chip design from traditional media

hunterking · #1 (**permalink**) 09-12-2005, 08:32 AM

quick question---my wife is an artist, and she is very interested in producing artwork for custom poker chips. the problem is that her paintings will usually be at least 3 feet in diamater. what is the best way to convert a painting of this size into a graphic design program since that is the format that any chip manufacturer will work with. i know that there are scanners that can piece together several passes on the same document, but will this yield a high enough quality scan? obviously she is worried about the maintaining the integrity of her art... i know a lot about computers and programming, just not graphic design programs...

thanks in advance

dimperdoo · #2 (**permalink**) 09-12-2005, 04:27 PM

I have had some success with taking "pictures of pictures" of older 35mm pics of family and such. Thus converting to digital images. (kinda like scanning, but with your digital camera)

The larger format, better digital camera, the better (of course) BUT, the real critical phase is alignment.

Must haves: tripod, non-directional lighting, steady trigger finger

Your LCD screen is the preferred viewfinder (unless you have an SLR digital) You must take the photo from square on. I've tried to use sunlight as much as possible - but again, the key is to avoid glare.

this is really just my "best guess" -it's been a trial and error thing for me, but "digital film" is "free"

austin5string · #3 (**permalink**) 09-12-2005, 05:50 PM

I'll echo what dimperdoo said. Taking a picture with a good digital camera is your best bet. While shooting straight on and indirect lighting are certainly important, a large number of shortcomings can be corrected using Photoshop - Color correction, white balance, perspective and so on..

Best to do it as close to right the first time, though. Like he said, also, digital "film" is free, so you can practice to your heart's content.

That being said, though, piecing together multiple scan passes would probably be adequate considering you're shrinking a 3 foot circle down to chip size. In fact, one problem that I might foresee is the inclusion of way too much detail for what's being done. It would be a shame to spend hours and hours on an amazing painting only to find out that when it's shrunk down to chip size that 90% of the detail is lost.

~John

hunterking · #4 (**permalink**) 09-12-2005, 05:57 PM

thanks guys, her parents have a new $3000 digital camera w/ an amazing lens. we'll have to give that a try...

Quote:

Originally Posted by austin5string

one problem that I might foresee is the inclusion of way too much detail for what's being done.

yes, that is going to be very difficult for her, as she usually includes a lot of detail in her pieces, and i've had a hard time explaining to her that it's not going to matter once the image is shrunk down. in fact, i would imagine that too much detail would become very muddied when shrunk down so much. but she's always up for a challenge... i'll keep you guys updated as chips designs that we both like become available at the right size... any ideas of what you guys might like to see? she's working on a really cool set right now...

austin5string · #5 (**permalink**) 09-12-2005, 06:08 PM

Does she have any of her artwork on the web anywhere? Would be interesting to see her style of painting.

hunterking · #6 (**permalink**) 09-12-2005, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by austin5string

Does she have any of her artwork on the web anywhere? Would be interesting to see her style of painting.

not yet because she's very picky about where she will post it... i've been trying to get her to post in an online gallery, but she's very adamant about requiring it to be a very upscale gallery... i'll see what i can do...

dimperdoo · #7 (**permalink**) 09-13-2005, 02:42 AM

This may not be the most upscale gallery here, but I'd like to see what you guys have going on once you've expirimented w/ this theory. Of course, the scale of what you can do to improve your initial shot, and work with it after the fact in photoshop or ? is virtually infinte. I've wondered about using the concept from ground up in order to produce shapes/drawings/graphical info in a digital from which are difficult to draw on the mousepad...

Poboy · #8 (**permalink**) 09-14-2005, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hunterking

not yet because she's very picky about where she will post it... i've been trying to get her to post in an online gallery, but she's very adamant about requiring it to be a very upscale gallery... i'll see what i can do...

Do you have a webpage from your ISP? Most artists post their work on their own page. I went to a seminar at a gallery in DC, and they said it is a good idea to do this.

As for the artwork on the chip, IMHO, it would be better for her to take pictures with a 35mm camera, then scan those in at a very high resolution. You can always (and probably will) lower the resolution, but since you can't go higher, you should scan it in high.

austin5string · #9 (**permalink**) 09-14-2005, 08:57 AM

If her folks have a nice digital camera - assuming it's an SLR from the price you mentioned, there's no reason at all to use a film camera and then scan prints. An unnecessary added expense and step in the process. For that matter, even a less expensive P&S camera of 5 mp or so would be more than adequate for poker chip artwork.

seaniswise · #10 (**permalink**) 09-14-2005, 11:25 AM

wouldn't taking a photo of a flat painting distort the edges (because they're father away from the lens than the center)? make sure to correct that in photoshop.