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ok basiclally here is what you image looks like.

It has 3 separate and disconnected areas. You need to make these join at your center of interest or at least connect to each other. one way of doing this is to make the crop circle large enough that you don't even see the entire thing and use the lines in it to pull the eye from the title to the menu and then say "wow, there's something cool in the background."

the other thing, color noise don't usually work well and just makes the image look plain bad. Edited by Vaaish
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here is the bw photo idea. basically you need to have ALOT less noise, play with levels, blur the image slightly and add an overlay duplicate layer with horizontal grain for this effect. Now since I don't have your original PSD the logo adn menu text looks nasty but you should still get the idea.
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Guest Jim69
A little something like this?

Edit: Didn't read ur post above, I'll try and do something about the mismatch. The eye should go right to the menu shouldn't it, being the most important thing? I may well lose the writing at the top as it seems a little distracting.

Edit2: I've tried 2 include the other suggestions u said, opinions ne1? Edited by Jim69
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thats kinda the idea, but use levels to add more contrast to the background image. to help tie it in enlarge the crop circle by about 200% like that is the main feature uin the background image.

Actually I would say that the first thing you want the eye to go to is the title then hit the menu.

EDIT: you posted the update on me. increase the x height of the crop circle by about 30% and fade the lines that ar framing it to not be quite so prominent. Edited by Vaaish
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Hehe, it's well annoyin when that happens :) Here's an update.

Edit: I dropped the title a little 2 make it more prominent, tho I'm not so sure I like it where it is. I'm gonna go 2 sleep and look at it fresh 2morrow.
Edit2: I will also get rid of those dodgy texture artifacts on the crop circle, again, when I get up 2morrow. Edited by Jim69
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lighten it up to just slightly darker than this and see how it looks if it doesn't fit well then keep what you have now for the background image, fade the lines by 25% more and fade the highlighted text by 50%

and if you still have the ungrained background image in a layer gaussian blur it slightly to kill the crisp CG ground bumping. Edited by Vaaish
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Yeah, the logo is bright coz he don't ave the .psd file, just concentrate on the BG. I'll lighten it a little and make the grain more noticable. Cheers 4 the headsup about the tree's I didn't even notice till u said something, now it looks very strange :huh?:

1 mo.

Edit: Update.I'm gonna play around with a couple of things I ain't happy with a little l8r, but post ne comments and I'll do those as well. Edited by Jim69
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I know it says it on the side, but if someone was to look at that i would say they are unlikely to realise its a crop circle. It looks more like a burn mark on a grass hillside.

Is that what you mean it to be? If thats true then its not a crop circle. Its a burn-on-a-hill. :D
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It is indeed more of a burn mark, but the site I got the image from called simular burn marks on grass "Crop Circle".

Edit: And it DOES say in the frame "Crop Cirle" :rolleyes: I don't know who isn't gonna be able to work out what it is.

I could change that to "Alien Phenominom" (SP?) if u want. Plus u can c the pattern, so I think most peeps would know what it is. Even if they don't work it out right away they can be thinking "Hmm, I wonder what that is? Oh yeah, it says down there, Crop Circle, ahh I c it now" :)

Edit2: Has ne1 by any chance seen a site that gives GPS positions for towns in England? THe ones that are up there are made up, and there will always b someone who will say "Hey, those coordinates are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, WTF? Edited by Jim69
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[quote name='Jim69' date='Aug 10 2003, 02:37 PM']Edit2: Has ne1 by any chance seen a site that gives GPS positions for towns in England? THe ones that are up there are made up, and there will always b someone who will say "Hey, those coordinates are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, WTF?[/quote]
I at least haven't seen such a site. But if you check a world map you should get at least an approximation, even if it is rather inaccurate.

(for that matter, since the Greenwich line is 0° WL/EL, I think 64°WL is indeed somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Tropic of Cancer to be more precise, so my guess is that according to you Somerset would be close to Cuba :D )

edit: the CIA Factbook ([url="http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/"]here[/url]) has geographic coordinates describing more or less the centre of each country. At least it's a start Edited by j'ordos
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IIRC the BBC Weather site gives the GPS coords of its weather stations in various cities. Take one of those and change it a bit and that would do.

I give up. Im going home where my connection is faster.

EDIT:
Mwahaha, much better. Try [url="http://www.calle.com/world/unitedkingdom/index.html"]here[/url]. Edited by miceless
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Just one suggestion, be careful with too dark backgrounds, there is a common problem with gamma values in monitor setup... I for example cant see the Xenocide in my own signature because high contrast and high bright make my eyes burn (dont know if that is the word for it, but I guess you understand the situation)... So try to avoid too dark high detail backgrounds, cause nobody has the same monitor configuration as you...

Greetings
Red Knight Edited by red knight
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I had a thought about that. There is a topic about configuration of moniter's for development right? There could be a configeration when u start the game, like is seen in a lot of console games, where u adjust the moniter 2 get a true colour reading. Like I said it is fairly comman in console games, but I haven't personally seen it on the PC. It is basically just a colour bar where u adjust the brightness and then, seperatly, the contrast until u can see the colours on one side of a line and not on another.

It shouldn't mess up their moniter settings if we do it right, and would probably benifit a lot of peeps in other games by giving them a moniter that is setup to view games in the correct way that they designed it 4. What do u think? Edited by Jim69
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I could do just the crop circle in the kinda heat enhancement I c in a couple of films if u like, I'll try it and edit this post. I dunno how good it will look tho.
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Most games just overuse the dark, so if you dont use the contrast to 100% and brightness to 100% you cant see a thing... Thats why I cannot play some games (at least for more than an hour), unless they have a gamma correction slider (but it wash out the image)...

Greetings
Red Knight
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Fair kop, I've changed the brightness, and added a lens flair. Not entirely sure about it, but I like 2 bring things 2 public screwtiny. Edited by Jim69
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[quote name='miceless' date='Aug 10 2003, 05:35 PM']Looks more like a scene from space than a hilside with a crop circle, IMO.[/quote]
What makes u think that? I just need 2 know so I can change whatever's wrong, unfortunatly I don't have any Psi powers to read ur mind :LOL: Edited by Jim69
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OK, here's 1 with a little more light. I'll flip that 1 over and give it a try Drewid

Edit: WTF? Wrong image, here y'a Edited by Jim69
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Drewid, you need to blur the line between the plains and the mountains quite alot, but you know that don't you?

Jim, your pic is a bit too messy, you cant make out what exactly it is...

Edit: I have an idea, how about the backround being like a slideshow of UFO/Alien activity sightings..? Edited by Aosar
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I think someone took a balloon and a scarecrow and took a pic in the dark. :D

The pic before looked like a picture of the earth (with sun in background) shortly after a nuclear bombs had gone off on the surface.

It does not look like a crop circle.

New pic looks good, but im not sure I like that green when the background is in black.
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Jim post the original color image of the larger crop circle please. I would wlike to play around with it.

oh and photoshop lens flares never look natural. :) Edited by Vaaish
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I think I agree with Miceless now, it doesn't look much like a Crop Circle, but it is quite difficult to get the depth in the scene so it looks right. So, I was thinking. What can I do with this? I thought it could be the scortch mark left by a UFO, so I added that to the box and redid it in colour so it was a little less bland. What do u guys think? I dunno what Vaaish is doin, so it may have taken a different spin on it but here's my attempt ne way.

Edit: Looked a but too mangled, here's the changed 1 Edited by Jim69
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Hmm, I could do that, but I think that a multi-million pound company with hi-tech equipment should be able 2 do better than a polaroid, I'll try it ne way tho.

1 Thing I was thinking of doin, but could run into problems with, is putting a date and time Camcorder styler, but I don't wanna do that when we having dates put in from peeps comps. Say, a programmer could add that at a l8r date right? Like take the date off the peeps comps and move it forward about 6-7 years so it's l8r than this date but b4 X-Corps is actually put into full action. Or I could just put a present or past date and have it as a historical document. Edited by Jim69
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[quote name='Aosar' date='Aug 10 2003, 08:37 PM'][quote]Or I could just put a present or past date and have it as a historical document.[/quote]

:huh?: Hmm, what about actual "UFOpedia" pictures. Real fotos of UFOs? [/quote]
I have absolutly no idea what u r sayin, but what I was talking about was having a date in top righthand corner, but I don't wanna just put any old date on it coz the starting year in game is gonna b 10 years after the users comp's internal clock (
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Its looking better, but i still think its way to vague. I think the trees should be bigger, and the crop circle smaller. Perhaps put a cottage on the hill. Make it look like it really is the sountryside.
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[quote]I have absolutly no idea what u r sayin, but what I was talking about was having a date in top righthand corner[/quote]

Sorry for being too obscure on that... What I meant was actual photocaphs taken by a real life UFOlogist, of "real" life UFOs, if we can find such material on the 'net...

[quote]sountryside[/quote]

:LOL: It's that time of the night, that I find things like this immencely funny...
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[quote name='miceless' date='Aug 10 2003, 08:42 PM']Its looking better, but i still think its way to vague. I think the trees should be bigger, and the crop circle smaller. Perhaps put a cottage on the hill. Make it look like it really is the sountryside.[/quote]
The idea is that the crop circle is huge, thats the reason why it's like that.k As 4 a cottage or summint I guess I can do that if u want

Also, the idea was that it was taken by a military person, not a UFOlogist, tho I can make it like that if u want as well. Edited by Jim69
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Its that time of the night, that I cant type properly.

I have the Uber Laptop in the main position on the desk to run Morrowind, means theres less space for this one so i keep bumping into things while i type.

Now that I look at it, it was more likely me tired, cos s and c are not next to each other.

Anyway, back on topic.

Would it be possible to have several backgrounds, that rotate at random. It would mean people got less bored of it...
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It's a possiblility, tho a little unnecessary if u ask me. Remember that this screen is gonna b seen 4 about 4 seconds each time u load up, a rotating background 4 more seen screens would be more effective if u ask me. Just IMO.
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[quote]I have the Uber Laptop in the main position on the desk to run Morrowind, means theres less space for this one so i keep bumping into things while i type.[/quote]

Righto, great game that, Morrowind, got Bloodmoon?

[quote]Would it be possible to have several backgrounds, that rotate at random. It would mean people got less bored of it...[/quote]

I was thinking similar thoughts, but perhaps they could rotate while the game is running - in the menu that is - and would randomly start from a point? AFAIK it would be possible, in fact, not too hard either...
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OK, ur right it wouldn't b hard, so other peeps could start now if u want. No harm in creating more than we need ne way, right? I'll keep working on this 1 till I and everyone else is happy then think about another 1. It would be a good idea 2 keep a simular theme throughout them all tho. I suggest examples of UFO activity, since that is what I have right now.
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[quote name='Aosar' date='Aug 10 2003, 10:59 PM']Righto, great game that, Morrowind, got Bloodmoon?[/quote]
Yep, just bought Bloodmoon and Tribunal and am now playing them.

[quote name='Aosar' date='Aug 10 2003, 10:59 PM']I was thinking similar thoughts, but perhaps they could rotate while the game is running - in the menu that is - and would randomly start from a point? AFAIK it would be possible, in fact, not too hard either...[/quote]
No reason why they should not rotate while the menu is up i suppose. I cant imagine it would be too difficult to implement. That way we can use both the above pics and more. ^_^

[quote name='Jim69' date='Aug 10 2003, 11:04 PM']It would be a good idea 2 keep a simular theme throughout them all tho. I suggest examples of UFO activity, since that is what I have right now.[/quote]
Agreed. Alien activity sounds like a good theme to me. You could have cattle mutilations. :naughty: :wink: Edited by miceless
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here is another idea for you jim. I just played with the image you posted. this is by no means perfect and is probably one of the only time you will see me use bevel and emboss.

I probably should have flipped the horzontal on the crop circle to tie it together better but you get the idea. Edited by Vaaish
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[quote]Yep, just bought Bloodmoon and Tribunal and am now playing them.[/quote]

I have Tribunal, bought the Morrowind + Tribunal pack. But I haven't bought Bloodmoon jet... Is it worth it?

[quote]It would be a good idea 2 keep a simular theme throughout them all tho.[/quote]

Hmpf! <_< No skin of my back, just thought that it might have been easier for you... :LOL:

[quote]Alien activity sounds like a good theme to me.[/quote]

I concur(sp?)!
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[quote name='miceless' date='Aug 10 2003, 04:15 PM']I like the layout, but im still not sure about the pic.

Can you do that layour with Mr Balloon Head as the pic? :master:[/quote]
My idea was that we would have say 4 or 5 images of ufo's, aliens, and the like that we put in there and have pan left and right then fade to anotehr one so yes we can do that.
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[quote]here is a quick run though with the alien but I don't think it works as well[/quote]

Yeah, it seems that it needs to be a full body shot go get the maximum effect, but can't you make it smaller? Perhaps a shorter panorama with a UFO?
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