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Rank: L3: Swoj-fan
Joined: 8/15/2003
Posts: 782
Location: United Kingdom
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NO do not go for Photoshop elements. In my [humble] opinion it is the foul bereathen of evil. Phtoshop 6 has a bottlenecks, 7 is great and CS and CS2 are even better.
The Photoshop CS on ebay are £12 each. Go for it man, much easier to make websites with Photoshop
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Rank: Admin
Joined: 7/8/2003
Posts: 791
Location: United Kingdom
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I personally use PSP9, as for random things I've done in the past I've always used PSP so know how to use it and its shortcuts, whereas PS would just be learning from scratch again.
There are definitely some aspects to photoshop that are better than on PSP and things that you can do, which you can't on PSP, which is why I have it as well. But FOr general stuff it is just PSP for me.
As for templates - some sites have got lots of different templates to use. Some are just a blank file with guidelines showing where the spine is etc. But I don't see the point of them too much.
Other templates are studio themed ones. The likes of Warner Bros., Touchstone or whoever usually have the same style for all their releases - e.g. the legal crap, the credits block, the location of the special features, the banner along hte top of the front, the spine layout - so some people have made a template for the studios, which you fit your design around.
Again, I don't like this that much as if I am making a custom, it is generally cause I don't like the studio's design, so am not wanting it to look like a studio cover. I want it to look like how I want it to, so there will be none of that legal crap that I never read.
So if you are looking for guidelines on sizes, here's a starter:
The front/back of a cover is 1535 pixels at 300dpi.
For a standard case the spine is 170 pixels.
If you are making a set that will have a spanning spine image, then it is best to make the spine about 180 pixels per case, reducing the front and back by 5. Some people make the spines a little bigger still, but you gotta be carefull not to make them too big.
A 6 disc case will have a spine of about 1" these days. The ones in the UK are about 1 1/16 inches, so the spine will be about 300 pixels or 320 roughly respectively.
As for what to print on - I've been told that glossy paper gives the best results, but I've also been told that getting the right paper for the printer is also vital. So if you've got a Epson printer, use Epson paper and Epson inks. Apparently if you use something like, for example, HP paper in an Epson printer with Epson ink, the ink might not dry as well/at all, or could fade much faster, could print rather smudged... etc.
This is apparetly cause the inks and papers are chemically designed to match each other.
If you got any questions please feel free to ask!!
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Rank: Admin
Joined: 7/8/2003
Posts: 791
Location: United Kingdom
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My latest one done for a cover contest at one of the cover sites I use... Not much done to it as the single image encompassed most of the work! The writing on the spine was all completely done by me though, using a combination of fonts. Zatoichi - The Blind Swordsman  
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Rank: Martian Estate Agent
Joined: 9/14/2003
Posts: 3,358
Location: United Kingdom
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Now this is impressive!
Full On Design
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Rank: L3: Swoj-fan
Joined: 8/15/2003
Posts: 782
Location: United Kingdom
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Hmmm I really like this although I think there needs to be other shapes eg. borders middles. But this is great.
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Rank: Admin
Joined: 7/8/2003
Posts: 791
Location: United Kingdom
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Yeah it could possibly do with something like a frame around the special features box, or something like that so that it didn't look so much like floating text... will think about that and maybe give it a try and see if it looks ok. The thing i'd be worried about there is covering the left samurai's sword, as that is one of the main things on the back image.
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Rank: Martian Estate Agent
Joined: 9/14/2003
Posts: 3,358
Location: United Kingdom
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Rank: Admin
Joined: 7/8/2003
Posts: 791
Location: United Kingdom
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Rank: Admin
Joined: 8/26/2002
Posts: 3,467
Location: United Kingdom
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They look good, though there are few images from a certain airplane episode that I think would look great on the spine! Or even on the front cover 
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Rank: Admin
Joined: 7/8/2003
Posts: 791
Location: United Kingdom
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Alas, no idea what you are talking about as I've not seen any of it yet. Have got seasons 1 - 3, but cause I'm going travelling, I decided not to watch any of it till I get back!
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Rank: Admin
Joined: 7/8/2003
Posts: 791
Location: United Kingdom
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I got 25 different covers printed off for me, professional quality and on proper DVD cover paper. And onthe whole, they look very, very good! The Babylon 5 ones at rixgrafix(dot)com are simply amazing (7 covers in that set). My 3 Alias ones have come out pretty nicely too. (3 covers) The 2 Dark Angel ones of mine, haven't come out quite as nice as i hoped. Would appear that the brigtness of my monitor made somethings seem invisible, but when printed they are visible, and one or two other things I hadn't noticed. Still, they are decent enough and better than the retail ones! (2 covers) Got one done for the film, Contact. Not my cover, but a very good looking one and it's come out great! (1 cover) My Equilibrium one looks decent enough, but it definitely needed to be printed on silver foil style paper to give it more of the metallic look. (1 cover) American Pie Trilogy. This one turned out nice! (1 cover) Jurassic Park trilogy from rixgrafix(dot)com. Again, looks really nice and professional (1 cover) South Park collection. Series 1 -6 plus the film, done in the style spoofing films from the Region 1 Criterion collection. They look fantastic when printed. (7 covers) Leon. Printed out the most minimalistic one of my covers for the film, and I really like it. Looks nice and professional if I do say so myself (1 cover) I've only been putting hte number of covers in brackets so I could keep track and try to remember which ones are left, but I can't remember what the last cover was of!!! Anyway, I'll try and update this post with pics of the ones that i've not shown on here before, so people know what I'm talking about! B5  Jurassic Park  South Park Seasons 1-8 and film          and the films's they spoof          Download Attachment:  contact.jpg30.6 KB
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Rank: L3: Swoj-fan
Joined: 8/15/2003
Posts: 782
Location: United Kingdom
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These are nice, neen working I see. I'll get one up this weekend. The underworld one I've promised.
GOt my DVD fixed now got DVD +- RW :D
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Rank: Martian Estate Agent
Joined: 9/14/2003
Posts: 3,358
Location: United Kingdom
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You have worked very hard there kris, good work, you should be very proud. Some of the one's near the end of the picutre need more work (Like they are boring) [Off Topic] You saw contact, how kick ass was that movie! I know it had little action but DAMN it had some great story and ended with a great message [/Off Topic] Looking forward to your work undead, also did you get my email? Are you going to be putting there on any other website Kris?
Full On Design
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Rank: Admin
Joined: 7/8/2003
Posts: 791
Location: United Kingdom
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Ooooops!! Seems like somethings aren't too clear.
THe ones I've pictured in that last post ARE NOT MINE!!!
Other people did the Babylon 5 ones, the South Park ones, the Contact one and the Jurassic Park one.
I only posted them here to let people see them!
The ones at the bottom that are just the fronts of covers are the ones that the South Park covers have deliberately ripped off!!!
DO NOT THINK THAT I DID THEM!!!
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