Custom billboard resources

[Cocolori]

Ok things I have discovered that might be useful for others...

1. Gimp is a brilliant tool with a steep learning curve but to do basic stuff with a free programme it is excellent and literally just messing around for a while has got me creating some...interesting things. The artistic filters setting is great if you are like me with very little discernable artistic talent. I took a random actual photo of a tiger off google images and somehow turned it into this with the simple linear iterative clustering tool...

Before

After...

2. The colours thing is a pain and they seem to appear washed out in game BUT I think despite understanding none of the tech or formatting issues I might have solved it. A quick google search suggested the colour profile was the issue. In GIMP you can convert from one profile to another under Image... Colour management... convert to colour profile.
However I didn't know what profile was needed. I did find though that a Nvidia screenshot I had downloaded FROM THE GAME and converted into a zoo map was showing up really bright in game so I reasoned that its embedded colour profile must be the right one. In gimp you use colour profile templates so I opened up my map image, went to colour management, clicked 'save colour profile to file' and saved it in the same folder as the gimp default with a random name (I think i called it trial). Then I opened a couple of my washed our images, went to 'colour management', 'convert to colour profile', the drop down menu 'colour profile from disk' and selected the trial profile and converted it. And voila it is much much brighter in game...

Because I'm not sure how it works I am going to add a warning - someone with much more technical knowledge might have a better way of doing this and I can't guarantee this
will work for everyone else or won't cause issues becuase I was literally just messing around. Use at your own risk etc. etc.So far it seems to work for me.

3. There are some incredible artists in this community - thanks so much for sharing what you have done so far. I'm already starting to use them in my zoos. @Ulysse my Just So Stories themed parks are starting to come alive thanks to you!

 

[Firestar97]

Ok things I have discovered that might be useful for others...

1. Gimp is a brilliant tool with a steep learning curve but to do basic stuff with a free programme it is excellent and literally just messing around for a while has got me creating some...interesting things. The artistic filters setting is great if you are like me with very little discernable artistic talent. I took a random actual photo of a tiger off google images and somehow turned it into this with the simple linear iterative clustering tool...

Before

View attachment 218699

After...

View attachment 218698

2. The colours thing is a pain and they seem to appear washed out in game BUT I think despite understanding none of the tech or formatting issues I might have solved it. A quick google search suggested the colour profile was the issue. In GIMP you can convert from one profile to another under Image... Colour management... convert to colour profile.
However I didn't know what profile was needed. I did find though that a Nvidia screenshot I had downloaded FROM THE GAME and converted into a zoo map was showing up really bright in game so I reasoned that its embedded colour profile must be the right one. In gimp you use colour profile templates so I opened up my map image, went to colour management, clicked 'save colour profile to file' and saved it in the same folder as the gimp default with a random name (I think i called it trial). Then I opened a couple of my washed our images, went to 'colour management', 'convert to colour profile', the drop down menu 'colour profile from disk' and selected the trial profile and converted it. And voila it is much much brighter in game...

View attachment 218706

Because I'm not sure how it works I am going to add a warning - someone with much more technical knowledge might have a better way of doing this and I can't guarantee this
will work for everyone else or won't cause issues becuase I was literally just messing around. Use at your own risk etc. etc.So far it seems to work for me.

Wow, this looks great. Maybe I'll give Gimp a Try at some Point. Also great that you've found out how to solve it but I really hope Frontier will find a Way that all Pictures look like what they are supposed to look like. It shouldn't be needed to do this to get good Billboards. Before this, I didn't even know anything about the Existence of Color Profiles

 

[Cocolori]

Wow, this looks great. Maybe I'll give Gimp a Try at some Point. Also great that you've found out how to solve it but I really hope Frontier will find a Way that all Pictures look like what they are supposed to look like. It shouldn't be needed to do this to get good Billboards. Before this, I didn't even know anything about the Existence of Color Profiles

I'm not sure I understand them much more now than I did when I started but I think the explanation is that most photo editing programmes are designed to help you create images that look good on screens and to do that they use a smaller amount of the colour spectrum than for print media or what we see in game. Plus because all things digital are designed to save you disk space they will limit the amount of meta data embedded in the file itself to the smallest amount possible whilst still being able to be interpreted by the programmes likely to be needed to use them. Changing the colour profile tells the image editor that you need it save more meta data because it isn't another image programme that you need to read the information - it's a computer game.

All this to say I don't know if Frontier would be able to change it because I think it is a limitation of the way the whole thing works that would have far reaching consequences to change. It may be something they've had to compromise on to allow as wide a range of image formats as possible to be used by the community. But since I don't know what I'm talking about that might all be totally wrong . In my head it's why it makes sense that some images I just downloaded showed up fine with no issues and others were washed out - it depends on the metadata that was embedded in the picture I downloaded so presumably what programme was used to create it, how it was uploaded etc. etc. might all play a part.

 

[LN]

Havent been here untill now and I regret that.

Some very talented people here.
Great to see so many nice pieces of art.

 

[Ulysse]

Little progression...

 

[Firestar97]

Can I ask a Question regarding Text on a Sign?
I'm currently working on a new Zoo named Arizona Western World and I'm trying to create a custom Be quiet Sign for the Pronghorns and don't know which Sentence would be correct,,Pronghorns are easily stressed" or ,,Pronghorns are stressed easily"
Or could it be that both Sentences would be correct?
Might share the Sign if it looks good once it's finished

 

[aBarrow]

Can I ask a Question regarding Text on a Sign?
I'm currently working on a new Zoo named Arizona Western World and I'm trying to create a custom Be quiet Sign for the Pronghorns and don't know which Sentence would be correct,,Pronghorns are easily stressed" or ,,Pronghorns are stressed easily"
Or could it be that both Sentences would be correct?
Might share the Sign if it looks good once it's finished

First sounds the best.
Definitely.

 

[Firestar97]

First sounds the best.
Definitely.

Ok, but is it also correct?
English isn't my native Language

 

[aBarrow]

Ok, but is it also correct?
English isn't my native Language

Yes. The sentence is correct.

 

[Firestar97]

How do I change the Color Profile?
Can I do this with Paint.net or do I need additional Software? The Sign looks way too bright. The Text can't be even read.
Really hope they'll find a Way to fix it at some Point or at least put Information about Color Profiles into the Game

 

[Cocolori]

How do I change the Color Profile?
Can I do this with Paint.net or do I need additional Software? The Sign looks way too bright. The Text can't be even read.
Really hope they'll find a Way to fix it at some Point or at least put Information about Color Profiles into the Game

I'm not sure in paint to be honest I've onyl done it in GIMP but I'm not 100% sure that the colour profile is your problem this time since usually that issue means signs are washed out rather than too bright but if you mean the whole thing is too light then that might be the problem. Are you making it for an unlit or lit sign?

 

[Firestar97]

I'm not sure in paint to be honest I've onyl done it in GIMP but I'm not 100% sure that the colour profile is your problem this time since usually that issue means signs are washed out rather than too bright but if you mean the whole thing is too light then that might be the problem. Are you making it for an unlit or lit sign?

I'm using it on a unlit Sign. I think washed out might be the better Way to describe it

 

[Cocolori]

I'm using it on a unlit Sign. I think washed out might be the better Way to describe it

I've seen a few posts on similar issues in planet coaster that said if you have the windows 10 you can open it with windows photo and save it again as a jpeg and it fixes it. Might be worth a go?

 

[Firestar97]

I've seen a few posts on similar issues in planet coaster that said if you have the windows 10 you can open it with windows photo and save it again as a jpeg and it fixes it. Might be worth a go?

Ok, I'll try it
Edit: it didn't work for some Reason

 

[Roxxsmom]

Can I ask a Question regarding Text on a Sign?
I'm currently working on a new Zoo named Arizona Western World and I'm trying to create a custom Be quiet Sign for the Pronghorns and don't know which Sentence would be correct,,Pronghorns are easily stressed" or ,,Pronghorns are stressed easily"
Or could it be that both Sentences would be correct?
Might share the Sign if it looks good once it's finished

Both are grammatically correct, but the first one is smoother. I think it usually works better to have the adverb before the verb it is modifying.

 

[Firestar97]

Just installed GIMP because that Windows 10 Photo Trash doesn't work. What exactly do I need to do in GIMP to change the Color Profile of a Picture?
Edit: found it out but why can't I save it as jpg?
Ok, weird Decision that it needs to be saved and then changed with a Export Function instead of just letting the User immediately save it in that Format
Help!!! I must've done something wrong. Now it is even worse

 

[XT]

Just installed GIMP because that Windows 10 Photo Trash doesn't work. What exactly do I need to do in GIMP to change the Color Profile of a Picture?
Edit: found it out but why can't I save it as jpg?
Ok, weird Decision that it needs to be saved and then changed with a Export Function instead of just letting the User immediately save it in that Format
Help!!! I must've done something wrong. Now it is even worse

I have found that when I use a jpg in the Zoo, it looks too light and washed out. When save and use as PNG it seems truer to the image I chose.

 

[Firestar97]

I have found that when I use a jpg in the Zoo, it looks too light and washed out. When save and use as PNG it seems truer to the image I chose.

As I've already mentioned, I found out that there's a Problem with the Square shaped Screens. The lit ones need to be used because the unlit square shaped Screens do have the Problem that the Pictures look washed out. The Picture I've used is in png

 

[ziggycardon]

I just found this amazing website with free infographics on ocean conservation while searching for some shark conservation signs.

Free info infograhics about marine conservation and plastic pollution

Nelson Mandela said a long time ago: "Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world." Together we can make a change but we need to start acting now. Use this cool free info graphics about marine conservation and plastic pollution to educate others about the importance of conservation.

www.gilisharkconservation.com

 

[NZFanatic]

I really hope one day Frontier creates a "Planco" dictionary for this.

It would be nice to try and create infoboards and the like in a language our zoo guests can understand.

Edit: On that note, I wish I was more artistically inclined... even using Canva I'm a bit useless!