Decals

I'll be using Photoshop 6 and GIMP 2 for this tutorial, but most image editing software newer than MS Paint should be able to do most everything in this guide. A free image editor called "GIMP" can be found at [http://www.gimp.org/ www.gimp.org].

If you would like to share your decals with others, you can upload them to this page here: [[Decal Download Page]]

#Use the wand to select the black areas and press delete twice. That will leave us something similar to the image to the right.

:*Make sure the layer you are working isn't locked. If it is, duplicate it to a new layer and delete the locked layer.

#Go to Layer > Transparency > and select 'Add Alpha Channel'

#Select the 'Fuzzy Select Tool'

#Set the threshold to '10'

#Select the black area and press delete twice

#In photoshop, go to Layer>Layer Style>Stroke. Change the stroke color to black and the size to '10'.  

#Select your main layer and create a duplicate layer by going to Layer> and choosing 'Duplicate Layer'

#Using your Fuzzy Tool, click in the transparent background area.

#Select the skull by inverting your selection. Go to Select> and choosing 'Inverse'

#Create the Stroke by going to Edit> and choosing 'Stoke Selection'

#Copy the settings from the image to the left

#You should still have the outline of the skull selected.

#If you do, simple press delete and you should get an image similar to the one to the left

:*If you accidentally deselected the skull, just use the fuzzy tool to select the skull in the other layer, invert the selection, and press delete.

#In photoshop, the easiest way for me to do this is to create a new transparent layer below my current one, then merge it down. Go to Layer>Merge Down. *Using Layer>Flatten Image will fill in my background with white which is something I don't want.

#Now I can use my magic want to easily select my image by clicking the empty area, then inverting my selection by going to Select>Inverse.

#In Gimp, simply go to Layer> and choose 'Merge Down' until you only have one layer left

#Create a new channel by clicking 'Create New Channel' at the bottom of that window. That gives me a black square with an outline of my crossbones.

#I want to fill that area with white so it will be visible in my decal. Go to Edit>Fill and use White.

#If you want to blend it to let some of the dirt and paneling of the mech show through, make a color that is 80% grey and fill the skull and crossbones with the paintbucket.

#After you fill it, you can deselect the image.

#In Gimp, right click on your layer and choose 'Add Layer Mask'. Choose 'Transfer Layer's Alpha Channel' and press 'Add'.

#If you want to blend it, select your skull (Fuzzy wand/Invert) and use the paintbucket with a color of 80% grey and fill the skull and crossbones with the color. You should see the grid behind it slightly show through.

#Once you are done, right click on the layer and choose 'Apply Layer Mask'.

#In photoshop, go to Window>Show Layers and select your layer.

##Resize your image by going to Image>Image Size. Change the width and height fields to 32 and press OK.

##After resizing, I would suggest creating a completely black layer under your image layer to ensure there isn't any white spots on the edge of your transparencies. That is completely optional though and usually not necessary.

#Save as a .tga and select 32 bits/pixel. Anything less won't retain the alpha channel.

#To create a 64x64 decal with transparency, you will need to take an extra step using Gimp [See top of this page for a link].  

##First re-size your image to 64x64 and save it as a .tga file.  

##Then open your .tga in Gimp. You should see the transparent area as being a tinted checkered pattern.

##Go to Image>Mode and choose 'Index'. In the window that pops up, change the number colors to the minimum you think will be acceptable for your decal. The fewer colors you use, the smaller your end file will be. *'''Change the Image back to RGB Mode!!!''' Image>Mode> Choose 'RGB'. The Decal won't work if it's left in index mode.

##Go to Color>Posterize. A slider with a number going from 1 to 255 should appear. This will fine tune the number of colors you use from the previous step. Keep decreasing the number of colors until your file is smaller than 5kb. For my crossbones image, I only needed three. To keep your file size under 5KB, you will have to use 16 colors or less, and possibly even fewer than that.

##After you press ok, to to 'Save As' and overwrite your file. A window allowing you to use RLE compression should appear, press Yes and save. Check your file size.  

==Things that will affect file size==

**Decrease the number of colors in your decal by going to Image>Mode> Choosing 'Index' and changing the number of colors there. Start with 16 colors and whittle the colors down as much as you can while keeping the image clear. Then change it back to RGB mode (Image>Mode>RGB).

**You can further decrease the number of colors after that step by going to Color> and choosing Posterize. Keep doing that until the file size is below 5kb.