Liontamer's Open Discussion Graphics Thread

[liontamer]

Seems like everyone is moving to 2010 now. Decided to break off for this one because of the occasional tension among some when posting belts in Reap's 08 thread and because I want to work on more than belts and have a little bit of a different vibe.

 

Obviously Reap and Kam and the others will be posting in their work in their own threads, but I'm opening this off that bat for anyone to post, show/ppv/promotion logos, banners, belts, alts etc (basically anything that can be used in the game). you can post your finished work, or even partials, ask for feedback, advice or how-to's etc. More of a workshop atmosphere.

 

I'm putting the finishing touches on my first new belt in a while, should have it up in 2-3 days along with all the old stuff. I will take requests, but be warned that I'm not as quick as some of the others and am too busy to get to much of anything for the next several weeks so it could be a while. I'm also going to encourage others wanting to learn to take a stab at requests and post their work so they can learn and improve.

 

Old Stuff

(from the old thread and pre-TEW. some may be to different proportions as a result)

 

Titles

(I do have 800x400 versions of most, if not all, new and old titles)

 

APW

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pupYBGekVpeSX2SgsbnKiR-1Pg3LQDvX4v0c_FgvMet8k0dsRTzC0j7gW_gV-LhugTKIPtol448W0NchFS43dMw/APW(MY)_All-American.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p14Xmv6ghiY7qNEN50nzBUaTslrcJnKI-9KftHBCHWOYRHMWnYNJYYjNHWfqZx6Udv2fh3ngF4GK82NL1rv6sdw/APW(MY)_All-AmericanB.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1ppcJrtpETPBRjfRmg18svOm-KrWQD3Z4xSSQv6XWReXUNbKUiVm4Oe7V0fM2qoVcyD6ywVilXxAUEW4UO_AMMCA/APW(my)_Contenders_Title.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p8cIbOP9ZBxe2gisueytlr4yyRgpES3sm69mEo6RGmtieWe73jLcKC0Z02N0nE42I5CjptwedpECsI9qJTtdltQ/APW(MY)_UGrandSmall1.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pVMGYIVbjlHcTMckUg-FEeuUbYp7B4lRZ60xsJl2TzRhib4huLBVd-aR2shK6jAqva0Db7OypjM0KR5x2ER4-tA/APW(MY)_UGrandSmall2.jpg

 

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p4UTt44PaB7cmEZ_gkwHVLqvFlS3weQCNE8HgBkhZZnXBKge_T2XcCDuw9f-AWznu39dt9vpGgxW9UpYkjQIWmg/APW(MY)_World_Tag_Title.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pNf1DP8CyapNbrIAtDLbHCwISdyHGgrCWQzRiq-NGiSc1W2XGVCp9txmzN1qyZfsiZiszQn9MfAsI5vN9smwnxg/APW(MY)_World_Tag_Title_2.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pNf1DP8CyapMGU5KIQohg6t2x0N3Io4N1niU8YyYYbuotbMTFjBDDXDWAMX_Gtcwbl0rfLnMDtd3L727Z-jWr5Q/APW(MY)_World_Tag_Title_3.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pmTKqBWTF6KHMcUN8C88ck6Tkx0aa-Q30olxxHE45ngSjk-FPSEB1bNzoySLQ2JR6q1eggO0wLLlhybPwNsIt5A/APW(MY)_World_Tiltle.jpg

 

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pGLfCKQfZLdhde8hLt4LzXnJQwDltT_xy05L0Xp2wGi-Z4RP0VlF86WUMjpOqF4G1f3EWhvNlWxfnbAcRXHSOWQ/APW(MY)_X-Division_Title.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p0ipx3RWoiasdmNGDl5ZWxkh6iS8mBz1rgnjDpHzNUEm-I4OvVoy6f0MED6foVSKGw-rvXzR9qrztvq9G35L-dw/APW(MY)_X-Division_TitleB.jpg

 

UWA

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pXVoLL87AqdkYf-W9Xi6oI9vubb1mu8VblKqM3QPlq4XGW2OifhKsXRQxDuVcPqv8sWh6Wrb57tTtgJi5ZEYUwg/UWA_US.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pPGy3UJcNlnQvN5PBs-9QUIkMFJEsT8WWR3UTDHOfrWEKlrGofOi2vMNCDqzWKPSURsRlrXZbi9sEoxJVor1lLg/UWA-HardcoreSmall.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pMGWkOb-o80d53-8nBFgn5rHDTCCnmcyFh-Ak9EljV4vuP8PPQMKeKLQMTr1Gm95y1FznrTa-RZGZQclLd5iKHA/UWA-HardcoreSmallVer2.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pB0PZY_BvrJIzV3boxL6eg_8R7KKVm7Bhm_fCxgEFQUxJIJ8mxLImiQ3xIlyJKv6nLZs_MhC_DO4YpH2r1ZOtqg/UWA-RAGE_World.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p57zoLVITxMhM-sNV-MijFvV_YiNMIwv8QojdWkR1NrqvGP-oVULo0HhoeBCjDH9GXlyzWujlv0kvVC-PrsKRog/UWA-RAGEver1.jpg

 

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pSaFXk3Cn-BZNKvpyn6soODt0HTdhP358_heMHndtHn7bM5hVd5g0lUXtV-8oMblNaEGpVBjlKxOPiKJAGit_dg/UWA-TVfinalSmall.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pTcSOwDc5tMrxSAV12J6MSytW8gR2Nj2knv0Ez8P9naKTWhh-lcgj9DtCEEoda8C8BukyqXaoQabGmpCjwzzmxA/UWA-UprisingWorld.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pfVDp4qgisJyH4K2WJO9FXKJdxpa6ddMYcJdhRkAAwZW9NKKmI6o4lR_RWvJPZCxPD6KMMfXpMrY31UB_AFdZHg/UWA-UprisingWorldS.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pqcg-sKfadz0Kfnr-jQ-7ELGKdevY-yup5OOFQgSIh9Z_fFgj41-5wonZKBcRuG9y1bVTCycl6wHlxWIGtZ5c-g/UWA-Vixen.jpg

 

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p2uJogwXvtPZtBDCfu7pFLPODiCk9IW7ib4-MJtQiyojQHVYHefdntEempnGZvICnY98Z_P6g9707lLRjOJOVhg/UWA-YoungLionSmall.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pPvRtPe1keSTGtneBA_3TzC7i2pZqhMonXen9EOXB1Zm2NUyw4MnGeC5hCy5J18fcnx9jfuDUaFw9IE9hoOLTIw/UWA-YoungLionSmall2.jpg

 

Promotion Logos

 

APW

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p163oC9ducGM-a_vFZtgjuoBAeWnTXTGTW-M2WEVOfKFoXOgAwf48vGNbHt0BWwPiIc7rsH-jk-N-V_920qyEXA/APWblank.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p163oC9ducGNhVwITmnVi3i9ArUB3aC2eDwokvYXxYnnDP4tcxg-rW8DqIV1xI9MdtL3Y-9Kh816lNuE0RuKBJg/APW2.jpghttp://iplxha.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p7nrH1M8SfZ7v6lIhpFldRBzQMyaPYOaAUowDUFbV9GeafaVFSfk2bCiEmJlRkPilx5ANuhfYK9ekqJrxj3LwrHv4CrfCJnip/APWNewMain.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1peEfVOEA5_Gw0qz5nB-P6BGrxaboKYg0AM3ELHtN2offnUkxNDC_Z5STmv9k-YAhubqNQaIkiyPxciz97MmZSyw/_APW6.jpg

I currently use these as a progression through the different pormotion sizes. Looking better and more detail with each change.

 

CFW

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pAFHC7hAChxnEDtAzn7vPg2R3Ir5L0LbGEhXFiKmbmK4ayeRzVwtNZ8v_qvKo7f5igZOYYnNwUWRV9lF2S_c8ag/cfw2.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pU47lLm-qMMeIoUrD0cZPTYB6jBTBPXsdH2_CcCxMZXOMB7wSJJDkxGGCU3drF6sGd-TcthfZIyWcqHYYP3IvvQ/cfw3fire.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pU47lLm-qMMco-vL83uV50G0zs5Ovyr4vnAgGyzp8zY8Ov3dwaV4aIs4Zkf_xnr3EUOoBSVmC7fFosLeF92XimQ/cfw3fire2.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pr1P9XBX7v0Je4kJZgfpYrsTZ5aHnoNTYr2Z3dHJbBEY7uyo4DMhoHXIA7i3LkPyVSibIz5ufcd1ldXWEoBoEXA/cfwl.jpg

 

UWA

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pesuacIWIgYyqIYhAJTw7aO0TWsl8gST2XlGRFC9zx5Z1u4E70uinf9pwQMDN4DQWGGEmpakXr0AkMR2fHnhQDA/UWA_main_small.jpg

 

 

 

 

Show Logos

 

APW

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pg1nD5NXU3TlbDN8vUuH-MenqqyQQhKr86SSetaTa1K50CBam_BpIJW232MaL5_e9SUlFzYXNCOFIjmOPxLD6uw/takeoverblueb.jpg

 

CFW

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p0bRbpsD1tI57j7xmTK3v5Ct5zkmr444iUheIufp989c8L2y03JmoJS1fjv0TkOm7aol51MBdxhudWaW_iQOXBw/CFWNitroInfernob.gifhttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p-7y4IKEhu7GZO9Yr5N2ZBnKSZJr7Ch5H7Ypg8FCrAieTdMYWrYM07NqToFFLx0rgx1KAk5QAfiEkiXXLqfZEQA/CFWThunder.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pKVjLnGcl_LqTU3LihAB_L2HyjUB7CkrX7LweftTyjF6xvraFZ8i1uAUQ9431DvnXA49fTxMqYe6ATHaBKin2vg/CFWUnleashed.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pKVjLnGcl_Lo8zV1Cs18vs30XPUmI1wXlKqt0oBFa_KkS4M6y2313o3bOhOYoVyJmR16KBfdiJCThwTPiMveztQ/CFWUnreal.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PPV Logos

 

CFW

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pt8sidNNb9zt2ECTctEATVRkbiht3e4_TgyX0Nj0fqMDsY4ykmyohIrzNCyaLJ3LZkGUQsCwsFbEEe0kL8IZxXw/CFWendofdays.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pt8sidNNb9zvxqQx834Gw8pQAz9_49mg8Gw4HKiESAHAVjGuUhBFnbbbg6H91ZtjHfKoB7t3Xn859P-YguOxf4g/CFWGoldrush.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pa8AxJ9FETYzAMRlKpUpxGfDp-wVaKS5ezRrvfvSl9ToJYv4REbGmSt82wNUD0e2mpRI8YTzOAl6Jo4TCsFglrA/CFWgroundzero.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pmripSK3ZTDxgYn-nS6qRCVJRw0lwuKkFeXFI50W5zdB-UVkIVlDSu5U73lL-4Ro490WZdfs9B3B7Wk6AYEOkfg/CFWhellskitchen.jpg

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pmripSK3ZTDx3FN7vbU6xKiK2oRqEfY8vejhWDxE0NLfTtwwbbpkHVGikK2VxuQQ1YDsaBwhayl7jnUVp9Yedqw/CFWhellskitchen2.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p6voQUzGbdBarlOGYAHM0WwuyUN6BKtcQpaGDWSDS2vmlutIbTe8bxHguj9HgRi6GV5UUccPmOHKh8uHMM9rDmQ/CFWLastRites.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pPrNAYUjGSAMZraklw2k84C4ocAR7tIXu9v2XjkCpPelrRgT9lrPzjp5SZXeRGJq9J9Myj9Uq97Co4uUjKyNVNA/CFWmanifestdestiny.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pPrNAYUjGSAPWoPzSBsmIeIAaP4hp6YvUzZAOKxxsq-jQ1Ti8C7lHlXRwxcANNH8DGCtT2Qz8Sr1GKqoYygZi7w/CFWMeltdown.jpg

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pwZnHnfxUme7F5VH3RuGlUH8psGNBehGHnBvhkBL3QY54QdVWltTQgyXOPRJYiDEl3rnmvuNSVJ7n-shOxgVJTA/CFWNaturaldisaster.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1ptkmrxrgqmK6EhV732KH-3kDywcaL1WHQqtsualPaTiX3znNSpbRdHXWQEKTLOVx1GxCGUv9cwb4bN3IzGyPazg/CFWnewyearsrevolution.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p-7y4IKEhu7HFhlqP44PPj4iiEUh-Z0wr2USKN7Sw6MPb2Gcef6DqhUyMhHk0ATNDFKcb48Oz8jROQlc7j2G0bw/CFWnosurrender.jpghttp://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p-7y4IKEhu7HwW14MQAVdL1kI7C8sXqIk-iW6XRurKe9u6mtmZGBGQWxr6Xly0e0KwGfGtOQXT69FfbCeNSeKeg/CFWreignofterror.jpg

looks like I'm missing one

 

 

Banners

http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pyFigj6OYSmAaaXnMP76e74xP7tkJ8LRKMNNJ6JQ4Km4gaG0AUC-SY5RslH1I5tm5EPUUicn8zkJagbS4WWtXWQ/_APW.jpg

 

 

 

 

Alts

http://iplxha.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pOkzfcQYUFUYNTwLNK_EkkrJwI4O1PvZ_VKQVPdYWt--MEES-vE05FZ25fDyXAWC__kR3j1vp6ZN-QILLHJTIVce3WE25CuL8/JacobJett_SC_alt.jpghttp://iplxha.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pOkzfcQYUFUYPq2Z6-mqAmhILpyTzeTHz7eb-A1l3rO_HEkcjnb5HrrB-hZxKH3jnFUshyGm6jWTUn7aruCAKhdyra7T43p-T/JacobJett_SC_alt2.jpghttp://iplxha.blu.livefilestore.com/y1paBQRGWl2KbG4vSL0Tmi7Ex7rmeOSq7_6IF-4NwUs5mn63MnCT9AwiiuSLcVDaAhUfJ9C25Yldd5biSfJFwJbWSVluIxkeLV1/JossThompson_SC_alt.jpghttp://iplxha.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pXINb36_5BunCVfljclAx4JCVCi2SJAevqw1q1xE8DNBPQ34E3-RT_Ys685KMXf8M-KcUkeaqF8VT3NPwn5kOR9oNk2erZoDR/Alejandro%20Carasco%20SC_alt.jpg

Jett and Thompson Re-cast as the smooth criminals. the suits were borrowed from other alts that were not mine. the hats I found online. Carrasco is the manager, Don't recall where the suit came from, probably the other alts, and the render was from one of the mod packs that was being developed. just borrowed it for my personal game.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

New Stuff

 

Titles

 

TNA World Heavyweight

http://iplxha.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pJel_wzj8xCyXmWwqNRtPRIyQTWMudPQJOMAu6zR971bUMgQRxrYCO39yjuwU3HTeEfE6aQITjmc3qCzXINNlarQMf7gdt3-W/TNA_World_Small.jpg

 

Jeff Hardy TNA World Heavyweight

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Resources

 

Programs used by myself and others on the Forum

Adobe Paintshop - Reaper, Payne, and MJStark

Corel Pro PhotoX2, X4 - liontamer (within this thread)

Fireworks - fullMetal

InkScape - linsolv (within this thread)

paint.net - asaemon (within this thread)

[ReapeR]

Can't wait to see what comes out of here. And for the record, I never had any issues with your posts in "my" thread.

 

R

[liontamer]

Can't wait to see what comes out of here. And for the record, I never had any issues with your posts in "my" thread.

 

R

 

I know, and I appreciate that. And you're more than welcome to post here as well whether it's new things you're trying or just giving feedback to others

 

Finished sooner than I thought I would. Here is the new one and my first real world attempt

 

TNA World

http://iplxha.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pJel_wzj8xCyXmWwqNRtPRIyQTWMudPQJOMAu6zR971bUMgQRxrYCO39yjuwU3HTeEfE6aQITjmc3qCzXINNlarQMf7gdt3-W/TNA_World_Small.jpg

 

http://iplxha.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pR6gg9yoB99qDDXvoCKjOzK4YzVan8DlEUBsE2-gGldDblvwSKIXSFpf69_kVpCCy41uL9gVTaaAauUwoG4sTpSLs8wVHfwnv/TNA_World_Large.jpg

 

at some point I may redo the ribbons to go more for realism and clean up the silver engravings for the large version. Can't tell the difference on the small though, so maybe not.

[Linsolv]

That TNA belt looks incredible. The only advice I might have is that I think the actual TNA belt has red letters for "TNA," and that might help with the visibility at the smaller size, also.

[liontamer]

Thanks.This is actually I think the only belt that doesn't have the red. Not really sure why. I can edit that and place and alt up later though. Also noticing that my sliver stars turned more gold. I'll have to look into that as I specifically made them silver again at the end.

[ReapeR]

Looks good. Slightly blurry, but that might just be from the cutting. Only suggestion would be to enlarge the words slightly. Even if they don't fit exactly inside the ribbons, on the small pic, you'll never notice. However, you will be able to read it better.

 

I love the belt strap you used. How did you get/what did you use for the etching/stitching around the edge?

 

R

[liontamer]

Looks good. Slightly blurry, but that might just be from the cutting. Only suggestion would be to enlarge the words slightly. Even if they don't fit exactly inside the ribbons, on the small pic, you'll never notice. However, you will be able to read it better.

 

I love the belt strap you used. How did you get/what did you use for the etching/stitching around the edge?

 

R

 

under textures I used blinds. First did that with the universal grand champion belt. Liked it and did it again.

 

Also tried a different lighting scheme that I like better and I think looks more realistic. Tried to make most of the plates look brighter on the left for a 3D look. I think it worked particularly well on the strap around the main plate.

[ReapeR]

under textures I used blinds. First did that with the universal grand champion belt. Liked it and did it again.

 

Also tried a different lighting scheme that I like better and I think looks more realistic. Tried to make most of the plates look brighter on the left for a 3D look. I think it worked particularly well on the strap around the main plate.

 

Definately! Like how you use an angled light while I use a straight up and down effect. Of course, I don't use lighting effects, I just use gradients.

 

I'm not familiar with blinds. Is that a feature in Photoshop? Not sure what you are using..

 

R

[liontamer]

Definately! Like how you use an angled light while I use a straight up and down effect. Of course, I don't use lighting effects, I just use gradients.

 

I'm not familiar with blinds. Is that a feature in Photoshop? Not sure what you are using..

 

R

 

I'm using Corel Paintshop Pro Photo X2.

 

If you don't have it, you could essentially do the same thing with a gradient that keeps repeating it self.

 

And I'm not sure that it bothers me enough to go back and fix it, but I just noticed something went wrong with my curve of the GHT in heavyweight.

[ReapeR]

I'm using Corel Paintshop Pro Photo X2.

 

If you don't have it, you could essentially do the same thing with a gradient that keeps repeating it self.

 

Ok, then we're on the same page then. That's what I use, normally, is a repeating gradient.

 

Thinking since you stated this is a "public" thread, that once I get all my things in order, I might put up belt straps and some of the different plates that I have found, tweaked or created while doing these. Give others a chance to cut and paste for their own unique titles. If you're cool with that?

 

R

[liontamer]

Ok, then we're on the same page then. That's what I use, normally, is a repeating gradient.

 

Thinking since you stated this is a "public" thread, that once I get all my things in order, I might put up belt straps and some of the different plates that I have found, tweaked or created while doing these. Give others a chance to cut and paste for their own unique titles. If you're cool with that?

 

R

 

completely.

[PeterHilton]

Love the show logos.

 

Any chance you're going to use your special effects trickery on some of the bigger CVerse companies?

[liontamer]

aren't those being done already?

[PhenomenalPat]

Is it just me that gets nothing but blank? I can't see a single one of the graphics....firefox can't even find the server. oh well. maybe later.

[liontamer]

Is it just me that gets nothing but blank? I can't see a single one of the graphics....firefox can't even find the server. oh well. maybe later.

 

it's through hotmail's skydrive. may have to unblock it.

[liontamer]

----edit to fill an empty post---

Reap,

 

to build on adding some resources, what we might be able to do is pool/swap some of our textures and things from our different programs to expand both of our libraries. I'm not sure how to do it yet, but if you do add as post here give me the code and I'll put a resource section on the main page with a direct link.

 

Also, I'm assuming it's either the eagle or the small version of the belt that you were referring to as blurry. If it's the eagle, there is a reason being that it was a pain to sketching using pro photo X2 (and the process did actually involve using blur effects). At some point I'm going to see if I can get my older version 7 to work because I usually got nicer outlines there.

 

In the meantime I'll try to clean the eagle up tomorrow and post it because my next project is to fill in the parts of the eagle that are missing so a full eagle can be used on belts making the ribbons and other things more flexible.

 

Speaking of the eagle... a tip mixed in with a funny oversight that other people might learn from... To save time, when ever possible, I do one half of a part of the belt and copy, mirror and paste to complete the other half. In rare cases where all four quarters oare the same you can do 1/4th copy an d paste it three times with flipping and mirroring etc. And example is the border on the main plate. I did the left half, and then used it to crease the right half. For the eagle, I accidentally cut too much off the bottom left and used the bottom right to fill it in.

 

the funny part was that initially I figured I could just cute the eagle in half and just mirror it to do the other half. Small problem though. I ended up with a two headed siamese (sp?) eagle. Wound up just cutting and mirroring the wing.

 

 

also to SWF fan below, no problem, glad you enjoyed them.

 

Wondering who did the render in your pic because one of my goals over the next few months is to learn how to make belts in daz. could use some advice from whoever has been adding 3D titles to some of the renders. Would be nice to play with an extra dimension to add realism.

[SWF Fan]

I did never get to thankyou for the stuff you did for me (mainly as I still haven't been able to get back on my original account) but thankyou for the belts you did for me.

 

I will be using them I think now in a game I'm doing for fun atm

 

Sean

SWF Fan

[PhenomenalPat]

That would explain it. Don't trust hotmail, they've long had a habit of using spyware and malware on their pages and in their products/programs/services.

 

Best of luck to ya, I avoid known spyware peddlers.

[liontamer]

That would explain it. Don't trust hotmail, they've long had a habit of using spyware and malware on their pages and in their products/programs/services.

 

Best of luck to ya, I avoid known spyware peddlers.

 

If you know of another free host site I could put a zip file up and update as appropriate

[PhenomenalPat]

megaupload.com or hotshare.net are both good ones.

 

Tho just because I'm anal about safety and don't trust hotmail doesn't mean I expect you to go out of your way to accommodate me. If you really don't mind, then cool. But if it's a hassle don't worry about it. I'm just anal about that stuff, as said, but others aren't so much. most people here I'm sure can see your files fine.

[Linsolv]

Much as I'm not the graphical powerhouse the other folks here are... um... I thought this might be the right place to ask...

 

Am I on the right track here, or...?

 

http://i49.tinypic.com/2rc20ev.png

http://i49.tinypic.com/9uykyb.png

[ReapeR]

Much as I'm not the graphical powerhouse the other folks here are... um... I thought this might be the right place to ask...

 

Am I on the right track here, or...?

 

http://i49.tinypic.com/2rc20ev.png

http://i49.tinypic.com/9uykyb.png

 

Short answer...

 

Yes! Definately on the right track.

 

It really depends on your preference, but maybe push the side plates out more and widen the center plate just a tad. (Unless of course, you wanted the thinner look)

 

Also, maybe taper the "straps" of the belt down some. That way they don't go straight across. (Once again, unless that's the look you like)

 

Other than that, nice use of bevels. Has a nice Old School "feel" to it.

 

Hope this helps.

Either way, keep it up.

 

R

[Linsolv]

The "thin" look was on purpose -- I had seen a belt I liked the shape of (Hence the somewhat weird octagon) which you can see here: http://www.wrestlingbeltworld.com/images/mb105.jpg

 

However, once I had the main plate, from there I mostly just guessed at what to do. So I'll have a look at the other parts (Moving the plates out, tapering the strap -- gonna need to resize the side plates -- et cetera).

 

I do have a question, how do you guys (ReapeR and Liontamer specifically, since I hate unspecified pronouns) get such realistic metal looks? Is it just gradients, and I need to work on it a bit, or is there a trick?

[liontamer]

Looking at it right now. The first thing that stands out is the shape. Most people prefer the more 'modern' shape of the large and wide center plate and here they seem to prefer more angled straps. That said I've seen a lof belts shaped that way so it's perfectly legit.

 

 

What I like

-The borders on the plate look good (meaning 3D, realistic etc.) as does most of the stuff on the pates.

-The layout is simple but effective.

-Looks like you applied good texture to the plates and you definately did to the belt strap.

-the color of the plates looks good, as opposed to some of mine that look more yellow than gold.

-everything is legible on the small version

 

What I would suggest to try

- might experiment with different sizes of plates. Make sure this is the arrangement you like best.

- experiment with lighting/gradients and other effects to try to make it more 3D

- see if you can get more detail out of the stuff on the top half of the main plate. It looks like you lost some detail on the engravings to the side of the wrestlers and I'd probably make the silver on the wrestlers a little brighter so it stands out more from the gold.

- add some kind of border on the outside of the belt strap. There is usually something lining the outside of the strap. figure out whatever it is you want and go for it.

- If you're going for an older title I think what you have fits the bill. If you're going for a more modern look I'd probably look into adding a litlte more background engravings as the plates are often very busy, especially if it's upper card.

 

 

Also wondering what program you used. This reminds me a lot of some of the belts I saw a few months ago when I browsed through the MMA belts thread. There was one poster who's work stood out form the rest and whatever that person used was defintely different form what I use (and it looks different from what reaper uses as well), - in a good way that improved realism when used right.

 

Also, and I'm guessing that the answer is yes based on the format of the large one, but did you save it in stages that make it alterable later? That's probably the best thing you can do because then you can re-use parts for future belts or if some asked you turn this into a belt for another promotion you could do that easily as opposed to having to erase stuff off of the plate and then repair it.

 

 

----edit after seeing the second post------

Reaper tends to do it all with gradients with the lightest part in the center. I use gradients (but the ones in pro phot X2 tend to have more assymetrical scaling and are usually harder to make things look realistic with - see the ribbons on the TNA belt, some of the gradient I used on the ribbons doesn't make sense, i.e. why is the right half of the ribbons lighter when the light sources are on the left) and then lighting where I put spotlights above it. In the past I put the spotlights directly on top for symmetry, but with the TNA title I experimented with off centered lights to mimic the pic I was working from and to try to make it look more 3D. I like it, so I'll probably keep doing it unless I come up with something better.

 

Also just saw reaps post above. As he said you used bevels very well and that is one of the best ways to make the belts look 3D. With gradients I even use them often over small areas of the belt (see the UWA TV Title - used it on all of the risen parts of the backround. it's the same gradient over and over, but it looks different because it's offest due to all of the different shapes

 

I also like to use chiseling and drop shadows as appropriate and size them in relation to the size of the objects they are being used on (in the past titles the drop shadow was straight down, but now that the lighting is off to the upper left the shadows are to the lower right as they would be in real life).

[ReapeR]

I couldn't agree more.

 

I use Photoshop CS3. Not sure what you use, but you apparently have a fairly good grasp of your program's features.

 

For me, I try to make all my titles very metallic looking. Sometimes it works, sometimes not as much. The color of the plate you start with makes a big difference when applying the gradients.

 

I keep trying different combinations of colors/bevels/gradients to get the look I'm going for. In the past I stuck with a Hard gradient with reflective. I usually reverse it and pump it up to 100 brightness.

 

Lately, I've moved to a Linear gradient with a "Silver" scheme on Angle. I stick with either a 90 or 180 degree angles to give it a more straight up and down look.

 

I think that's it for now. Once I get some PSD's uploaded, I link them here for download so you and anyone else can "reverse" render them.

 

The best advice I can give is to just keep trying different things.

 

R

 

 

**EDIT**

 

Almost forgot, if you haven't already done so, check out my thread, there is a link to Payne's video tutorial. That is what I used to learn.