Guild Wars 2 Wiki talk:Projects/Creature screenshots

Creature screenshots

For my own amusement and the hope of advancing the Bestiary a bit, I've recently started to collect screenshots of known and unknown creatures from the demo footage, skills videos, actual decent quality screenshots around the internet. So far I've got a selection of terrible blurry screenshots of creatures which do and do not have pages and some which cannot have pages because we simply do not know what creature they are.

I was eventually going to just upload these to the user space until I could identify them or get better versions but Chriskang has expressed interest in helping on this. So the project is open.

I've added a few items to do on the page most around discussing this. I'd like it to be fairly informal, I'd rather get started with a rough idea of what's best and sort things out later through iterations rather than try to over discuss this trying to get everything perfect first time around.

If you've got anything to say in general about the project this section is the place to put it. I'll make new sections for the other discussion items. -- aspectacle  09:36, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Image upload location and naming

I guess the screens can go directly into the main space with the aim of them being overwritten as better versions are found.

I think eventually there are going to be two or three types of image we can gather for a creature 1) a screenshot 2) their circular icon which appears next to the health bar at the top of the screen, or in the case of big bosses is over the top of the health bar 3) a render or cut-out, which may or may not replace the screenshot.

My opening suggestion is the screenshot takes the base name of the monster without any additional wording or clarification. The others would be <beastname>_icon and <beastname>_render. The image name would be in the Title Case used in game to avoid any confusion over what does and doesn't get capitalised.

I suggest unidentified creatures be given names like: Unidentified_creature_nn. Where nn is a number which increments with each unidentified creature. Thoughts? -- aspectacle  09:54, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

They clearly deserve a place in the main namespace and the naming sounds good to me. I'm already picturing a "Loquay style infobox" with the round icon in the top right corner :). To be more precise, I'd like to see a <beastname>.jpg (as the main screenshot), a <beastname>_render.png as the icon (as the icon clearly contains transparency so they have to be pngs in the game files) and <beastname>_render.jpg. I support the in-game capitalization too. I disagree with you for unidentified creatures though. These don't really deserve a place in the main namespace and should be either uploaded in a user space (or even kept on your hard drive until we know, imo). Chriskang 10:46, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Works for me. I'd started to save my images as jpgs already and was wondering whether I would have to do over. :) I'll upload the unidentified monsters to my user space but I'll concentrate on the identifiable creatures first. -- aspectacle  11:14, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

What makes one screen better than another?

Not a huge fan of the red/yellow outline though I suspect it'll be difficult I think the best will not have the outline because of how it hides the detail of the monster. Otherwise sideways profile for four leg creatures, front on for two legged creatures. As minimally blurry and obscured as you can manage. If unidentified creatures could have any text which others could use to try and decipher for the creatures name could be handy. -- aspectacle  10:03, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

I really think that "no aura" is the way to go. As for the angle, I would opt for something in-between a frontal view and a side view. The middle would be ideal (3/4 view) as it's probably the view that exposes the biggest parts of the creature. If you look at the screenshots/renders provided by Anet - like here - most of them use this view. Of course, this is the preferred viewpoint but with our current sources, we should probably select our screenshot based on their quality rather than their viewpoint. Chriskang 12:19, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

where to link the screens?

So some of these screenshots are going to be so terrible I wonder if it is worth linking them into the page for the monster if they just look horrible? I think a simple listing of the current creature screenshots on this page will simplify the gathering process. I think the images of the unidentified creatures especially need to be listed here. Any thoughts on the project organisation? I was thinking about how gw1:Guild_Wars_Wiki:Projects/NPC_models is organised but that seems too complex for the start of this project? -- aspectacle  10:13, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Categorization

We also have to think about categorizing the images. I suggest to tag screenshots with {{ArenaNet image|screenshot|bestiary screenshots}} , which would auto-categorize them into Category:Bestiary screenshots. This cat would be a subcategory of Category:Screenshots. Similarly, I suggest to tag icons with {{ArenaNet image|icon|bestiary icons}} and create the [[:Category:Bestiary icons]] below Category:ArenaNet icons. Chriskang 11:02, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Your scheme works for me - though I usually try not to concern myself over much with the nuances of categorisation so more opinions might be required.

That template is so long I'd want a new template to shorten it. :) It works for me otherwise. -- aspectacle  11:14, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

You could also categorize each category as a sub-category to bestiary (on top of what is stated above), more specifically, listing them as *. In that way you end up with two * sub-categories within the Bestiary category; Category:Bestiary screenshots and [[:Category:Bestiary icons]], for easy acces. Just my two cents. - Infinite - talk 12:30, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Incoming

I'm sorry for the quality of some of these - I'm fairly certain there are better versions around for some of the uploaded but I haven't got around to watching the video yet. Then I'm going to bed. :) -- aspectacle  12:12, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Done. Watch out for those vicious plants. :p -- aspectacle  12:34, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Renders

I'd be interested in working on this, as I enjoyed adding creature pictures to GW1W, but over time more and more actual screenshots were replaced by background-less "renders" there. Also, one picture per model for non-renders, no matter how ridiculously inappropriate the background was. This seems like a lot of work for something that will ultimately be replaced long-term if there isn't consensus for keeping screenshots. Manifold 03:33, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Renders Help

So, quick question: how do I get my hands on a render to upload? Dig through game files? Or some complex method i want nothing to do with? XD

EDIT: scrap that, new question: What file format are the models saved in? I'd guess MPQ, seeing how Mike O"Brien made it, but perhaps it belongs to Blizzard? Can't find any data on those.--Xhosant 08:27, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

Hello

I added myself to this list but I'm not sure if it is the right place for me. I am not the best person graphically and I am using just windows photo edit to make pictures from screenshots. I would not feel bad if every image I upload at some point gets replaced by a higher quality image. That said, I am trying to make sure that there is something at least for all monsters I come across. I currently am trying to do Risen. I've added quite a few new pages and I'm currently looking through the dead link list, to make sure there is something there. I hope to have this completed soon (by next weekend) then I'll make sure that every monster on that list has an image. After that I'm on to Veteran and Champion class for those monsters. Yoe Dude 23:53, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

It would be great if you could crop out the UI elements. Manifold 23:58, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

Sorry I'm not exactly sure what you mean here?Yoe Dude 06:00, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Their name in red text, the health bar, and level. Manifold 06:10, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarification, I still have the images saves so I will re-edit them and re post.Yoe Dude 06:36, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

I'd like to say I figured out what my problem with imaging was this evening. Check out my Risen Spider. I now have a posted image I can be proud of. Yoe Dude 05:42, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

I really like it, so good job! And you removed two elements that Manifold forgot to mention: the red ring around the creature, and (optionally, though I personally prefer without) the red outline around the creature. So all things considered, good job with the screenshot! Creatures are the worst to get pictures of, and decent ones at that :P —Jyavoc 05:48, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

The ring around the creatures is annoying, you have to deselect the NPC then point the camera off-center to avoid the halo effect.--Relyk 05:59, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Personally, I think the outline around the creature is worse. Because I love it so much. And have it on by default. And there's no combination of keys short of going into configurations to disable it for screenshots. Makes those momentary perfect-shot pictures damn difficult to snap. (If it's a perfect shot, outline be damned, but overall, I like it not being there). —Jyavoc 06:03, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

You can turn the outline off? I don't see that option.--Relyk 06:09, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

I believe it's a part of the last graphics option. If you highlight over and read all of the tooltips, starting from the bottom up on the graphics section, you should be able to find it. It was difficult finding it in the first place, and I never remember which one it is when I need it, so I have to read them all, again. —Jyavoc 06:16, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Ahh post-processing, it turns that on when I switch to Best Appearance. I usually have that off--Relyk 06:22, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Moving on to a new area

I am just posting this to let the group know what I am doing and so other folks can find area's they wish to work on. I think I have mostly finished with the Risen. There are one or two more images I still need to grab, and I'm sure there are still a few veteran\champions that don't have pages yet. If any-one sees something I have missed let me know here or on my user talk page. I started on Nightmare Court and I may also be focusing on underwater creatures and / or objects. Feel free to let me know if you see an area that needs work and I will spend some time there also. Yoe Dude 18:57, 28 January 2013 (UTC)