The Tournament Director Forums

Main => Help Me => Topic started by: sgt21 on February 18, 2006, 06:58:09 PM

Title: Chip Images
Post by: sgt21 on February 18, 2006, 06:58:09 PM
I am trying to scan and insert custom chip images for the chip sets. I am new to graphics so how do i edit my images to just the chip and no background like in the samples. What would be the easiest and cheapest software to use.
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: Captn_All_In on February 19, 2006, 07:56:12 AM
A truly cheap way would be to use the paint program.  Rough copy/cut the scan/pic of your chip then paste it in a new file.  Color fill the background to match the chip color and then fill in the spaces.   
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: sgt21 on February 20, 2006, 06:25:24 AM
thanks Capt i was trying to find a way with out the background just the chip. That way i don't have to worry about the changing color of the background it is place on. Are you the same capt at chiptalk.
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: Captn_All_In on February 20, 2006, 07:03:55 AM
Sorry about that.  I guess I misunderstood.

Yeah I am the same one on Chiptalk. 
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: tandemrx on February 20, 2006, 08:55:11 AM
You need to use an image editing program and set your background (portion outside of the chip border) to be transparent.

I just tried this as a .gif file and it worked. 

I can't remember if .jpg supports transparency but I think it does - for some reason I can't get it to work in .jpg format right now, but I am working with a new graphics program and just haven't figured out the transparency setting for .jpg files.
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: tandemrx on February 20, 2006, 08:58:29 AM
Oh, I guess you were asking about software program,

Like someone said, you could just set the background color of your chip to the background color used in your layout.  That you could probably do with the basic windows paint program.

I use Paint Shop Pro.  This is  a full featured graphics program, but much cheaper than the more versatile Adobe graphics program.

Most any image editing program should fit the bill to create the background as being transparent (best solution, because then you can use any layout background color or different color for even and odd rounds and the chip will still show up without a square border).

Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: Corey Cooper on February 20, 2006, 09:36:26 AM
As far as I know, JPG does not support transparency, so your best bet is GIF.  Another decent graphics program is Lview Pro (http://www.lview.com).  I'm not a graphics person, so I can't say which is best, but it's less expensive at $39.95.
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: sgt21 on February 21, 2006, 07:55:09 AM
Thanks all thats what I needed I think I will try lview pro they have a Free trial.
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: sgt21 on February 21, 2006, 09:13:34 AM
Well I must be doing something wrong or I am a complete idiot. Either I cant get the entire background to go transparent just partial not sure if i am scanning it wrong or what. Its a little frustrating.
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: MooseWizard on February 22, 2006, 09:09:02 PM
Get GIMP, it's free and can do transparency.

http://www.gimp.org/

Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: mrplayer on February 26, 2006, 04:34:21 PM
Can anyone tell me what size the images should be to match the plain color chip defaults?
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: Corey Cooper on February 27, 2006, 10:07:33 AM
If I remember correctly, setting the size attribute of the <chips> token should describe pixel size.  So, whether you're using the built-in chip images (solid colored) or your own images, a size of "30" should render images of 30 pixels by 30 pixels.
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: myowntable.com on March 22, 2006, 08:05:50 PM
The way I did my chips is scanned each one in with a piece of colored paper behind them. Then I used Photoshop and "cut out" the chips, pasted them into their own picture and saved them seperately. I then made the background of the isolated chip the same color as my background in TD. It is fairly time consuming, but looks alot better than the colored disks. Maybe there should be a way to U/L chip sets, and people could just unzip into their directory for chips????

Myowntable
Title: Re: Chip Images
Post by: _Hithere_ on April 01, 2006, 01:30:55 AM
To get the chip size to match (This is only important if you are using a mix of custom chips and the included pics.)  Make sure you crop the picture of your chip so the edges of teh transparrent background are close to the edges of the chip on all sides.\

Incidentally, I just used Powerpoint for my chip scan editing, and it worked fine  (Much better than what I got with paint)