sluggish response - it was sluggish, but not due to me being a where I am, its the nature of "the beast" we call the the internet.

Re more backgrounds - I like bright colours, strange shapes, art-deco style, maybe you could draw inspiration from Clarice Cliff ceramics. I'm not so keen on the 'olde worlde retro leather look' - I get all I need of that when I look in the mirror

Akkadian and Assyrian clay tablets could provide an interesting basis for your textures.

BR

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by MiniMouse

AND you can also reposition your layer while you're in the 'Free transform'-mode, just move your curser a little bit inside of the window with the blue dots and your curser will change from a dobble-ended black arrow to only the tip of an arrow with a little cross. Now you can pull your layer (like drag and drop) where you want it to be positioned before confirming the change. And you can always click CTRL + Z for undo or CTRL + Y for redo (or go to 'Edit' on your toolbar).

I will have to try again, it kept asking if I wanted to save what I'd done when I switched from resizing to relocating - I responded yes, maybe I should responded with no. I think it was the repeated saves that led to loss of quality.

I'm a bit tired now so I'll have another look tomorrow when I take a break from comical scanning.

BR

[MiniMouse]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@MiniMouse - I'm attaching a zip, the background and foreground I selected and the result. What seems to happen in PIXLR and Paint is that the 'canvas' (I think that's what its called) expands to accommodate the biggest picture but if you resize that picture so that its smaller than the other picture the canvas doesn't shrink. Then when I save the result I have an image as big as Mother Russia - that mainly looks like Russia in Winter - white.

I can over come the difficulty by ensuring that the foreground picture is not larger then the background

Okay, now I know what you did. You can't change the size of the first layer with the 'Free transform'-mode because you will get a white canvas background then. Go to 'Image' on the toolbar and select 'Image size', choose the pixel size of your picture (Weidth/Height) there (with or without 'Constrain proportions'). It will change the size of the canvas too.

OR second choice you have, especially if you want only a frame of the backround, like without the book margine or you want to cut something else away, select the 'Crop tool (C)' in the tools window and set the 'Constraint' (it will appear right under your toolbar) on 'Output size' and choose your prefert Width and Hight there. Now go on your backround and start to pull (like drag and drop). A window will appear over your picture with blue dots in its corners. You can move the window, when your curser is inside the window, and pull the window larger or smaller when your curser is on one of the blue dots. It will keep your selected output size whatever you do (see example).

When you want to cut click somewhere outside of the window, you will get the 'Do you want to apply the changes?' - window again. It will cut everything outside your selected window away. DONE!

Your first layer should be like you want it to be, THEN you should add the second layer and THEN you can use the 'Free-transform'-mode.

If you want to cut something after your finished use the 'Crop tool (C)' for that but keep in mind that it will cut the whole picture with every layer in it.

If the picture is too small on your screen to work with after cutting, click the 'Zoom tool (Z)' (magnifier symbol) in the tool window and then right mouse click for Zoom in, Zoom out or Show all. It will not change the size of the picture, only what you see on your screen.

Hope that helps, let me know.

Also there are a lot more ways to do things in PIXLR but I just thought I start with the important things for what YOU wanted to do (considering the simple two steps you asked for). I was assuming that you use my covers or textures that have all the same size and that you wouldn't change that size. So it would be only a matter of how to apply the second picture over the first picture. Well, you're doing not exactly what I expected.

So if you are missing some more information, just let me know that too.


MiniMouse

[BetterRed]

@MiniMouse - I think I have an easier way, for me, under my finger tips.

The first screen shot below shows what I see in my file manager (xplorer2) for my Make a New Cover folder where I have columns for image width & height, so I can see at a glance that Mother Russia is bigger than Kaleidoscope 7 by about 60%. The file system context menu shows that I'm about to invoke the Convert option of the FastStone gadget.

The second screenshot shows the Faststone Convert dialogue, where you can see I selected resize to 40% of original, and you can see the result I got when I hit Convert - Mother Russia_1 is a bit smaller than Kaleidoscope 7.

Now I can use the downsized Mother Russia in PIXLR as per your original instructions, including fine-tuning its size. BTW I prefer PIXLR because it centres the foreground - I have to do this by eye with Paint.

I don't mind using different tools for different steps in a process, and I don't have any difficulty doing the mental 'gymnastics' to determine the % by which I must reduce the foreground picture to fit on your base covers.

I'm reconsidering whether I really need to use Generate Cover - my objective is to be able to glance at a cover in Book Details or Info to get an inkling of the subject matter, that's what the pictures do. I delete the cover from any epubs I create with the Modify plugin. So why not just have the foreground picture you may ask - dunno - just doesn't feel right.

EDIT : just (re)discovered how to have publisher and pubdate on the cover, which is what I've been wanting. I think I forgot I could use a template in the Custom Text field. So I will probably continue my use of Generate Cover.

BR

[MiniMouse]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@MiniMouse - I think I have an easier way, for me, under my finger tips.

What ever works for you is fine by me.

Re more backgrounds - I like bright colours, strange shapes, art-deco style, maybe you could draw inspiration from Clarice Cliff ceramics. Akkadian and Assyrian clay tablets could provide an interesting basis for your textures.

Okay, looked at the pottery stuff but I don't know if I've caught want I saw with my first try.

Anyway THAT came out of it. I know, only one texture, have to try a bit more but at least you've got some different colour shapes.

Something you can use?

MiniMouse

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by MiniMouse

What ever works for you is fine by me.



Okay, looked at the pottery stuff but I don't know if I've caught want I saw with my first try.

Anyway THAT came out of it. I know, only one texture, have to try a bit more but at least you've got some different colour shapes.

Something you can use?

MiniMouse

Hi Minimouse,

These remind me of my friends workshop, he sometimes makes stained glass windows for churches and other public buildings.

I find that I can use more of your base covers that I initially imagined I could. Also devised a process that allows me to make a new cover (that includes publisher and pubdate) fairly quickly with Faststone (if required), PIXLR and Generate Cover.

Thanks for your help with PIXLR, I only use 1% of it's functionality, but unlike other things I've tried (Photoshop, The Gimp, Paint.NET etc) I find I'm able to ignore the 99% I don't want to use. I'm about to download all your covers to date and put them into a gallery.

Have fun and thanks again - I'll let you know if I have any bright ideas.

something that evokes the image of counting beads for use on accounting 'books'

BR

[MiniMouse]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Hi Minimouse,

These remind me of my friends workshop, he sometimes makes stained glass windows for churches and other public buildings.

I find that I can use more of your base covers that I initially imagined I could. Also devised a process that allows me to make a new cover (that includes publisher and pubdate) fairly quickly with Faststone (if required), PIXLR and Generate Cover.

Thanks for your help with PIXLR, I only use 1% of it's functionality, but unlike other things I've tried (Photoshop, The Gimp, Paint.NET etc) I find I'm able to ignore the 99% I don't want to use. I'm about to download all your covers to date and put them into a gallery.

Have fun and thanks again - I'll let you know if I have any bright ideas.

something that evokes the image of counting beads for use on accounting 'books'

BR

Glad I could help

And I thought so too (that you could use all the other covers in this thread the way you need them). It was just to know how to do things. Hopes it works the way you want it to be.
When you need any more textures (I think I will put some more up anyway ) or need any help with PIXLR then let me know, I gladly help.

MiniMouse

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

These remind me of my friends workshop, he sometimes makes stained glass windows for churches and other public buildings.


BR

BR I was thinking Stained Glass Also.

I wonder if there is a Stained Glass FONT to put the Title on with

[Sabardeyn]

Originally Posted by theducks

I wonder if there is a Stained Glass FONT to put the Title on with

You could try: http://www.fontspace.com/category/stained%20glass

I'm not sure if that is what you really want though. A font that has internal sections of letters with multiple coloring would be too complex for use in the average text editor/word processor. You're much more likely to find something like that within an art program. Besides, I don't think any software allows for random coloration of parts of a character.

In a vector art program, you could copy the font to a new layer, exploding the path's making up the individual letters. In this way you could segment a letter into pieces that could then be colored. Careful reduction of the segments would allow for the lead between pieces of colored glass. Definitely a labor intensive task, but probably one that would end up with the most realistic effect.

You can, of course, simply take the letters into a raster (pixel) based art program and color parts manually.

Now if you really want to get fancy, you could create two custom fonts: one normal version, another with pre-segmented letters. Then you could overlay the segmented version atop the normal. You would still have to manually color the segments though.

Hmm... someone might have a plugin for Photoshop, Illustrator, PaintShop, Corel Draw, etc. Not sure if any of the free editors would have something like this however.

[theducks]

I was just speculating.


I guess those fonts could be colorize in something like Fontforge, so the could just be used like any other font, simply specifying the Font name/family

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

BR I was thinking Stained Glass Also.

I wonder if there is a Stained Glass FONT to put the Title on with

@theducks It would seem that Saberdeyn beat me, sadly I couldn't see one for strained grass.

@MiniMouse - I've found that the PIXLR Help facility helps. Its one of the 'ask me a question and I'll see what I can find' systems. And its one of the better (best ?) of that sort that I've used. So far I've been able to get the 'right answer' very easily, WikiP says "it [PIXLR] was intended for non-professionals" - i.e. you don't need a PhD in imaging to use it - clever people them Swedes (Spotify, Saab cars...)

BR