Photoshoppers Needed
Posted: 21 Mar 2013, 20:24
by skibulk
This Guide is Outdated. Please watch the tutorial videos instead. Here's the latest: processing kit & scan sample.
This guide outlines how to process raw card scans into high quality images for for the CCGHQ project and MTG community. Extreme developed the process. I have revised the process to accommodate multiple image sources and to safeguard photoshopping errors. For information on scanning, read Extreme's written scanning how-to and watch my short scanning how-to video.
Please Read Thoroughly
Please take the time to read this guide word for word. It is the product of years of experience and tradition carried out by the CCGHQ team. Please respect that over 22,000 cards have been processed using these techniques. If you would like to propose any change, post your recommendation for the CCGHQ team to review before adopting it.
Getting Started
Step 1) Slice & Export
Step 2) Classify and Name the Slices
Step 3) Crop & Dust
Step 4) Apply Masks & Adjustments
Step 5) Border, Output, & Upload
This guide outlines how to process raw card scans into high quality images for for the CCGHQ project and MTG community. Extreme developed the process. I have revised the process to accommodate multiple image sources and to safeguard photoshopping errors. For information on scanning, read Extreme's written scanning how-to and watch my short scanning how-to video.
Please Read Thoroughly
Please take the time to read this guide word for word. It is the product of years of experience and tradition carried out by the CCGHQ team. Please respect that over 22,000 cards have been processed using these techniques. If you would like to propose any change, post your recommendation for the CCGHQ team to review before adopting it.
Getting Started
- | Open
- Recommended Skills
Adobe Photoshop and photo editing experience is recommended, but you can still help if you don't have either. We'll find a place for you, even if that means using GIMP to do dust and scratch removal. Just notify us of your availability. Specific recommended knowledge includes the clone stamp tool, the actions palette, keyboard shortcuts, the slice tool, the perspective crop tool, levels adjustments, and color balance adjustments.
Your First Mission
Download the Photoshop actions, templates, and scan sample using the links below. Process the linked scan sample and post your results to this thread for review. Once your samples are approved, more scans will be provided.- Download ccghq-processing.zip
- Download the Khans Scan Sample
- Watch the Tutorial Video Series
- Wizard's Khan's Card Image Gallery
Extraction
Unzip the contents of ccghq-processing-kit.zip to C:\CCGHQ\Processing\. The included Photoshop action files assume this directory and it would require some work to change directories. The following files must also be installed to preform the tasks in this guide. Strongly consider assigning keyboard shortcuts to the Photoshop Actions for efficiency.
Load this actions file into Photoshop:- \Resources\Scripts\CCGHQ - Skibulk.atn
Then copy these files:- \Resources\Scripts\CCGHQ-Tags.js
- \Resources\Scripts\CCGHQ-M15-Masks.js
And paste them into this directory:- \Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop{YOURVERSION}\Presets\Scripts\
Files and Folder Structure
The Photoshop actions file, {CCGHQ - Skibulk.atn} saves copies of the card images after each step. If you make a mistate, these copies will allow you to simply step back rather than start over. Keep the versioned image folders until after your work has been officially released by the CCGHQ Team.
The \Input folder holds raw and semi-processed images. The slice step saves to the sub-folder \Sliced. \Cropped images are saved after the Crop step. \Cleaned images are saved before the masking step. \Masked images are saved after the masking step. Color Corrected images are not saved to conserve disk space and because it's easy to re-apply color.- \Input\Scanned\
- \Input\Sliced\
- \Input\Cropped\
- \Input\Cleaned\
- \Input\Masked\
The \Output folder contains three subfolders: \4KHQ, \XLHQ, and \FULL. These folders will hold the processed images once completed. \4KHQ contains 600DPI versions of the images, \XLHQ contains 300DPI images, and \FULL contains ~200DPI images. The actions save your work to these folders, but they must be further organized into the next level of folders: \cards, \tokens, \fronts, \backs, and \crops. The tagging and output steps explain further.- \Output\4KHQ\cards\
- \Output\4KHQ\tokens\
- \Output\4KHQ\fronts\
- \Output\4KHQ\backs\
- \Output\XLHQ\cards\
- \Output\XLHQ\tokens\
- \Output\XLHQ\fronts\
- \Output\XLHQ\backs\
- \Output\XLHQ\crops\
- \Output\FULL\cards\
- \Output\FULL\tokens\
- \Output\FULL\fronts\
- \Output\FULL\backs\
- \Output\FULL\crops\
The \Resources folder contains files used by the actions.- \Resources\Borders\...
- \Resources\Masks\...
- \Resources\Scripts\...
- \Resources\Templates\...
Terminology
This guide uses a few technical terms specific to Magic: the Gathering. You need to understand these terms to understand the references made in this guide.
^ This is a solid black "Border".
^ The card "Frame" is the space inside the border.
^ This is a "black-colored" card, indicated by its black frame.
^ This is also a "creature" card, indicated by the word "creature" to the bottom left of the artwork. Creatures cards always have a box with 2 numbers in the lower right corner.
^ This is a "white-colored" card, indicated by its white frame.
^ This is also a "non-creature" card. Compare to previous image.
^ This is a "Planeswalker" card, indicated by the word 'Planeswalker' just under its artwork.
^ This card has a slightly different design than the the previous cards. Note that the large black area across the bottom where the artist and copyright information is printed. We categorize cards with this layout as "M15".
^ Some M15 cards have oval stamps at their bottom center. These holographic stamps are only present on rare and mythic rare cards.
^ This is an "Emblem" card, identified by the word 'Emblem' at the top of the card.
^ Emblem backs usually feature advertisments.
^ This is a "Token" card, identified by the gold and black 'plaque' at the top of the card.
^ It is similar to an Emblem, except that the word 'Emblem' is not used.
^ Token backs usually feature advertisments.
^ This is an "Insert" card front. They usually contains rules tips or game trivia.
^ Insert backs usually feature advertisments.
Step 1) Slice & Export
- | Open
- Some versions of Photoshop remember the last used image format/quality setting when exporting, rather than using the recorded settings in the action set. The exported slices should be 100% quality JPG files. If they are not, manually "save for web" any image to your desktop as a 100% quality JPG. Delete the exported file and retry this step.
Slice each card in the scans. The thick black borders around the cards will be discarded later, so it is okay to cut through them. Use {Actions > CCGHQ > Slices - 9up} to automatically create nine slices. Use the slice selection tool to adjust the boundaries (it's under the crop tool). Use {Actions > CCGHQ > Slices - Save} to export the slices to their own documents as 100% quality JPG images.
Step 2) Classify and Name the Slices
- | Open
- Classify by Authors and Types
Scans are usually provided by multiple contributors. We need to keep track of which images came from each contributor so that color correction may be applied correspondingly in step 4. In order to track the origin of each image, add the contributor name to the file's IPTC Authors property. Later, you'll separate the images into folders for regular cards ("Card"), tokens & emblems ("Token"), insert fronts ("Front"), and insert backs ("Back"). In order to track these card types, add the type (with a capital first letter) to the file's IPTC Tags property. The Author properties and Tags properties will allow you to easily sort the images using your file system. File properties may be added to multiple images at once, just select the images you want to edit and right click the group. Click on the Author or Tag column in Windows Explorer to sort by that column.
Renaming Lists
We will provide a card list containing all regular cards, tokens, fronts, and backs using gatherer and abugames. We recommend batch file renaming software that supports renaming lists to accurately apply file names. Add the images to your application and sort the files according to the list. If you're using Advanced Renamer, select {Add method > List} and paste in your card list. Turn on image Thumbnails and use drag and drop to sort the cards. Verify the new file names and apply. If any images are missing, remove lines from the list according. It may be helpful to open magiccards.info and match the order of their image spoilers.
Download Advanced Renamer
Naming Conventions
Name each slice the same as the card title.
IE "Ajani's Pridemate.jpg".
If there is more than one version of a card (commonly for land cards and alternate artwork cards), append a number to the name. IE "Forest4.jpg".
For double cards, use an underscore to separate the names.
IE "Fire_Ice.jpg"
For Inserts which have no name, a list of names will be provided.
=====
Step 3) Crop & Dust
- | Open
- Do not rotate the images before cropping.
Planeswalker Cards
For 8ED planeswalkers, you'll always use a template. M15 planeswalkers only need to be templated when their artwork extends over the card frame onto the border (See the axe in the M15 template). For regular M15 planeswalkers, skip ahead to "Cropping M15 Cards". The PSD template files are located in \Resources\Templates\.
Transform the card scan so that the frame aligns to the guidelines in the template. Cleanup dust and scratches. Layer artwork that extends over the frame, onto the border. Mask the scan using the embedded pixel mask. Layer the holofoil stamp and center it over the guidelines provided. Layer the collector’s number, artist, and copyright information and knockout its black border using Photoshop’s “Blend If” sliders. Refer to this video if you don’t know how: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrDgTQZhCaY.
Output Instructions:- Save as /Input/Masked/CARD NAME.PSD
- Hide the black border
- Merge all layers (don’t flatten them)
- Apply color correction
- Play the action "Output - Planeswalker"
- Play the "Output - CROP" action
Author/Tag Dialog
If you forgot to add an author or add a tag to your image in the previous step, a dialog will be presented by the cropping actions. For tagging a handful cards, this dialog allows you to quickly add a missing author or tag.
Cropping 8ED Cards
Cut away the black / white card border. Use perspective crop at high zoom (in CS6 it has a separate tool). Be very precise when cropping in order not to cut away any data from the card frame. Use {Actions > CCGHQ > Crop (8ED)} to enter perspective crop mode at high zoom automatically. This action also applies a temporary adjustment layer that makes it easier to distinguish between card border and frame. The adjustment is removed after cropping. The image is saved to the "Cropped" images folder.
Cropping M15 Cards
M15 cards are cropped like 8ED cards with a couple differences. A different action is used: {Actions > CCGHQ > Crop (M15)}. To crop the bottom edges, align your perspective crop with the bottom edge of the card frame, as if you were going to crop off the artist and copyright text. Then lower the crop using the bottom center handle of the crop box to include the artist's name. Do not lower both corners of the crop box separately, as your edge could become crooked.
Dusting
Do not apply the Dust & Scratches filter, Gaussian Blur, or Sharpening to the images. Doing so often removes details in the card's text and artwork.
At high zoom, pan for noticeable dust or scratches and clone them out carefully. Touch-up the entire card including artwork, frame, and textbox. Be careful not to clone out portions of the artwork! If a spec has printer's moire pattern inside, it is part of the card. If you are not certain that a mark is dust or if a scratch cannot be easily corrected, do not clone it out. You may find it helpful to compare images to their Gatherer counterpart. We aim for likeness to the original cards and a dusty or scratched card can be better than a beautiful card that doesn't look like the original did. Ask for a better scan if you have a badly scratched image.
=====
Step 4) Apply Masks & Adjustments
- | Open
- Do not apply Auto-Levels or Auto-Color to the images.
Masking (M15 Cards Only)
The black artist/copyright zone along the bottom of M15 cards is problematic. To create consistent and refined results, we place every card over an idealized border image. When a cropped M15 card is placed over this border image, the black zone often contrasts the border. To work around this, use {Actions/CCGHQ/Masking (M15)} to isolate the white text and knockout the black zone.
The artist/copyright zone has different shapes on different types of cards. The Photoshop action will ask which mask to use. Then a selection will be applied to the holographic stamp, and manual adjustments will be required. Move or extend the selection around the stamp. If there is no stamp on the card, just leave the default selection and press enter. The artist and copyright text selections will also require manual adjustments. The action applies a feather to text selections, so extend them a few pixels beyond the edges. Lastly, the script will knockout the black background of the text and prompt for manual adjustments. Photoshops's "Blend If" sliders are used to preform the knockout, so please refer to this video if you're unfamiliar with the technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrDgTQZhCaY
Color Correction
Our contributors use scanners with varied makes and models. Each of these scanners have unique hue and brightness levels, and as a result, each group of images will require different color adjustment settings. There are two options for color correction. Color profiling is preferred. Otherwise manual adjustments are applied. Never use both on the same image!
Color Correction Method 1: Profiling
Description coming soon...
Color Correction Method 2: Manual Adjustment
This section is out of date and needs to be updated with new action references. Curves adjustments should be used instead of levels adjustments.It's easiest to establish the settings for each contributor, then apply the adjustments to all of the their images at the same time. In order to do this, you'll manually record the adjustments as actions. Save your adjustment settings in a text document for future reference. If any processing mistakes are made, you will have to re-process the card(s) in question using these settings.
A) Levels Adjustment - Highlights | Open a multi-card raw scan that contains a bright white patch in the artwork, preferably within a white-colored card. To begin recording the levels adjustment, double click {Actions > CCGHQ > Modern - Border & Save 600DPI > Levels}. Hold Alt on a PC or Option on a Mac and drag the hilight slider. Loss of image data (clipping) is indicated by color. You only need to pay attention to clipping that occurs inside the card art, frame, and text. Drag the slider until you see clipping in about 4% of these areas.
B) Levels Adjustment - Shadows | Open a raw scan that contains a black-colored card. Use {Actions > CCGHQ > Modern - Shadows (Black Cards)} to crop away the border of one card, to add the black border template image, and to grayscale the scan. To begin recording the levels adjustment, double click {Actions > CCGHQ > Modern - Border & Save 600DPI > Levels}. Use the shadow slider to match the blackest areas in card frame to the blackness of the border template. Squinting your eyes and/or viewing your monitor at an angle can help you see if both match.
C) Color Adjustment - Hue/Saturation | Open a multi-card raw scan that contains a range of reasonably bright colors (Red, Green, Blue). Apply the levels adjustment from A and B by double clicking {Actions > CCGHQ > Modern - Border & Save 600DPI > Levels}; then click "OK". To begin recording the color adjustment, double click {Actions > CCGHQ > Modern - Border & Save 600DPI > Hue/Saturation}. Match approximately the color of the physical cards. If you don't have the physical cards, reference the corresponding Wizards.com card image gallery or Gatherer.
=====
Step 5) Border, Output, & Upload
- | Open
- Use {Actions > CCGHQ > Border & Save 4KHQ, XLHQ & FULL} to add a black (or white) border and save variant image sizes.
Apply {Actions > CCGHQ > XLHQ to XROP & CROP} to all regular cards, including planeswalkers. Do not apply this step to tokens and inserts.
Use Advanced Renamer to apply the following file extensions by folder:- \Output\4KHQ\ => Leave as ".jpg"
- \Output\XLHQ\ => ".xlhq.jpg"
- \Output\XLHQ\crops\ => ".xrop.jpg"
- \Output\FULL\ => ".full.jpg"
- \Output\FULL\crops\ => ".crop.jpg"
Organize the images into their corresponding sub-folders: \cards, \tokens, \fronts, and \backs. This is a painless task using your file browser to sort the images using the IPTC tags that you added earlier.
Lastly rename \Output to "\The Set Name". You may use \Resources\Scripts\Input-Output-Folders.bat to automatically create empty folders for the next set.
Approved team members are granted FTP access to upload the completed images. Reply to this topic when you have completed processing, your work will be reviewed, and Huggybaby will release and announce the set in the MTG HQ Pics Downloads and Status List thread.