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Team Selection logos with Paint/GIMP


Jkline3

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Here's a summary of a conversation between Mr. @Sauce and I had regarding team selection logos. This is the basic outline of the method that I use. Some manual cleanup is still often necessary but it generally gets me a workable image and some consistency. This is just the method that I use, I'm all ears if anyone has other thoughts. I am in no way, shape or form a graphics expert. In fact the below lists the sum of my knowledge of using GIMP. Only figured out enough to accomplish what I wanted to do with reducing the palettes.

1. Download logo from www.sportslogos.net. I like using the small 150x100 .gif files because they're already sort of preshrunk and they are also in the right proportions for using as center ice logos. More on that later.

 Penguins 67.gif

2. Using Paint, I shrink the image to a maximum height OR width of 46 pixels (depending on orientation) in order to give a minimum pixel border on each side. Regardless of how you want to crop, resize to 48x48 and save as a 24-color .bmp. I also take out any TM or R marks at this point because they're too small to see at scale anyway.

Penguins 67.jpg

3. Using GIMP, I open the file and convert to an indexed image. Image => Mode => Indexed.

GIMP1.jpg

4. There are 9 available slots in the Tile Molester palette for team selection logos.

TM1.jpg

You'll want to convert your logo to fewer colors in order to have it match the palette in Tile Molester. Depending on how many colors are in the logo you can reduce it to as few as 1 color (plus B&W). Generally I prefer to use as many colors as I can so that it gives a fade effect. Fewer colors can produce a "too sharp" effect, but it's all just style and preference.

In Indexed Color Conversion, select "Generate optimum palette". You'll already have white permanently available in the palette so you can select up to 10 as the maximum number of colors.

GIMP2.jpg

5. After converting your image the colormap will show the colors that were used. (If the colormap is not visible, go to Windows => Dockable Dialogs => Colormap in the GIMP menu bar).

GIMP3.jpg

Copy the 6-digit HTML notation to notepad, then scroll to the next color using the arrows in Color index.

GIMP4.jpg

6. To save your reduced-color image go to File => Export As. IMPORTANT: while saving, make sure that you have checked the Do not write color space information box.

GIMP5.jpg

GIMP6.jpg

7. In Tile Molester, navigate to where you want to insert your new logo and load the correct palette:

TM2.jpg

7. Double click the color that you want to change (don't touch the first 7 colors as they are attached to the team selection banners). Select the RGB tab and copy/paste your color code from notepad and hit OK. Tile Molester will automatically convert to the nearest available RGB color.

TM3.jpg

Since there are only 256 specific colors available to the game, occasionally 2 colors are so close that Tile Molester will consider them the same and you could have duplicate colors in the palette - it's not a problem.

8. Once all the colors have been changed, go ahead and paste your logo into your ROM. Generally speaking the images come out pretty good but occasionally you'll want to make a tweak or two to fine tune. 

GIMP7.jpg

9. Here's how it looks in-game:

GIMP8.jpg

10. For this example, I probably would have tried to darken some of the detail in the penguin (gloves, scarf) and maybe a little in the text to sharpen it up.

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The only thing I'd suggest is checking out @smozoma's dithering program to convert an image to 16 (or less) usable Genesis colors.  That's my main goto for graphics editing:

https://forum.nhl94.com/index.php?/topic/14421-tool-genesis-image-ditherer-to-16-colours/

 

Thanks for the write up!

 

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I must be missing something, I use Ditherer all the time for other graphics and darkening images but don't know how to reduce the number of colors. Wouldn't be the first time something went over my head!

I use GIMP because it's the easiest (and freeist) program I've found to be able to limit the number of colors in a palette - or conversely forcing a palette onto an image for center ice logos. 

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Thanks, @Jkline3 for posting this.  You might have seen from my other thread (https://forum.nhl94.com/index.php?/topic/19286-custom-eihl-gb-rom-plan-of-action-and-call-for-help/&do=getNewComment) that I asked for some help on this (and on ice logos) yesterday, as I keep tying myself in knots when trying to process them.

I will work on my team selection logos over the weekend and keep an eye out for any further hints on the ice logos (which are driving me nuts at the moment!).

 

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On 9/4/2020 at 10:55 PM, Jkline3 said:

I must be missing something, I use Ditherer all the time for other graphics and darkening images but don't know how to reduce the number of colors. Wouldn't be the first time something went over my head!

I use GIMP because it's the easiest (and freeist) program I've found to be able to limit the number of colors in a palette - or conversely forcing a palette onto an image for center ice logos. 

Ditherer creates 16-color images, with each color being an actual valid Sega color. If you want to specify exactly which colours to use, like you're doing in this guide, it's the option 2 in Ditherer.

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On 9/4/2020 at 10:55 PM, Jkline3 said:

I must be missing something, I use Ditherer all the time for other graphics and darkening images but don't know how to reduce the number of colors. Wouldn't be the first time something went over my head!

I use GIMP because it's the easiest (and freeist) program I've found to be able to limit the number of colors in a palette - or conversely forcing a palette onto an image for center ice logos. 

That's one thing that Photoshop offers that is great for doing these types of logos.
Once selecting the # of colors when saving for web, you can then adjust the amount of dither with a slider. Or you choose a dither preset. Helped me a ton over the years. From there, you select the swatch to input the exact values as they are in TM**.

Not sure if Gimp can do that or not.

** Make sure you update the values in TM for colors first, and use that value before saving the file in the image editing program you use. Otherwise, they won't match whatever you're using as a reference (NOSE, for instance).

This will prevent oddities when importing your image or logo.

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  • 4 months later...

A little confused on what to use for the background color so it's transparent on the ice. How does the game know that I want the background to be transparent so only the logo displays and not the "white" behind it?

FireAntsLogo.bmp

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Team selection and center ice logos are two different things and are in two different locations. The team center ice logo uses the team's home uniform colors as a palette and the ice color is always the first color in the palette.

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I'm a bit lost between steps 6 and 7. I've opened up my NHL bin in TM, but it looks like absolute garbled crap. Only 4 colors. I have no idea how to find the Seattle Kraken logo I want to replace. See attached.

TL-WTF.png

FireAntsLogo.bmp

Edited by SinDonuts
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30 minutes ago, SinDonuts said:

I'm a bit lost between steps 6 and 7. I've opened up my NHL bin in TM, but it looks like absolute garbled crap. Only 4 colors. I have no idea how to find the Seattle Kraken logo I want to replace. See attached.

TL-WTF.png

FireAntsLogo.bmp 6.8 kB · 1 download

That logo's TM location is 001E7A6E.  Size is 6x4.

Palette code, you can locate in NOSE.  Pull up the screen in which you edited the jerseys in NOSE.   Click on the DEC button (upper left).  Look as the decimal value for your home jersey.  The offset with be a 8 digit number (sometimes it is alpha-numeric).  Enter that number in TM in the palette menu.  The palette size is 16.  

 

This image is for a 30 team rom but it should make what's written above clearer to follow.

Center Ice Logos.png

Edited by Sauce
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I appreciate the responses, but I am completely lost. The video tutorials on this site don't function any more, because Flash is deprecated. Maybe i'll search the youtubes for current tutorials...

Sorry to be a complete noob. It's quite embarrassing that I used to program USAF radar systems and now I can't figure this stuff out.

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@Sauce I followed your directions and I'm still completely lost...

1) Opened up the edited bin in NOSE and recorded the decimal value for the home jersey.

Pallette1.png

 

2) Opened up the edited bin in TM and changed the pallette values as suggested:

Pallette2.png

3) Everything turns purple. Wut....

Pallette3.png

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1 hour ago, SinDonuts said:

Oh wait, motorola. Okay then. Now it looks better.

Pallette4.png

In TM, size the image to 6x4 or it will be all jumbled.

Image > Canvas Size > 6 columns by 4 rows.  Then, you can paste your image over what's there (Edit > Paste From).

 

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When I bring my logo (48x48 24-bit BMP) into TM, then update the Codec to 24 bpp RGB (888), the image is distorted, but the colors are correct. I've played with a bunch of settings and also tried to save my edited logo in a 6:4 format, but same issues when bringing that version into TM as well.

Pallette6.png

FireAntsLogo.bmp FireAntsLogo64.bmp

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Don't change the codec when importing your image.

Let TM convert your image to the same codec as the original image. (you'll need to set the palette appropriately before doing this)

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Okay, so in Sauce's NHL21 bin, he has the Seattle Kraken logo set to a 6:4 format:

Pallette7.png

 

But when I bring in either of my two logos, they're too big for the 6x4 format.

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GOT IT! I was making the mistake of opening my logo as a separate file instead of "PASTE FROM" the file!  Wooo! Thanks everyone.

Edit: NOPE. I pasted the image over the Kraken logo, save a new bin, and nothing changed. The Kraken logo remained when i re-open the bin file in TM.

Then, a weird thing happens when I try to run the new bin in the KEGA Fusion emulator... it ignores the new file and just plays the old one (like it didn't accept a corrupt bin and played the last working bin.)

 

 

Edited by SinDonuts
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44 minutes ago, SinDonuts said:

GOT IT! I was making the mistake of opening my logo as a separate file instead of "PASTE FROM" the file!  Wooo! Thanks everyone.

Edit: NOPE. I pasted the image over the Kraken logo, save a new bin, and nothing changed. The Kraken logo remained when i re-open the bin file in TM.

Then, a weird thing happens when I try to run the new bin in the KEGA Fusion emulator... it ignores the new file and just plays the old one (like it didn't accept a corrupt bin and played the last working bin.)

 

 

I think you have to hit Esc or Enter or something to "apply" the image. You'll notice the colour details change when it does it (changes to the palette colours). Then save after that.

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1 hour ago, SinDonuts said:

Okay, so in Sauce's NHL21 bin, he has the Seattle Kraken logo set to a 6:4 format:

But when I bring in either of my two logos, they're too big for the 6x4 format.

Your image needs to be the correct size. 6x4 is 48x32 pixels.

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Quick question about doing a "Paste From":

1) My imported image has bright reds and dark blacks

IceLogo2.png

2) but when I paste it into the ROM (bin) it lightens up and is faded out.

IceLogo1.png

 

Why is this happening? Any ideas?

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32 minutes ago, SinDonuts said:

Quick question about doing a "Paste From":

1) My imported image has bright reds and dark blacks

 

2) but when I paste it into the ROM (bin) it lightens up and is faded out.

 

 

Why is this happening? Any ideas?

Like I mentioned, it adjusts your image to match the existing palette in the ROM. Change the colours in the palette to better match your image, then re-import your image.

It's explained in detail in the guide Jkline wrote above.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi,

I'm having problems just getting the centre ice logos in the initial bin to display as everyone else seems to see them.

I've chosen 4bpp but the icons show as in the image 6x4 with various split lines making it really difficult to get the right mapping in the game (because when I paste the image on top of it it renders it in the game with the same "split" locations, leaving the centre ice image similarly fragmented).

Any ideas on getting the images to appear without the interlacing (or whatever it is?) - or what might be causing it to appear like this - I've tested with two different unedited bins so it's not any editing I've already done, and none of the other codecs provide anything close to this view - but it doesn't seem to do for me what it does in the guidance.

Anaheim Extract.png

EDIT: guessing it's because I'm not using the 30 team ROM - will try that instead.

SECOND EDIT: it does it for all my ROMs.

Edited by griffin99
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