The Tech-Support Thread

[Raggydoll]

This is where you can ask any questions that you have regarding the technical aspects of things. If you have a question that is not related to technology then you can either post it in the main thread or send a PM to me (Raggydoll). 

 

I have enlisted two very tech-savvy persons to help me manage this thread: @joy @gregory

 

And remember - No question is too dumb. We promise! So take this opportunity to ask away 💜

 

 

 

 

 

[geoxena]

I have some questions. In the main thread, you wrote that the final artwork needs to be a high-res file "such as a .jpg" - but wouldn't a TIFF or PNG file be preferable?  And what about the color profile? Should we convert to CMYK for printing?  I don't know a lot about that stuff, but I do know they matter when it comes to printing.

 

In the past, I've looked at sites that discuss preparing digital artwork for printing, as I've been wanting to create a deck for a long time.  There is another tarot forum where some really detailed information was posted about this, but I didn't think it appropriate to include a link with my question.  I know that different printing services have different requirements, and the technical stuff you posted had me curious in light of what I've read elsewhere.

Edited January 11, 2020 by geoxena

[gregory]

Printerstudio works fine with jpgs. I have used them MANY times. The only time I went to use a png the resolution wasn't adequate (it said.) 

 

Their minimum requirements are

 

File types accepted: jpg, jpeg, bmp, png, gif, tif and tiff
Min resolution 897 x 1497 pixels (300DPI) | Max file size 32MB

 

Note the size as well as the dpi.

 

I uploaded my deck as RGB jpgs at 600 dpi. It was fine. And printerstudio is who we are running with.

[Raggydoll]

3 minutes ago, gregory said:

Printerstudio works fine with jpgs. I have used them MANY times. The only time I went to use a png the resolution wasn't adequate (it said.) 

 

Their minimum requirements are

 

File types accepted: jpg, jpeg, bmp, png, gif, tif and tiff
Min resolution 897 x 1497 pixels (300DPI) | Max file size 32MB

 

Note the size as well as the dpi.

 

I uploaded my deck as RGB jpgs at 600 dpi. It was fine. And printerstudio is who we are running with.

I second this. I’ve printed several homemade decks with them and used RGB 300DPI jpgs and they turned out great 

[geoxena]

Oh, this is good to know.  Thank you both for your replies.  I guess they are willing to convert to CMYK rather than require the client/artist do so.  Do they provide proofs for approval?  Maybe I should just go check out their website - they sound like a good resource!

Edited January 11, 2020 by geoxena

[Raggydoll]

10 minutes ago, geoxena said:

Oh, this is good to know.  Thank you both for your replies.  I guess they are willing to convert to CMYK rather than require the client/artist do so.  Do they provide proofs for approval?  Maybe I should just go check out their website - they sound like a good resource!

They print on demand so I’ve just printed a test copy to see. But do check them out! I have been in contact with their staff and they are really nice. 

[Starlight]

I'm not sure if these are the sort of tech-related questions you wanted people to post here? I'll try and you can let me know. 🙂

 

Hi @gregory and @joy - I'm working on the Elder of Water and it's going to be a photo-collage. A couple of the photos are from Unsplash (so they're ok to use) and I found another photo online that I'd like to use. I've checked the license which allows anyone to share and/or adapt the photo even for commercial use. With attribution. 

 

Questions:

Have I correctly understood the licensing terms so I can go ahead and alter the photo?

Does anyone involved with managing our deck have a problem with me using the image above? (I intend to flip it so the lifeboat captain is looking the other way.)

Do I include the attributions in the card meanings?

 

Thank you for your thoughts and advice. 🙂

Edited January 29, 2020 by Starlight

[gregory]

I think you'd need to include the attribution in the LONG version, rather than the meanings - after all, they are limited to 100 words. I think you'd be OK if they are in the downloadable pdf Raggy is making.

 

I have no issue with your using it., no.

 

Mind you I wouldn't be surprised if you could find the same photo elsewhere....

[Raggydoll]

12 minutes ago, Starlight said:

I'm not sure if these are the sort of tech-related questions you wanted people to post here? I'll try and you can let me know. 🙂

 

Hi @gregory and @joy - I'm working on the Elder of Water and it's going to be a photo-collage. A couple of the photos are from Unsplash (so they're ok to use) and I found another photo online that I'd like to use. I've checked the license which allows anyone to share and/or adapt the photo even for commercial use. With attribution. 

 

Questions:

Have I correctly understood the licensing terms so I can go ahead and alter the photo?

Does anyone involved with managing our deck have a problem with me using the image above? (I intend to flip it so the lifeboat captain is looking the other way.)

Do I include the attributions in the card meanings?

 

Thank you for your thoughts and advice. 🙂

Good question! 🙂 I guess you can write an attribution under your long write up, like Gregory suggested. If @Little Fang has no issues with it then neither have I! 

[joy]

@Starlight yes that is the right question in the right section. Copyright laws/license stuff is so difficult to understand. However I do agree with @gregory if you mention what you did and provide a link you will be good to use it.

[Starlight]

Great, thank you, @gregory, @Raggydoll, @joy! I'll sleep on it tonight and look over the draft card again in the morning to see how I feel about it. 🙂

 

32 minutes ago, gregory said:

Mind you I wouldn't be surprised if you could find the same photo elsewhere....

I've no doubt you're right! The statue is a tribute to a Welsh lifeboat captain, Richard "Dic" Evans, and I think the town where the statue stands may have it in tourist brochures. There are other views of the statue in online articles, tourist reviews, etc. as well. Does that make it less attractive as an image to use in the deck? Or do you mean I could probably source a public domain version if I keep looking?

 

ETA: Or do YOU have a photo of the statue, Gregory??? 🤯

Edited January 29, 2020 by Starlight

[gregory]

No - I meant there may well be one needing no attribution somewhere. I don't actually have that one - but maybe someone here lives close....

[Starlight]

Ok, thanks, @gregory. 🙂

 

This morning I'm thinking of drawing my Elder so if I use the photo as a reference, the copyright on the photo no longer applies. That's right, isn't it?

[geoxena]

@Starlight

If the statue is on public property, you can sketch, draw, paint pictures of it and display them or sell them or use them however you want, generally.  But if it's on private property, you may need permission from the property owners to use it.  I know this from my filmmaking days.

Edited January 30, 2020 by geoxena
typo

[Starlight]

3 minutes ago, geoxena said:

@Starlight

If the statue is on public property, you can sketch, draw, paint pictures of it and display them or sell them or use them however you want, generally.  But if it's on private property, you may need permission from the property owners to use it.  I know this from my filmmaking days.

Ok! Good to know. Thank, @geoxena. So drawing from a photo that's already on the internet could still be a no-no, if the subject of the photo is on private property. I'll do some more research!

[Raggydoll]

The issue is not whether you can render a public statue (you can!), you just can’t use someone’s photo of it anyway you like. A photo is a new creation even if it’s a direct depiction. So if you render your own drawing in a way that makes it obvious that a specific reference photo was used then you need to have permission to use it. Basically. Let’s say you want to draw the Statue of Liberty and then draw from s picture. But you not only add the statue but some of the people around the statue, just like in that picture. Then it would be obvious that you have used another creators work and you would legally need permission to do so. And if you use a picture directly as part of a collage then it’s obviously even more important to do the right thing because then it can be proven that you used that picture (whereas it can be more vague with reference photos). Now, I’m certainly no lawyer so this is not to be seen as legal advice. It’s just my own common sense understanding of things. 

 

 

[Starlight]

2 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

But you not only add the statue but some of the people around the statue, just like in that picture. Then it would be obvious that you have used another creators work and you would legally need permission to do so. And if you use a picture directly as part of a collage then it’s obviously even more important to do the right thing because then it can be proven that you used that picture (whereas it can be more vague with reference photos). Now, I’m certainly no lawyer so this is not to be seen as legal advice. It’s just my own common sense understanding of things. 

Thanks, @Raggydoll. Yup, I don't want to infringe anyone's copyright. I've been thinking of what I put together, and the thought crossed my mind that the family and friends of Richard Evans might not appreciate his likeness being included in a Tarot deck. I've no idea, but I have no wish to potentially upset anyone, either.

 

So, I've been re-thinking how to render the card, and I'm leaning towards using other images of fishermen/sailors for my Elder and drawing a composite of all the features I want to inc;lude. What I'll do is share the images I used for reference and post the draft here when I complete it and then someone can let me know what they think.

[geoxena]

On 1/30/2020 at 2:57 AM, Starlight said:

I don't want to infringe anyone's copyright. . . .

Here is a brief article that explains fair use and copyright law (US) for collage artists, in simple terms:

 

https://hamptonsarthub.com/2018/05/16/features-creativity-the-law-collage-and-fair-use-under-the-copyright-laws/

Edited January 31, 2020 by geoxena

[Starlight]

Thanks, @geoxena.

[Raggydoll]

2 hours ago, katrinka said:

It's odd. Fartbook is fine, it's showing the desktop version. Same with another forum (it's on Simple Machines, but to be fair, I'm not sure a mobile version of that one exists.)

Apparently the TTM software thinks I'm on a mobile. https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?t=12127

If you guys can't figure out how to fix it from your end, apparently there's overrides I can do. I'm a little nervous about doing that, though, since I know squat about coding and the string I'd be copying is from 2016. https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?p=76225#p76225

 

I think we might as well ask @Little Fang I’m not familiar with your browser.

[gregory]

22 minutes ago, katrinka said:

PS It works fine in Chrome, everything is there.
Chrome is best avoided, though, IMHO.
 

I TOTALLY agree about Chrome....

 

But I have Pale Moon as well, and it's fine with mine (try a repair or an update ?)

 

Opera is very nice; so is Vivaldi....

[Perenelle]

OK so I found my way here again, now I get how to navigate. I need the card measurements again, my board is 9"x12" and that's 22.9x30.5 centimeters. So my image will be 8.5"x11.5". Is this correct proportion? 

 

Found the measurements, now am I right in thinking I have to change the size? It's a drawing that I was going to shrink to the correct measurements in the file but still not sure if my measurements are right. Ugh!

Edited March 4, 2020 by Perenelle
Update

[gregory]

Yes, you will have to change the size. Using your inch measurements, if you want to work on it at 8.5 wide, it needs to be 12.8 inches tall. And then shrink later to 2.75 inches by 4.75 (sorry that was the whole card) (at 300 dpi.)

 

And you will need to make sure (at that size) that nothing essential is closer than an inch to the edge of the card.

 

Sorry - but the measurements have been up there since day one.

Edited March 5, 2020 by gregory

[geoxena]

I am jumping in with a correction of the inches you stated, @gregory.

 

@Perenelle, the entire card will be 2.75 by 4.75 inches, which includes the title that Raggydoll will add.  However, the artwork we need to submit is 897 x 1342 pixels at no less than 300 dpi, which equals 2.99 x 4.47 inches - this includes the bleed area that will be cut off but not the title section at bottom.  So, basically that's very close to being 3 x 4.5 inches, or a ratio of 1:1.5.  Your board being 9 x 12", if I were you, the largest I'd do my drawing would be 7 x 10.5" or 7.5 x 11.25".  If you don't mind taking up the whole board, you could do it 8 x 12" but that would be tricky, maybe.

 

It's all explained here, in the very first post, which I also put in my reply to your post in the other thread: 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by geoxena

[gregory]

You're quite right - my last was the whole card ! But the killer is avoiding dropping anything critical too close to the edge.