Homebrew Cover Collections - part 2

Tetsuo Shima

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@Hakaisha I tested your transparent DVD skin and my jewel case covers never looked better!
Now I can finally abandon that ugly workaround I did to separate the PC Engine black and white cases
Code:
#PcEngine black and white cases
4d45434e=PCENGINE
4d45434f=PCENGINE
#
@fledge68 now the second one can be removed from platform.ini
There's only one little "issue" that I'm having with the transparent skin: there's a weird effect when the cover is spinnig 360 degrees.
Everything behind the transparent skin is also made transparent, even the back cover.
m85eatkfapzyfppzg.jpg
Anr easy solution would be avoiding spinning animations in themes, but I was wondering if removing transparency from the center line (leaving it only for the smaller left and right lines) could fix it.
 
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Hakaisha

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There's only one little "issue" that I'm having with the transparent skin: there's a weird effect when the cover is spinnig 360 degrees.
Everything behind the transparent skin is also made transparent, even the back cover.

You mean, real jewel cases can't actually do this?

Hahaha, I'm certain the design can be improved. I made it very quickly for testing purposes. Try this one. As you suggested, I made the center 100% opacity, and the sides 50% opacity:

dvdskin-greenone.png
 
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Tetsuo Shima

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:lol: Sorry @Hakaisha I'm loving your design!
What I meant was that I was expecting a different behaviour from Wiiflow in treating the transparent skin. I was expecting to glimpse an inverted image of the back/front covers while the box was rotating, or a flat color texture... in short, something opaque.
I tried your new test and I think it's better. The "void" effect is much less noticeable when the box is spinning:)
 
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ToddofWar420

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For those patiently waiting on the upcoming SNES Remastered Update Pack, the project is coming along expeditiously well. I've been doing a lot of recoloring, logo swaps, uniforming, touch ups, and most importantly, adding all the missing covers.
No time frame yet on the release, but I'll keep everyone informed via this thread until it's done.
 

ToddofWar420

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SNES Shrunken Spine Remastered Preview Update:
I just want to show what I have been doing to all the covers so far to give you guys an idea of what's happening here...
-I'm converting all the covers to the original style, unless it's an "Only For Nintendo" cover.
-Replaced all the Nintendo Seals with a more simple look which is more Wiiflow friendly and all finally match.
-Removed a lot of useless clutter on the back of the covers so they are cleaner and easier to read.
-All old covers have a blur to them due to the size compression, so I've been sourcing them out one by one and fixing that. This gives the covers a more clean crispy look.
-Spines have been more centered and reworked with updated logos laying sideways and some with smaller titles like Batman Forever for an example.
-Front box art is more centered with the top red bar and the Super Nintendo logo. Some Covers have huge gaps between them, the same with some Super Nintendo logos with the wider red line so I fixed those as well.
-More Spot cleaning. Anything washed out looking is getting worked on. Also removed all trademarks and copyrights since they just show up as spots on the cover anyway. Helps towards that cleaner look.
-Adding all the missing covers - That includes me making them from scratch if not available anywhere so this set will have all the US covers in it when finished.
There's a lot more going on, but that's just the general idea.
I posted some examples.. however, covers are not fully sized:
 

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mastershoes

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Hey hey,

I got a set of nearly 1,000 arcade covers coming out very soon. You guys should hold up on making any more until it comes out, most of what I see recently posted here is already in the new set. Not knocking contributions by any means, but trying to save people double work. Also, @Jate all of your spines are backwards.

Wheeee!
 

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Jewel Case progress update. New file attached to post.

I now have a better understanding of how the dvdskins work in WiiFlow. Using this knowledge I fixed some mistakes I made and have added some more details to the dvdskin.

I have written out a diagram of what I've learned, so others can benefit and hopefully be able to more easily modify the dvdskins:

wfl-dvdskin-diagram.png


Below, are a few screenshots of the revised dvdskin taken at different angles in WiiFlow.

I cut out 2 rectangular holes on the top and bottom of the front of the dvdskin, to represent the holes found behind the booklet holders on actual jewel cases. According to the dvdskin logic, they repeat at a much smaller size on the side of the case. I think this is fine for now. We could potentially add some more details past the 32px marks to help them blend in better and look more natural.
Jun-06-2020-12h00m07s.png


Spine artwork conjoins with dvdskin color and creates the illusion of a complete jewel case spine shape.
Jun-06-2020-12h00m37s.png


I filled in most of the empty alpha space with semi-transparent gray. I left a couple lines of complete alpha transparency on the front/back bevels. Trying to find a balance between the two that looks good.
Jun-06-2020-12h01m01s.png


This is where I have hit my head the most. I finally settled on this shimmer effect for the top and bottom. The 32 pixel limitation makes it near impossible to recreate the fine ridges found on the top and bottom of actual jewel cases. But real jewel cases do shimmer on the top and bottom! Considering we almost never see the top and bottom of cases, this limitation is really a non-issue.
Jun-06-2020-12h01m38s.png

I am also working on a jewel case cover template that works in tandem with this dvdskin. Look for it soon! Aiming for a release this weekend.

The template currently has 4 different jewel case styles (black opaque, white opaque, double disc cover size, and translucent), optional booklet staples, optional OBI placement, optional booklet shade/shimmer layers (these are applied to give body to the front booklet, rather than having it look completely flat, and also helps keep it separate from the tray background).

The translucent style enables proper display of TRAY art behind the booklet, while applying shadows and lighting on top of it that would typically be seen on an actual jewel case. This also helps create an illusion of depth in the native WFL environment, whereas the tray art just looks crudely pasted on the front without the shadows and lighting effects applied.

Mario-Luigi-RPG-Sound-Selection-pls.png
 

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Hakaisha

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Thanks for the Cave Story cover, @Tetsuo Shima! Cave Story is one of my most favorite games of all time.

Here is a small collection of 20 game soundtrack covers, which can be applied to .pls/.m3u playlist files for use with WiiFlow's music player:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/v2w31ji31tkzcag/WFL_MUSIC_COVERS.rar/file

I will be making many more of these soundtrack covers, with periodic updates here on this thread.

As promised, here is the jewel case template I am using, provided in XCF and PNG formats:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/dxce5525yc14ota/wfl_jewel_case_template_v1.rar/file

This template is largely a modification of @Tetsuo Shima 's design, whom created the first WiiFlow jewel case covers for the PC Engine CD way back.

If you attempt to use the template, I recommend using the XCF file. It just makes everything a lot easier with the layers already placed in the correct order and has jogging guides to prevent incorrect image placements. But I realize everyone doesn't use GIMP, so I have provided an optional folder of PNGs that make it possible to reconstruct the template in the program of your preference.

I'm interested in making some proper MSU1 covers for WiiFlow and already have some preliminary work done. I'll have more to post about it next time.

msu1-sample-big.png
 

Tetsuo Shima

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@Hakaisha Your Jewel Case covers are simply wonderful!
I've got to find a way to quickly re-do all my Pce/Pce-CD covers using your new template, but I'm not good with batch image scripts :(
However I cannot open the XCF template with my GIMP version (2.8.16). It says it's not compatible with xcf11.
 
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Hakaisha

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@Tetsuo Shima , I've taken a look at the XCF situation. The version I'm currently using is GIMP 2.10.12.

When saving an XCF, GIMP displays a small disclaimer:

gimp-info.png


Updating your GIMP version to 2.10 or above should fix the issue.

The jewel case template does use several layer groups which should still work in 2.8. The conflict which breaks compatibility seems to be the 'Normal' layer mode. Unfortunately, I am unsure what this normal layer mode even really is, or how it could be disabled. After looking it up, it appears to be the default layer mode.
 

Tetsuo Shima

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Thanks @Hakaisha I've updated to Gimp 2.10
So much has changed..it's like a whole different program now:ohnoes:
Having to re-learn everything makes me wanna die... but I guess I have no other choice
Luckily I was able to keep my outdated version installed
 
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ToddofWar420

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SNES Shrunken Spine Remastered Set current stats so far:
80 Updated, 52 New, and 18 new Alts. - All covers cleaned to perfection!
I've been working on the Unreleased Prototypes, Japanese Fan Translations, missing covers, and the best rom hacks, you name it. I'm going straight down the list and about to start the C's prolly Wednesday.
Seems kinda slow going but it'll be worth the wait.
Guys, this is going to be BIG!!
 
Last edited by ToddofWar420, , Reason: Private link to OP accidentally posted. Removed link.

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