Topic: .

[Fallen_Warrior]

.

[Red_Sharif]

Hear! Hear! Never have so few given so much enjoyment to so many. Keep up the good work, fellas.

[Don Karnage]

that's good 

[FoaS_XC]

It's a little hard to read - I'd say tone down the gradient.
Great message, FW.

[F9thDawg]

so im Nick Dawg now eh Looks great FW

[wrathofachilles]

hey dudes, good to see my name up there, I really must send my new stuff in.

oh a sugggestion, some kind of embossed writing may look good.

[Starforce2]

hey dudes, good to see my name up there, I really must send my new stuff in.

oh a sugggestion, some kind of embossed writing may look good.

Don't forget about all that "stuff" ya were going to email me lol

[wrathofachilles]

ummm, my mind wonders. 

[manitoba1073]

looking good looking really good.

 Finally got my new pc built after my last one blew the damn MOBO. Almost had a heartattack starting this one for the first time my heart almost stopped lol. hit the power button and a very very loud bang went. but its running fine now. no idea what the hell it was but no apparent damage. God i hate reinstalling evrything too but it will be worth it.

[Tus-XC]

I might suggest you go w/ a central light smack in the middle... (a circulare gradient will do fine) or use the lighter version you made earlier

[Chris Johnson]

The first attempt (and a bit of the second) looks good, but my main beef with both is at times it looks like the logo and text in the first (and the logo with the second) are floating from the plaque itself as if it isn't part of the plaque.  The only reason I could see that as part of the plaque is if it was some glass insert fitting with the pegs holding it in.

When I made my plaques in '05 and '06 (I still have my resources), I tried keeping as true to the plaques I based 'em on as possible, with the metal brush on the face, the added inner/outer beveling of text, etc.  But when I was making 'em I was being a bit of a perfectionist, so... *shrug*

I still think they're better than most fan-made plaques out there, however.  For your second remake I should recommend making the text a little more readable.  I like the inner-side border done on 'em and although I'm not sure if it should be subtle or not, I think the metal brushing effect is a nice touch, though the outer border I feel would have worked better without it.

To sum up my thoughts; it needs work (but who's perfect?), but for a first it's better than my firsts.

[Klingon Fanatic]

Wow! Nice Plaque. What an honor to see my SFC Moniker there. I do believe that there are other folks far worthier of the recognition though

KF

[manitoba1073]

 QFT F_W   

[Chris Johnson]

Ok, I didn't leave enough room for all the text on that last attempt, so I'm gonna start again. Any suggestions on colours?

Not specifically, but with any color you choose for the plaque, the text should be a contrast.  So if, say, it's gold or silver, start with something like a plain black for the text as a contrast; making it easier to read the plaque.  If the plaque itself is a dark color, contrast the text with a bright color (like the aforementioned gold and silver colors).  Don't use a gradient for the text, at least not much of one so it would be an easier-to-read text.  If you want something more realistic rather than plain; like an addition of shadows and a shine or reflection of the plaque, that'll work best if it was applied to a 3D bridge model (ala BC's bridge models or the maps that have a bridge in either Elite Force games).

[Centurus]

Ok, I didn't leave enough room for all the text on that last attempt, so I'm gonna start again. Any suggestions on colours?

Not specifically, but with any color you choose for the plaque, the text should be a contrast.  So if, say, it's gold or silver, start with something like a plain black for the text as a contrast; making it easier to read the plaque.  If the plaque itself is a dark color, contrast the text with a bright color (like the aforementioned gold and silver colors).  Don't use a gradient for the text, at least not much of one so it would be an easier-to-read text.  If you want something more realistic rather than plain; like an addition of shadows and a shine or reflection of the plaque, that'll work best if it was applied to a 3D bridge model (ala BC's bridge models or the maps that have a bridge in either Elite Force games).

I agree.  Basically, as long as the text is legible for the average eye, you're golden.  :-D

You make that Starfleet logo by yourself?

[Chris Johnson]

I agree.  Basically, as long as the text is legible for the average eye, you're golden.  :-D

You make that Starfleet logo by yourself?

(Edit: Ugh.  As I now think about it, I didn't think you meant me with the question.  If you really didn't as I now believe, I guess FW could benefit from my method below if he wants to use it.  If you mean me, then...)

Yes and no.

No in the sense that I did use a base reference for the emblem.

Yes in the sense that I took it and isolated the ring and arrowhead separately; keeping them in two different files/pics at two colors (black/white).  I then separately fine-tuned them with inner-beveling and maybe a bit of outer, giving it a more 3D-but-physical appearance that's consistent and best-suited with the rest of the plaque.

I did something similar for the TNG and VGR's Starfleet emblems.  For the TNG it was a little different; basically looking for the Starfleet encyclopedia's rendition since of all the common ones I could web-search for I felt (at least at the time) that it was the closest rendition to the TNG Starfleet emblem / comm pin/badge.  I then took both and did a similar thing to the golden oval and arrowhead parts, also tweaking the hue and coloring at will and blurring out the emblems.  It's as close as I can get without finding a perfect frontal non-perspective shot of the TNG Starfleet communicator pin and toying with that.  And I believe it, like possibly the Enterprise-D's dedication plaque, sort-of changed during the seasons.  I'm not sure on that, but I had that feeling when I was staring at Memory Alpha's screenshot of Picard inspecting his plaque on one of the early Season 3 episodes.

Basically for any of the emblems (like your own), I take it apart piece-by-piece, toy with it (I use Paint Shop Pro 7), take my thumb metaphorically and stare at it until I think it's perfection at the moment.  I try to make it, along with the rest of the plaque, like it's an object pasted/embedded/put on the plaque as much as possible as if it was a real plaque, and I try to make it as close to what you see in either the shows themselves, official BTS shots, or, if nothing else, other references such as ST Encyclopedia's.

I think I still have the files saved in PSP7's own file format on a CD somewhere (including bigger versions of the plaque, I think).  But if I'm good at something for a hobby, I try to perfect it.  For the time I started plaque-making (mid-'05 to early-'06 I think) I must thank WZ for some tips.  I'm a bit rusty now, but I think with my saved resources I can afford to be.

[Tus-XC]

my suggestion w/ the text.  use a drop shadow, make the distance '0' so that is outlines the text, adjuts it till it feels right.  This is an easy way to get a good 3d effect rather than embossing the text (which i hate doing).  I also avoid using a horzontal gradient on my text, i go for the circle gradient and then adjust so is really more like white to gray than white to black (essentially what is going to look like).  I also tend to add a brushed metal texture to my text and anything that looks metalish.   I would post mine... but you can find them on my site, the mccoy plaque is the most current so its probably the best to look at.