Costume Screenshots Advice Wanted

[Blondeshell]

As part of my efforts to "Archive EVERYTHING" before shutdown, I scrambled to grab screenshots of all the costume pieces for inclusion in Paragon Wiki (as documented here). Now that we have the glorious tool that is Titan Icon, I can revisit this in a more relaxed and quality-focused manner. (I also have a new computer with a modern video card and larger monitor, which will help make the screenshots look even better.) However, I still only want to have to do this once, so whatever we decide will be seen across thousands of images.

I'm looking for advice as to what color scheme to use for these screenshots. I've already modified the background layers in the costume creator to give me various shades of gray instead of the red-tinted cityscape (similar to this). My main concern is what will look good for the actual costume pieces, taking into account considerations for washed out textures, people with color-blindness, and general aesthetics.

Choice 1
Primary: Red
Secondary: Blue

This was the color scheme I had picked as my favorite on the original run of screenshots. I liked the general aesthetic choice of the good, standard primary colors, the blended areas are easily-distinguished as purple, and the texture details aren't washed out in the blue areas of the chest. The only drawback that I can see is that the colors are a bit dark, which causes textures in shadow (under the armpit) to be hard to see.




Choice 2
Primary: Red
Secondary: White

This color scheme was used for several of the existing screenshots of costume pieces, and generally works, too, especially for shadowed areas. The main problems I have are that the textures in the white areas tend to be washed out when illuminated, and some costume pieces have lighter areas baked in which make it hard to distinguish what is tintable with the secondary color.




Choice 6
Primary: Blue
Secondary: Yellow




Choice 3
Primary: Yellow
Secondary: Purple

This color scheme was used for some previous screenshots, and should be okay for color-blindness, but the yellow has some of the same problems as white with being washed out, and it's a bit garish overall. Blended areas are almost skin tone.




Choice 4
Primary: Orange
Secondary: Green

This one just kinda makes my eyes hurt.




Choice 5a
Primary: Teal
Secondary: Violet

This is nice as a non-primary color scheme, but runs into the same problems with dark colors in shadows. Also, I have no idea how this behaves for color-blind people.




Choice 5b
Primary: Violet
Secondary: Teal

Reversed version of 5a, which helps a bit for the shadowed areas.




It'll still be a little while before I'm ready to resume this project, so that'll give people some time to (hopefully) see this thread and weigh in with their votes.

[chuckv3]

If you are looking for votes of any kind, the white and red works best for me.

[Aggelakis]

I used red and white on the pieces I did because of the high contrast. There are relatively few "problem parts" (I would judge 1-5%) that make this option a bad choice.

Red and blue is OK (it would be my second choice), but the rest of them are not archive-attractive at all.

[Tacitala]

Have you tried seeing how a blue and yellow color combo would work?  That's another classic pairing for color contrast.  Otherwise I would lean towards the red and blue.

[Blondeshell]

I used blue and yellow when I took screenshots of the pre-selected costume sets (wiki link). It does have good contrast and visibility in shadows, but the blended areas don't make a definitive green as you might expect them to.

[Globetrotter]

I like the red and white best.

[Steelhelm]

Yeah, I also think the red and white looks like the best choice out of all of them.

[Sekoia]

As a color blind person, I find 2 (Red/White) works best for me. 3 (Yellow/Purple) also works well, though not as well as 2. 1 (Red/Blue) is tolerable but not great (I can differentiate them but since they're both dark, it's not very high contrast). Options 4 (Orange/Green), 5a (Teal/Violet) and 5b (Violet/Teal) are all pretty horrible for me; the colors blend together pretty well to my eyes so there's nearly no contrast.

Looking at a few of the screenshots for blue/yellow, it also works well. Better than 3 (yellow/purple). Perhaps tied with 2 (red/white).

So my vote is very strongly for 2 (red/white). And I would strongly advise against 4 or 5a/b.

[Blondeshell]

I've added Choice 6 (Blue/Yellow) to the original list, and shrunk the images a bit to make them easier to compare on one screen at the same time.

Upon closer inspection, the blended areas are a bit more noticeably green than I originally thought.

And I do think it's important to have a darker primary color because it'll be more soothing to the eye when viewing all the monochromatic costume pieces.

[Felderburg]

I think that whatever works best with color blindness is the way to go. Which seems like Red / White, based on Sekoia's post.

[Sekoia]

Having revisited this page several times, I'd say that Blue/Yellow is pretty well on par with Red/White. So either of them would be good choices, I think.

EDIT: Also, this site may be helpful if you want to get a rough idea of how well something might work for various kinds of colorblindness: http://www.color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator/

[Felderburg]

A question I have: is there already a standard way costumes are imaged on the wiki? If you're going to take pictures of everything, then it doesn't matter (it seems like this is what you're going to do). But if you're only going to fill in, making sure your pics fit is important.

[Blondeshell]

A question I have: is there already a standard way costumes are imaged on the wiki?

Nope, definitely not. For example:

If you're going to take pictures of everything, then it doesn't matter (it seems like this is what you're going to do). But if you're only going to fill in, making sure your pics fit is important.

Yes, my goal is to take the highest-quality pictures I can of everything with consistent backgrounds, color schemes, poses, and resolutions. I'm aware that that couldn't really have been done as time went on because the costume creation screen changed multiple times. But we do now have that luxury since there's no further development going on with the game. It's just still gonna take a while to get it done.

[Felderburg]

I assumed that was the case... and I do not envy the task you've set yourself. Is there any way I can help? My computer can probably handle ultra mode in the creator, since the game won't actually be played...

[Thirty-Seven]

Choice 2
Primary: Red
Secondary: White

This color scheme was used for several of the existing screenshots of costume pieces, and generally works, too, especially for shadowed areas. The main problems I have are that the textures in the white areas tend to be washed out when illuminated, and some costume pieces have lighter areas baked in which make it hard to distinguish what is tintable with the secondary color.

This would be my vote... if this is still a thing, anyway.