Celestia Forums

Hi all,

I did a few new 800x600 splash images. Perhaps some of
you like them. Let me know which one you think looks best.

Just replace the 'celestia-splash.img' in Celestia's root
directory by one of the new images. Don't forget to save the
original and rename your favorite one to 'celestia-splash.img'.











Enjoy,

Bye Fridger

Nice work,

I'd have to say that I like the Mars and Andromeda splash image the best due to the excellent colours and detail, all three are good.

Michael

Michael Kilderry wrote:Nice work,

I'd have to say that I like the Mars and Andromeda splash image the best due to the excellent colours and detail, all three are good.

Michael

That's actually the one I chose for my own installation as well...

Bye Fridger

Fridger,

Quit good for the backgrounds...
Now the lettering... well can be much better, no offense, you know it's my job !!
On day I have to do some Splash, mine is just a new small title...
If you can send me the mars image in 1024, or bigger, I can do lots of variation in the title...

Bye.

ElChristou wrote:Fridger,

Quit good for the backgrounds...
Now the lettering... well can be much better, no offense, you know it's my job !!
On day I have to do some Splash, mine is just a new small title...
If you can send me the mars image in 1024, or bigger, I can do lots of variation in the title...

Bye.

ElChristou,

well I got to live with the fonts in my Linux system, but there are some more
general aspects that I consider important. Like these:


1) The colors of the fonts should repeat in the colorations of the
images somehow. Also, I want the letters to be BIG. It's about
Celestia, after all...

2) The styles of the fonts are also not accidentally selected. So it was
definitely on purpose to choose a clean Sans Serif (Arial) font for the
Mars + Andromeda splash. The clean "techno" look of that font
contrasts nicely to the lonely atmosphere of that Mars+ Andromeda
image. Moreover, you will note that I used directional lighting effects to
repeat the yellow colors of the lhs Mars craters locally in the font color
on the left! Etc....

Also the style of the font in the first splash (Huygens landing on Titan)
was carefully chosen to express a certain "emotional state" in this
lonely penetration of Titan's atmosphere...I want it to remind us of
the olden pioneering days; thus it should have a slightly "old
fashioned" touch. I basically dislike standard Serife fonts, however...


3) The font in the Jupiter-Europa splash can be replaced by anything
that looks neat, but a metallic touch is perhaps fun. That 3rd splash is
older already, I only intensified the directional lighting a bit,
yesterday.

4) In the two more recent splashes (1 & 2), I chose to just write
'Celestia" without version number. Who knows whether we shall ever
have another one


Bye Fridger

ElChristou,

I uploaded the untexted 800x600 splash as mars-m31.png to my TextureFoundry site. Download it from here:

http://www.shatters.net/~t00fri/images/mars-m31.png

Actually, these images are meant to be splash images not covering the whole screen upon startup of Celestia.

So 800x600 is more than big enough...

Bye Fridger

Fridger,

I tx you for the explication of those lettering, but once more I remind you this is part of my job... In fact with a quick look, I have clearely see the work here, bevels, shadows, light, color etc...

The colors of the fonts should repeat in the colorations of the
images somehow.

Well this is a primary rule for "good taste" if you don't want to make error, but you can go round this rule with complementary colors, contrast, negative, etc...
The "how to use colors" is not a simple topic, since the Renaissance, people are writing books and theories on this for students and artists... It is certainly not so complicated than nuclear physics (:wink:), but like all things, one have to study a bit to have a good result...

Also the style of the font in the first splash (Huygens landing on Titan) was carefully chosen to express a certain "emotional state" in this
lonely penetration of Titan's atmosphere...I want it to remind us of the olden pioneering days; thus it should have a slightly "old fashioned" touch. I basically dislike standard Serife fonts, however...

About style, let take this as an example:
I will tell you my first impression looking this splash, I'm far away (2 billions LY ) from your idea: one word: Celtic...
This font as been used too many times with celtic relationned topics, + the global color, + CELesTIa (analogie with the "celtic" word), well all this give me a something that indeed do not send me 50 years in the past but rather 2000 years ago!!
Each person with his own background will fell something different in front of a painting, a drawing or even a typographie art work; it's why in that case it's not so easy to transmit your idea...

In the two more recent splashes (1 & 2), I chose to just write
'Celestia" without version number. Who knows whether we shall ever
have another one

I agree with you it's useless...

Bye

Ps: this post was suppose to be before your last message...
I will make some works with your file...

ElChristou wrote:Fridger,

I tx you for the explication of those lettering, but once more I remind you this is part of my job... In fact with a quick look, I have clearely see the work here, bevels, shadows, light, color etc...
...

OK, let's wait and see your "masterpiece"

Bye Fridger

Hello,

It's 23h25, I'm dead tired, so I will just post two splash today;
(Fridger, I haven't yet used your png... perhaps tomorrow...)

First a simple one:



Boouuhh.... Then a variation of the same with well known effects....



Tomorrow more...

Bye

Hum, I think it's finaly time for me to commit my random splash screen code...

ElChristou,

Unfortunately, there is a problem with your splash screen: "Welcome to" is almost invisibly tiny on my system. I run it at 1600x1200.

selden wrote:ElChristou,

Unfortunately, there is a problem with your splash screen: "Welcome to" is almost invisibly tiny on my system. I run it at 1600x1200.

...same here...

Bye Fridger

Hi,
This morning, awaking, I have found the answer to my question "why Fridger use so big letters??"... The screen size... Well sure on a 1600 those splash are useless... just good for 1024...
But don't worry, those were a semi comatose work, this afternoom, I will do others.

Bye

Just a test, I want to know if the welcome is visible on a 1600 screen... (I want it to be quite small...)
What about the "Chris Laurel's"?

That's readable!

I'll leave it to Chris to comment otherwise.

ElChristou wrote:...
What about the "Chris Laurel's"?
...

These are the official authors of Celestia, as
may be read in Help -> About Celestia... or in the AUTHORS file

Chris Laurel <claurel@www.shatters.net>
Clint Weisbrod <cweisbrod@cogeco.ca>
Fridger Schrempp <t00fri@mail.desy.de>
Bob Ippolito <bob@redivi.com>
Christophe Teyssier <chris@teyssier.org>
Hank Ramsey <hramsey@users.sourceforge.net>
Grant Hutchison <granthutchison@blueyonder.co.uk>

t00fri wrote:

ElChristou wrote:...

What about the "Chris Laurel's"?
...

These are the official authors of Celestia, as
may be read in Help -> About Celestia... or in the AUTHORS file

Chris Laurel <claurel@www.shatters.net>
Clint Weisbrod <cweisbrod@cogeco.ca>
Fridger Schrempp <t00fri@mail.desy.de>
Bob Ippolito <bob@redivi.com>
Christophe Teyssier <chris@teyssier.org>
Hank Ramsey <hramsey@users.sourceforge.net>
Grant Hutchison <granthutchison@blueyonder.co.uk>

Yes I know this list... but I cannot put everybody in a splash....
After all we are not doing oficial spash here... was just to have an opinion...

I have also tried to keep a style a bit similar to the official site in those first splash... In a few hours, more....

ElChristou wrote:....
Yes I know this list... but I cannot put everybody in a splash....
After all we are not doing oficial spash here... was just to have an opinion...
....

Since dropping co-authors is definitely not good style, leave the authors away...That was what I wanted to imply above.

Too late, Fridger...

Just to see, with the authors and the version!!

Well this one is suppose to be better with the rings shadows but my board did not allow me this pleasure....



PS: Fridger, I have change the place of your name just for a question of balance in the text... hope it's not a problem...

ElChristou wrote:Too late, Fridger...

Just to see, with the authors and the version!!

Well this one is suppose to be better with the rings shadows but my board did not allow me this pleasure....

...

PS: Fridger, I have change the place of your name just for a question of balance in the text... hope it's not a problem...

Well, if you insist to list the authors, their position should indeed not be modified. It is not random...

But honestly, I think, your latter image is totally overcrowded. The text takes by far too much importance in the splash -- perhaps because "it's your job" . Most importantly, your text arrangements tend to cut the image into pieces! I think that this happens in your images 2,3 and 4.

In my view, the splash should foremost display some /excellent/ graphics with a Celestia-typical and /original/ theme (NOT again the good old "worn off" 'painted sphere' motives, please...). Unlike many professionally designed WEBsites, the splash should NOT be a /sterile/ "designer piece". Let me emphasize that I find Runar's (professional) design of the new Celestia site /excellent/ and precisely NOT sterile!

Rather, the splash should convey emotion and atmosphere.
Curiosity, so to speak, about what is booting and going to show up a few moments later....

That's what I consider the crucial function of a splash image. Text appears of secondary importance to me. Certainly it should not cut the image apart....

Bye Fridger