Alert the Colbert Nation (We need a Colbert SuperNation TV-Ready Webpage!)

[Colette]

Artifacting... an artist is only as good as his ingredients. I'm getting these images off the web, all of which are jpegs. Even with bmps, I'm sure for bandwidth issues mandrake wants the final product in jpeg. edit:  Is so, Mandrake? If you prefer .png I will deliver.

As to the crowd, I'm honestly content with it, because it acts as a single image rather than calling the eye around to look at all the scatter.

While I'm no artist, I was a letterer for comics. Really. Electronic, mind! I'm not Todd Klein. Anyhoo, I do understand the idea of guiding the eye around the page. We have three critical elements to express: City Hall, Obi Wan Statesman, and the crowd. They're in an off-center triangle, with the (unimportant and monochromatic) statue to the left providing balance. Y'all see?

Oh, what am I doing? Show, don't tell! Hollywood's most important rule (besides asking for gross.)

Hmm... now that I look at it, the brightness of the dome does draw the eye right there, doesn't it? Okay, I toned it down a little.

And while I don't wanna interfere with Vy's process, it seems to me she had a straight pyramid with earlier drafts, but as the fireballs and the Boobettes came in, the pyramid was lost.

OH! Also Vy and Mandrake, if I may bother you, earlier drafts were pretty much "before/after," the doors of City Hall remained in the same place for both images. Keeping that center seems to me vital to our before/after effect. ...Did that make sense?

[Little Green Frog]

Artifacting... an artist is only as good as his ingredients. I'm getting these images off the web, all of which are jpegs. Even with bmps, I'm sure for bandwidth issues mandrake wants the final product in jpeg. So, nothin' at all to be done about that.

PNG is a web ready image format that offers lossless (no artifacts even with many resaves) compression.

[Altoholic Monkey]

I wish I had seen this thread sooner and given some input.  I am unable to see the website for some reason, is it down? I got a look at it

May I ask what is the message of the image that is being created? I kind of missed that with the number of variations being posted.

[Colette]

Hmm... from the top.

The Colbert Report is a Comedy Central parody of over-the-top conservative commentators such as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coultour and so forth. It is hyper-patriotic and Stephen Colbert himself, while intelligent and well-informed, plays a rather ill-informed flag-waving dunce. He also likes comic books.

(I don't even own a TV, and I know this.)

We're trying to get our SaveCoH movement some TV coverage, by playing this as "eeebil foreign corporation destroys beautiful community of patriotic superheroes." Which isn't far off the mark, in my opinion. This makes us more visible, and continues to cast NCSoft in a negative light for how they've treated their once-loyal customers.

(At least that's how I understand it. I'm just making what V.V. asked for, and that's all on page one.)

[Colette]

By the way, y'all, we were talking about the creepy Boobettes? A recent article on Cracked.com included these lovely pullover masks. Look familiar?


Hi, I'll be your Nightmare Fuel Station attendant today. Would you like regular or high octane?

[TimtheEnchanter]

By the way, y'all, we were talking about the creepy Boobettes? A recent article on Cracked.com included these lovely pullover masks. Look familiar?

I'm confused now... I thought the problem was how the characters were dressed and how they move... not the overall style. Why is it suddenly sounding like the problem is, it's Anime?

[Colette]

Oh, I dig anme!

In addition to their ridiculous proportions, the B&S atrocities look like soulless dolls, like that shiver-inducing thing.

[JanessaVR]

I'm confused now... I thought the problem was how the characters were dressed and how they move... not the overall style. Why is it suddenly sounding like the problem is, it's Anime?

Oh, indeed, I'm a huge anime fan.  Blade & Soul's issue is that it's looking like an unintentional parody of the most ludicrous anime fanservice ever presented - and in a disturbing, creepy way.

...The soulless dolls are looking at me!  Make them stop!   

[Mister Bison]

I'm confused now... I thought the problem was how the characters were dressed and how they move... not the overall style. Why is it suddenly sounding like the problem is, it's Anime?

Not only. The character artist of B&S if a very famous erotic or semi-erotic artist famous for drawing unrealistic females with overexagerrated feminine features, particularly, lemon boobs. (not safe for work article on gomakemeasandwich)

[Andy]

Now then I am going to step in here and say a few things. This is a community project, however I am putting my foot down on any further PC issues. This particular project is targeted toward a niche part of a larger community. That niche being part of an exterior community that is all about a particular ease of mind and enjoyment that we are attempting to access for publicity. Many people are working hard on this project myself included and although I appreciate everyone has their own opinions and I don't mind hearing them out - now that we've had those debates I don't want them to keep trickling in here.

Unless something is just blatantly racist or bigoted then please do not start in on me or anyone else here. Otherwise I will be glad to hand this off to someone else and you can hand out trophies to everyone that came in 10th place. Whatever floats your boat. Yes I am a bit defensive of those that work hard, but at the same time I really get tired of the constant bickering on this subject, especially when it has all been gone over. If you are personally offended then please PM me and I'll be happy to have a rational and sincere discussion with you about the matter.

Sorry to quote you here, but your concerns seems to echo some of the others mentioned!

I certainly wasn't trying to discourage anyone or cause friction yesterday when I mentioned how the "ads" were coming off to me. I have almost zero skill with Photoshop or webpage editing, so please don't take any concerns I raise as "You suck, I could do better!" I definitely can't. I think the Colbert angle is a great one, and if he were to include it on his show, yes - it's likely he would do an over-the-top-foreign-entity-vs- America-hell-yes approach. From where I'm standing, we're better off focusing on NCSoft as an evil corporation that ate superheroes and then the Colbert people can decide if they want to include the evil corporation's location or whatever else as part of the satire.

The first run of images, while very well done, could have the appearance of racism - not satire. We don't have the reputation or history available in the public mind to be given the benefit of the doubt. Not like Colbert does (and even some people don't realize he's doing satire. Scary but true!) No, I don't think anyone here was going for anything other than satire, but I know this community. And yes, I understand this pitch is intended for the Colbert Report production team, but it's hard to control things on the internet and the only reason I voiced concerns was because I care about SaveCoH and all the people who are working so hard on it. I don't want our good intentions to be misconstrued and used against us. Not saying that will happen, but you never know.

I completely agree that if we're going to voice dissenting opinions, we should do so in a courteous and thoughtful way. But, I  guess I don't think raising concerns or pointing out how things might come across differently than they're intended to is disrespectful. I'm not saying this to perpetuate further strife or tension, but I also don't want to see people's voices get squashed out of fear of causing disagreements. I think it's safe to say those of us who are still around and still posting on NCSoft's wall and tweeting and sending letters to Disney LOVE this game and LOVE this community. That's all! I don't want people who don't know us to get the wrong idea.

[VyoletRose]

Hey all - I removed my previous designs because of the growing concern that they could be taken, misinterpreted and misused. I don't want to smudge CoH, especially since we're trying to appeal to Disney.

[Andy]

Hey all - I removed my previous designs because of the growing concern that they could be taken, misinterpreted and misused. I don't want to smudge CoH, especially since we're trying to appeal to Disney.

Sorry you felt that way? I thought your designs were great, especially the final rendering. The last one had the feel I think everyone was going for - satire. I don't think suggesting alternative ways of doing things is a condemnation of intention.

[Colette]

"I certainly wasn't trying to discourage anyone or cause friction yesterday...."

Andy, your approach was considerate and thoughtful, and I for one was certainly not offended.

I'll miss Mr. Angry Asian Dude, but using Kim is good too.

[Andy]

"I certainly wasn't trying to discourage anyone or cause friction yesterday...."

Andy, your approach was considerate and thoughtful, and I for one was certainly not offended.

I'll miss Mr. Angry Asian Dude, but using Kim is good too.

Thanks, Colette. I was definitely not trying to disparage anyone's intentions or character.

[Altoholic Monkey]

It's okay to take into account if someone is going to be offended by using a particular image. Saying something is "too PC" is just a way to bushing off what are legitimate concerns.  The moment anyone ignores those concerns is the moment when bad things happen. Having racial and cultural sensitive is a good thing, it means you have a broad world view.

If we are creating an image to communicate our message with the potential of it being seen on television, then we better be darn sure we will not offend anyone or else message will be muddled.

Also,  if you create something and post it to a community, expect that people will give their honest opinion.  This is a good thing, it lets you know if your creation is sending the message you intended.

Let's all remember that everyone is volunteering their time and effort. Whether they are providing creative artwork or providing feedback. Everyone is supporting the movement in their own way.  So those who are creating images/artwork have to be able to take critiques and suggestions. Those giving feedback should do so constructively.

[Little Green Frog]

Artifacting... an artist is only as good as his ingredients. I'm getting these images off the web, all of which are jpegs. Even with bmps, I'm sure for bandwidth issues mandrake wants the final product in jpeg. edit:  Is so, Mandrake? If you prefer .png I will deliver.

A JPEG file with high quality settings (I am assuming you are using Photoshop) created from the original image will have no visible artifacts either. These appear after you open and save a JPEG several times in a row, as the losses introduced by the compression algorithm accumulate. So assuming your source materials are not affected by their own artifacts, JPEG will provide you with the best file size and good quality. PNGs are bigger (although usually not that much), but because they do not alter the image in any way, they are great for reuse - like if the image goes viral and other people start creating their own variations based on the original image. Just thought this knowledge may prove to be helpful in your efforts.

[JanessaVR]

Hey all - I removed my previous designs because of the growing concern that they could be taken, misinterpreted and misused. I don't want to smudge CoH, especially since we're trying to appeal to Disney.

I thought that might happen...so I made sure to save copies for myself.   

[Colette]

Picture Publisher, actually.

"These appear after you open and save a JPEG several times in a row, as the losses introduced by the compression algorithm accumulate."

Ahh... got it. Makes sense. And yes, that is helpful.

I can start fresh again, and save to pngs. Have it ready for Mandrake.

Addendum: Nuts. still not gonna help. See, everything's from jpeg. I didn't make that "base" shot of City Hall from a demo recorder, but from an online jpeg. We're in a hurry, y'know.

"...assuming your source materials are not affected by their own artifacts...."

Exactly! You can see the base "layers" back on page three. The artifacts are already there. I immediately converted 'em to bmps for my own processing, but the damage was done before I even started.

Even if I did get a demoreord shot of Atlas Park, the Statesman image and the crowd are still jpegs, complete with artifacting. Some elements, like the flag and the flyers, I could fix by upgunning the whole image's resolution, but there's not a lot of point, is there?

Sorry, folks. I did mention I'm not an artist, just a guy futzing around with apps. We'll just have to run with it, and it's still pretty good, I think.

[Little Green Frog]

Addendum: Nuts. still not gonna help. See, everything's from jpeg. I didn't make that "base" shot of City Hall from a demo recorder, but from an online jpeg. We're in a hurry, y'know.

"...assuming your source materials are not affected by their own artifacts...."

Exactly! You can see the base "layers" back on page three. The artifacts are already there. I immediately converted 'em to bmps for my own processing, but the damage was done before I even started.

Even if I did get a demoreord shot of Atlas Park, the Statesman image and the crowd are still jpegs, complete with artifacting. Some elements, like the flag and the flyers, I could fix by upgunning the whole image's resolution, but there's not a lot of point, is there?

Sorry, folks. I did mention I'm not an artist, just a guy futzing around with apps. We'll just have to run with it, and it's still pretty good, I think.

Here's high resolution image of Statesman's crotch with the rest of him attached:
http://www.gameguyz.ru/sites/default/files/pictures/Freedom3_1600x1200.jpg

As for the city hall, you may try sifting through these: http://goo.gl/WEosL. Maybe there will be a picture that will fit your vision. If not, perhaps someone would be willing to make a high resolution screenshot of the hall using the demorecord functionality.

[Colette]

"The character artist of B&S if a very famous erotic or semi-erotic artist famous for drawing unrealistic females...."

What next, the Rob Liefeld MMO? 
 
"...with the rest of him attached."

Heh!

Yup yup, 16 by 12 would do it! Heck, my whole screen's only 14 by 9.

Okay, if anyone took the trouble to make a high-rez demo record image of City Hall (Hmm... that's the old City Hall, ennit?) I'd certainly take the trouble to redo the image. If I had the "ingredients," cooking the image up again would be easy work, and it would look nicer.

We'd also need a high rez version of that crowd. Gotta be one somewhere, I'd think.

Either way, I... honestly don't see it as that big an issue. The site as it stands works, don't need to make a career out of it.