OLD: The Fake Card Resources and Help Thread

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Wigglytuff said:
What is the best photo editor to use for fake cards on a Mac? I absolutely hate mac because nothing works on it, but I can't get a new computer or anything so...
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OS X honestly has some of the best image editing programs, but the problem is they're rarely free. Considering their cost, I guess they rightly assume most Mac users won't mind paying for some extra quality. I personally dislike Photoshop, it feels like legacy built upon legacy, and the interface varies between abysmal and atrocious (I haven't used the latest version, though). It's not a bad program, but it's not at all enjoyable to work with. If you're willing to pay $30, the program I use as a Photoshop replacement is Pixelmator, which is light and easy-to-use, but can do most things you'd except of Photoshop. I bought it a few years ago and have gotten every update since it was added to the App Store for free. It's honestly one of the best investments I've made, considering all the stuff I've made with it over the years, including nearly 100 fake cards now. A one-time payment of $30 is a very small investment if you plan on using it often, considering the prices of most professional image editing programs. There are some other programs with roughly the same capabilities and in roughly the same price range, but in my experience Pixelmator blows them all out of the water.

Macs sadly aren't really made for people unwilling to pay for stuff, so if you want a legal and free image editor you're probably stuck with either GIMP or an outdated Photoshop. Both should be adequate, but neither are really made with a Mac in mind.
 
Well I tried out Gimp to see what the new version was like and I made this beautiful banner
t1wigglytuff_banner.png

I guess I'll try to make cards now, this seems like a good enough editor for it
 
Wigglytuff said:
Well I tried out Gimp to see what the new version was like and I made this beautiful banner
t1wigglytuff_banner.png

I guess I'll try to make cards now, this seems like a good enough editor for it
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That looks kind of strange, as if it was resized poorly.

Anyway, if you have access to a free version of photoshop, why not get it? It's much better and honestly I like its interface.
 
Nod3 said:
Wigglytuff said:
Well I tried out Gimp to see what the new version was like and I made this beautiful banner
t1wigglytuff_banner.png

I guess I'll try to make cards now, this seems like a good enough editor for it
Click to expand...

That looks kind of strange, as if it was resized poorly.

Anyway, if you have access to a free version of photoshop, why not get it? It's much better and honestly I like its interface.
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I tried to get photoshop and it won't download to my computer :(
Im not good with computers
And what looks strange about the banner? I like it.
 
Wigglytuff said:
I tried to get photoshop and it won't download to my computer :(
Im not good with computers
And what looks strange about the banner? I like it.
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I think it might have more to do with your image host...the image probably looks great on your computer, but on our side it's coming in distorted, or in my case, not at all.

I know Photobucket is really popular as a free, stable image host, but again, since the topic is advice, everyone can have a chance to rep their favourites.
 
Can confirm, all of Wigglytuff's images appear as broken in the forum and as 404 pages in new tabs. I'd recommend DeviantART, so you can get feedback from users there as well as here.
I've also been using Dropbox for recent image uploads, so I'd recommend that too.
 
Don't use Dropbox for image hosting; if your images get too much traffic, your account gets temporarily locked.

I recommend imgur. The front page can contain inappropriate content, but it's all thumbnails and if you can ignore it, it's the best image host. Completely free, and all you have to do is drag and drop. Doesn't do anything annoying like other image hosts, which may resize your image or distort it, or in photo buckets case, not allow you to view the image directly, instead forcing you to view it on the main page, which is extremely annoying.
 
Alternatively, you could use puush (http://puush.me), but I believe that's temporary - if nobody accesses your file for a month I think, it's basically gone. (this only applies to the online copy, of course) (I could be wrong though, since this only from memory.) The advantage is that it's convenient and doesn't require you to go to a website; it's a program that uploads stuff quickly.
 
Ah, I had no idea Dropbox had limits like that. Turns out a single 500kb card can be viewed 40k times per day before your Dropbox account gets locked (20GB/100k downloads per day are the limits); having several cards per thread would affect that even more... I'd recommend DeviantART fully then.

I guess now I better start uploading my newer cards to DA before they all pile up in my Dropbox account and get too many combined views >_>
 
Okay, I see what went wrong now. It was your interpolation. The way it was resized makes it all... Difficult to describe. If you used bicubic it will be blurry, and if you used nearest neighbour, that means that the proportion ratios are wrong. (eg: if I had an image that was 50px by 50px and changed it to 100px by 97px, it would become distorted).
 
Nod3 said:
Okay, I see what went wrong now. It was your interpolation. The way it was resized makes it all... Difficult to describe. If you used bicubic it will be blurry, and if you used nearest neighbour, that means that the proportion ratios are wrong. (eg: if I had an image that was 50px by 50px and changed it to 100px by 97px, it would become distorted).
Click to expand...
Alright, thanks. But it is fixed now right?
 
Wigglytuff said:
Nod3 said:
Okay, I see what went wrong now. It was your interpolation. The way it was resized makes it all... Difficult to describe. If you used bicubic it will be blurry, and if you used nearest neighbour, that means that the proportion ratios are wrong. (eg: if I had an image that was 50px by 50px and changed it to 100px by 97px, it would become distorted).
Click to expand...
Alright, thanks. But it is fixed now right?
Click to expand...

It's better, but unfortunately it isn't fixed. If you send me the original size, I can scale it up for you if you like.

The trick is to increase its size in both directions by the same factor, so something that's 100px by 500px would become 200px by 1000px, if it was scaled at a factor of 2.
 
Can one of the more savvy fakers here help me with the EX rule for XY blanks? I want to modify it. I think I've got the text "Pokemon-EX" rule, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the rule explanation text (the whole two prize cards bit).

It doesn't have to be perfect, but something that at least -looks- like it's the real deal will be good enough.
 
You mean like the font? It should just be one of the Gill Sans variants. It certainly looks like that.
Based off one of Aschefield101's cards, I do believe that it is one of the Gill Sans variants.

Try this:
Gill Sans Condensed Bold at 9pt, sharp anti-aliasing, with 90% width. For the EX bit I'm not sure, but try, Gill Sans ExtraBold Display at 9pt, sharp anti-aliasing with 90% width and photoshop's faux italic setting. you can also try Arial Black with Italic settings. I honestly don't know how to replicate this perfectly.

Setting all of the text to -40 letter spacing, and it's basically indistinguishable to the naked eye. (except the EX bit)

I'll upload a PSD of the different font settings to my deviant art in a second.

Sta.sh download: http://sta.sh/01svo2gjoubb

Edit you also need a 1px white stroke
 
Well, I started work on my first Image card, and I need some help with it.
It's a Professor Oak Full Art, and I would like to know how you add texture to it? Like when you feel a Full Art card, there are ridges on it. I was wondering how I could add those to my picture to make it look more realistic. Also, I downloaded fonts from PA, and I can't find out how to access them on gimp.
0cwp5Xa.png
 
Having done one full art card, this is how I did it:
  • Start with a basic layer of alternating one-pixel lines and transparency. This layer should be between 1.5 and 2 times the size of the canvas of the card.
  • Expand this layer to 150% width/height (just to make it so you can actually see the lines later on. If you don't do this, it might turn into a gray blur in places. Duplicate this layer a bunch (or keep a vanilla copy safe somewhere). You can also do, say, concentric circles or other shapes. Just make sure they're alternating.
  • Look through your menu of warping/distorting effects (don't ask me how to do this on GIMP; I use Photoshop) and just try things until you get something that looks interesting. Alternatively, you can use a variety of other methods to apply some pattern here, like cutting shapes and rotating them. Just mind that you're going to be doing this a lot, so don't just throw things away if they're not immediately useful.
  • Alternatively you can start with a pre-made texture (you can find a few on deviant art) and slightly modify it for your purpose.
  • Set the transparency type on your texture layer to Multiply at ~60-85% (you can fiddle with this. It's dependent on the card, often).
  • Pick whatever you want to texture (I started with the background, but whatever). If you already have some pattern on the background (like you do) you will want something to highlight those (this might be a different texture layer altogether). Make sure you mask the layer only to cover what you need it
  • When dealing with smaller parts of the card, like rule bars, or the card border, you can often get away with just using a random texture and moving it around until you find some part of it that fits (look at real cards to get an idea of the way the texture follows the contours of the art and other card elements).
  • And with some fiddling, you're done!

As for fonts, you have to find the folder where you downloaded them and highlight all of them. Then, right click and click "Install" or "Install fonts". They should then be found within the fonts menu in GIMP. Some fonts include alternate typesets (such as Condensed, Bold, Heavy, etc.), and these may be under a second menu after you select the font.

Also, where did you get that blank? It seems to have some bad masking around the edges, and is completely missing translucency on the rule bar (if you look at any actual scans, you can partially see through that bit). And the art itself could do with some better masking too. Remember: The polygonal lasso tool is your friend!
 
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