New Silhouettes

[RodBearden]

Well, we've got V2.0 and its silhouettes. Personally I find them a bit boring, most of them look pretty much alike. So I've been having a play, and come up with some alternatives, based on photos, as in the two examples below.

If you would like to try them, just do a backup copy of the Data/Silhouettes folder (you may prefer the originals after you've tried mine!) and unzip the two zips (one in this post, one in the following post due to forum size restrictions) into that folder, overwriting the existing files.

I'm personally not convinced that I want the silhouettes column at all, even with my own pics in it, but it's possibly worth a try.

There are a lot left to do, and it's open to imaginative use - do add your own work to this thread if you like the idea.

AirNav have said that the maximum size is 68 pixels width (x 16 pixels high), but the column is currently wide enough for 80px pictures, I've done 76 px width to be the same size as logos.

Do let me know if you like the idea.

Rod

[RodBearden]

Here's part two of the zip

Rod

[Bethsalem]

I Like your take on the silhouettes column, keep them coming.

[Allocator]

Rod, you're doing it again!

Not satisfied with giving yourself the job of redoing all the logo's, you've started on a new mission - ha ha!

I must admit that I wasn't too keen on the silhouettes at first, but now they act as an "attention getter" for anything out of the ordinary.  Yes, all the airliners do tend to look the same, but the heli's and light aircraft show up well.  I'm sure that I will back up my silhouettes folder at some point and try your small photos too as they do look good.

Thanks again for all the work you've done :-) 

[tarbat]

Allocator, that's exactly why I requested the silhouettes feature in the first place.  It's a great way of spotting the more unusual aircraft in the list - for example:



A bit like those aircraft recognition charts   I'm just not sure photos would work for me.  But each to their own!

I have added one new silhouette, to help me spot aircraft with "..." in the ICAOType:

[RodBearden]

I'm not sure they work for me either, Tarbat - I'm just playing! There are some photos that I'm pleased with - check out the Hawk!

Of course, you can mix them up and keep most of the silhouettes, just having a select few photos as attention-getters.

And you're right, Allocator, I just can't resist playing with the graphics, but it is pretty harmless fun!

I'm off on my hols tomorrow, and I'll view them with a fresh eye when I get back. If anyone has come up with fresh ideas, or contributed more pictures, that would be great!

I've been concentrating so much on RB beta testing in the last few weeks that logos (and silhouettes) have taken a bit of a back seat - but I'll settle down to them (if more need doing) in a week or so.

Rod

[IAN K]

Hi to all

As the creator of the silhouettes I agree that a lot of them do look similar but the originals were 85 x 20 in size and they don't seem to have the same impact when reduced to 68 x16

Ian

[tarbat]

I still like the silhouettes!!  However I have been playing around with FastStone to maybe sharpen the images up slighty.  Ian, if you don't mind me asking, how did you go about creating the 85x20 silhouettes in the first place?

[RodBearden]

Hi Ian

Many congratulations on the silhouettes you did for RB - they are real works of art - and they do look very accurate. It's not your fault that all airliners look much the same these days, especially when they get crammed into a 68x16 pixel space!

As Allocator says, the helicopters and light aircraft do stand out from the crowd. As I said in the first post of the thread, I may well prefer your shilouettes to my pictures - haven't made up my mind yet - but from the responses on the forum, most RB users certainly think they're a great enhancement to the product.

Again, thanks for your work!

Rod

[IAN K]

Hi

Thanks for the comments

The 85x20 silhouettes were developed for another product hence the size.
Many of the current airliners I was able to scan from a book and then I add the blue background and reduce in size, but most of the aircraft I have to find a good side on photo from any of the main Airliners websites, I then use the lasso tool in Photoshop to cut the aircraft out I then add the blue background and black out the aircraft leaving the windows which are painted white then crop the photo and reduce to 85x20 and apply a small amount of sharpening, each aircraft takes about 10 mins to do from start to finish.

Ian

[GlynH]

Been reading this thread and I suppose this could apply to logos, flags etc. but why was the limitation of 68 x 16 chosen in the first instance?

Seems very small to me...and I know that Rod, Ian & Co. wouldn't know what to do with all that free time on their hands but...I mean if there are 'other' logos, flags silhouettes out there wouldn't it make sense to arrange our columns to fit the majority?

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

PS. It's not the size that counts...it's how big it is that really matters! ;^)

[RodBearden]

Here are a few more of these photo-silhouettes - the two samples below are included in the zip.

Still haven't decided whether I prefer them to the "proper" ones!

Rod

[RodBearden]

One more batch with a sample that's included in the zip.

Rod

[RodBearden]

Here's another batch, again with one sample of what's in the zip.

Rod

[RodBearden]

There seem to be a few people who like these alternatives to the conventional silhouettes, so here's another batch, again with a sample of one of the silhouettes in the zip.

Rod