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+--- Thread: Film studio Flag Icons - Post new ones here! (/showthread.php?tid=48315)
- ccMatrix - 2009-12-13
Many studio logos are already out there as vectors so it is a mix of creating and collecting these files. Increasing the size of the pngs would mean re-creating all the images anyway since you can't just scale them up and they look good. In the long-term vector images could easily be batch-rendered to a specific size. This would also be nice for the skins since they won't get bloated by lots of png files that are larger than they have to. Another thing I noticed when I created the codec images for Alaska was that images really loose details when they are scaled down to an odd ratio. Vector files could be rendered to the exact size the skin needs or a nice multiple of it (e.g. 2x size) and they would look really good and sharp in XBMC.
- digitalhigh - 2009-12-13
ccMatrix Wrote:Many studio logos are already out there as vectors so it is a mix of creating and collecting these files. Increasing the size of the pngs would mean re-creating all the images anyway since you can't just scale them up and they look good. In the long-term vector images could easily be batch-rendered to a specific size. This would also be nice for the skins since they won't get bloated by lots of png files that are larger than they have to. Another thing I noticed when I created the codec images for Alaska was that images really loose details when they are scaled down to an odd ratio. Vector files could be rendered to the exact size the skin needs or a nice multiple of it (e.g. 2x size) and they would look really good and sharp in XBMC.
I was thinking about this after my last post. I know the drill with the logos already being in vector format...who do you think suggest http://www.brandsoftheworld.com and http://www.vectorlogos.com in the first place.
Resultingly...I'm trying to get my filthy little hands on a copy of Vector Magic...see how that works out. I'm hoping that the simplicity of the designs should allow for some good auto-tracing.
There is also an Open-Source app out there called deliniate. Claims to be the end-all for conversion...but also looks a tad complicated...
So, I've got VM downloading now...I'll post some conversions once I've played around a bit.
- ccMatrix - 2009-12-13
I just use Inkscape for all my vector stuff and am very happy with it. I've added a few/handful vector images to the github repository. It also does tracing of bitmaps which is very useful and does export to SVG which should be the format for all logos.
The best way is probably to just get a list of all studios in my db sorted by the number of movies that use them. Then create logos for the more common studios first. All the 1-movie studios can be done after that. Of course my library is different than other peoples but it is a good way to prioritize I think.
- digitalhigh - 2009-12-13
ccMatrix Wrote:I just use Inkscape for all my vector stuff and am very happy with it. I've added a few/handful vector images to the github repository. It also does tracing of bitmaps which is very useful and does export to SVG which should be the format for all logos.
The best way is probably to just get a list of all studios in my db sorted by the number of movies that use them. Then create logos for the more common studios first. All the 1-movie studios can be done after that. Of course my library is different than other peoples but it is a good way to prioritize I think.
I looked at Inkscape briefly...thought it looked a bit more difficult to use than VectorMagic.
Tried VectorMagic...and I am impressed. In about two minutes, I was able to do conversions on 8 images. Resulting images are attached...
- Jeroen - 2009-12-13
Travis has said on the tmdb forum he would like to add it to the next version of tmdb in january. So that's good news.
I would like everyone to give their thoughts on things like dimensions and such. The current possible ways of implementing studio flags are hacky and time consuming to say the least, a proper way is much needed. Maybe we could come to some sort of consensus in advance.
- digitalhigh - 2009-12-13
Jeroen Wrote:Travis has said on the tmdb forum he would like to add it to the next version of tmdb in january. So that's good news.
I would like everyone to give their thoughts on things like dimensions and such. The current possible ways of implementing studio flags are hacky and time consuming to say the least, a proper way is much needed. Maybe we could come to some sort of consensus in advance.
I have to agree with CCMatrix...vector sounds like a good idea, because it doesn't need dimensions. All we'd have to do is decide how much of a percentage of the "frame" should be blank so that all logos occupy the same space.
My thoughts on how to get it to work in conjunction with TMDB would be to simply have a studio entry. That entry has the logo stored to it. The entry would also be linked to "alternative names" (20th century fox, twentieth century fox, etc). Then we just store one SVG file for all studio names that use that logo, and link it to the movie.
Then, when XBMC or MIP or UMM or whatever program you're using to scrape hits a movie, it stores an image ID or something for that studio logo.
SO, instead of downloading the logo over and over again for each movie, it gets downloaded once into a folder of all studio logos...and then XBMC database simply links to that image.
Sounds the easiest to me...
- Jeroen - 2009-12-13
digitalhigh Wrote:Sounds the easiest to me...
Well, XBMC would have to get .svg support first
Personally I think svg is a bit overkill for something that will take up a small place in terms of dimensions.
In the case of png's, I think there only needs to be a maximum resolution, and there should not be any empty space around the logo. Why? Because by using horizontal and vertical aligning and setting <keepaspectratio> to keep, the skinner can position and size any logo the way he wants.
- digitalhigh - 2009-12-13
Jeroen Wrote:Well, XBMC would have to get .svg support first
Personally I think svg is a bit overkill for something that will take up a small place in terms of dimensions.
In the case of png's, I think there only needs to be a maximum resolution, and there should not be any empty space around the logo. Why? Because by using horizontal and vertical aligning and setting <keepaspectratio> to keep, the skinner can position and size any logo the way he wants.
The interesting thing is that with the files I've converted so far...there's actually about a 50% average reduction in filesize. And Vector Magic has got a nice batch-conversion feature...I can have everything converted to svg in about an hour.
I understand your feelings on .png; but the problem will remain that somebody will always want a bigger image. Almost guaranteed. While you and I both can't see a reason for wanting a giant studio image...I can bet someone will.
And I get the idea about not needing empty space...but it seems that there was a logical reason for wanting it. Something to do with the great variation in dimensions for the logos...
- Jeroen - 2009-12-13
Yeah, Vector Magic's pretty good. Not sure about batch processing all logo's though. There are some logos which consist of a "complex" picture and text. The graphic and text would need different trace settings.
Take Lakeshore for instance:
http://u1.imgupload.co.uk/1260662400/65b0_lakeshore_entertainment.png
While it works pretty good for the image, the text doesn't look accurate. Granted, this is a quicky and probably could be done better adjusting the settings, but that's the problem with batch processing
Maybe I'm just picky
- ccMatrix - 2009-12-13
I think batch converted versions from the old pngs can be a start but since some pngs already lost a lot of information this might not work very well for more complex logos. We would still have to go through all the logos and recreate those that lost detail or just look odd. If you've converted all of them could you upload them to e.g. mediafire?
The filesize does get smaller for simpler logos but can increase for more complex logos (compared to the 161x109 images) but compared to the larger images they should all be very small.
I would make all the studio logos to match the actual logo size without any margin. When the actual specs of the images for tmdb is finalized all images can then be converted to pngs. If there is no such tool out there writing one for exactly that task shouldn't be a problem.
Maybe we don't even have to do that if XBMC does add support for SVGs. Keep in mind that 9.11 is almost out the door and then it is another ~6 months until the next stable. This feature wouldn't make it into XBMC before then anyway.
- digitalhigh - 2009-12-13
VectorMagic's batch processing feature seems a tad buggy...as in it likes to crash after processing 15-20 images. However, I'll keep plunking away at em and archive them. I realize that there is going to be some image degradation in the more complex ones, but like CCmatrix says, it'll be a nice start as a large majority of them will be viable. There will still have to be a proofing process where we check them all for quality and replace the bad ones...but we can at least have scalable images which can be quickly exported to w/e dimensions we prefer.
- rcoops - 2010-01-06
The main problem I see with vector images is that there will be less people that are easily able to create/correct/improve them, PNG image can be created by pretty much any graphics program where vector images are a little more specialized which could reduce the number of volunteer artist quite a bit.
The conversion of the existing collection of logo's to their vector equivalents will take some doing and quite a bit of manual work as auto conversions have a tendency to automatically look less nice then manual conversions. But on the other hand this is a one off pain. Once converted the scalability and versatility of the vector images will quickly push the PNG logo's out of the picture.
With TVDB and MOVIEDB supporting these logo's and thus an ability for the scrapers to pick them up automatically there should be no reason not to choose for the superior quality offered by vector images.
XBMC support is not unlikely to happen if there is enough pressure on the development team and looking at the number of skins that support studio and other logo's that pressure will be quite large in deed.
- KingPsycho - 2010-01-15
Syfy
Repository? - OsgoodeLawyer - 2010-01-29
Fernferret's site isn't up, so is there a repository for studio flags elsewhere?
- ccMatrix - 2010-01-29
OsgoodeLawyer Wrote:Fernferret's site isn't up, so is there a repository for studio flags elsewhere?
Yes, the GitHub StudioLogos repository.