Visual Spoiler Card Img Bank

by **ChromeKaldra** » 13 Jun 2011, 23:40

I've got a project going that requires MTG card images. I'd love to use the high res HQ images that you guys all work so hard to produce, but i'm afraid my project just can't afford the bandwidth necessary for them. Gatherer images would be more appropriate, however, they are a tad bit too small, and not very readable because of that.

The Visual Spoiler Images however, are the perfect minimum size, the file size of each being about 3 times smaller than the HQ scans. I know that often, users on this forum will post zipped collection of the visual spoiler image for MWS users to use before the HQ scans are ready. I'd like to start this thread so that all those packages can be collected in one spot for people who need it/want it.

I've dug around via the search function, and some of the zips i tried to download were no longer available via mediafire for whatever reason. Is it possible that people would re-upload them?

I'm looking specifically for Post-Scourge, 8ED onwards, now known as Modern Magic. If the image files are named properly, that'd be a big bonus. I just manually renamed all SOM/MBS/NPH VS card images, and it wasn't fun.

I know there's an app for this, but i'm a Mac user unfortunately (in this one instance).

I thank you for any contributions!

by **woogerboy21** » 14 Jun 2011, 04:43

Have you considered simply resizing or resampling the HQ images using a simple image program? I commonly do this to save space on memory sticks. It keeps the readability of the images and saves space.

by **ChromeKaldra** » 14 Jun 2011, 05:32

One thing i don't like about the MWS scans is the color inconsistency. Every white, blue, or green card looks exactly the same where it should, in Gatherer.

If this initiative fails though, then yeah, that's probably what i'll do.

by **Huggybaby** » 15 Jun 2011, 19:38

As you know, our scans are meant to document the actual printed cards, and since real cards can look dramatically different depending on ink, paper, print run etc., then the HQ pics will reflect these differences.

When using them in a game, though, some prefer a more consistent presentation, and there is an easy solution.

When I made the tiny fun pics, I decided I wanted them to look more "video game-like", with brighter and more consistent colors.

I took the HQ pics then ran them through IrfanView. I set IrfanView to auto adjust colors, and all the finished cards looked like they came from the same batch.

In ChromKaldra's case you would also reduce each image to 1/3 original size. Then finally you could adjust image quality to reach your final file size, usually 80% quality or better will give you good quality and greatly reduced file size.