Ok i downloaded ages ago a really poor scan but it was the only one i could find of this DVD.

I have decided to see if i could clean it up and make it a lot better, theres still some more text to be done etc

I have included both for you to see how far i have got, so please comment on it if you wish you can see what i have altered already :D

Now i have got to the stage where i want to redo the main name of the film but as you can see they are large size and i cant reproduce the same size only smaller :(

So heres some questions.

1. How can i get larger print
2. How to do the barcode and other symbols next to barcode?
3. How do i sharpen the pictures so that look clearer?

Im not asking anyone to do it for me as i would like to see if i can do it myself but your advice is very much needed :D

Many Thanks

On this particular cover it is easier than you think to make it a cool looking........

Because, most of it is on a plain black background.........all you need to do is cut out the bits you do not want (using the marquee tool) and simply type in fresh text...............including the title etc...........as for the all the images..........(yes, they are pretty bad).............simply google for elvis pics...and use those..........!

Your almost making a custom from this...............any probs lemme know!:thumbup:

This is what ive done now, what do you think?

See...................its easy isn't it:thumbup:

Now just do the same for the rest of the text........and ZOOM in on your front Elvis Piccies.........can you see the black differences where you have used your eraser?....................change the opacity a bit...........or contrast and see if you can improve on the black...............or try using LEVEL adjustment:thumbup:

Ok have tidied up the pics and some black what i could see, if theres any more can you point them out please. :D

All text has now been re-written so hopefully clearer :)

Have edited the thumbnail above. :)

Is this your first cover buddy?

Yes it is, is it that obvious lol :D

I've always wanted to do one but cant seem to be able to get my head around all the options in PS. :(

Well you are doing very well..................and you have all the basics.........push every button and ring every bell...............it's the best way to learn:thumbup:

plus a little help from peeps along the way:biglaugh:

Well now ive found this place i'll be asking questions all the time :D

This one wasnt so bad cos the canvas was basic black so there wasnt much to go wrong whats hard is when you dealing with lots of colours and layers.

Cheers for the help/advice :)

You will probably need to re-write some of the text. The red text on the front of the cover between 'elvis' and 'lives' is lower quality, there are some more on the back as well. You can easily re-type that. The spine has the DVD logo inside a white box. Remove that and just insert a new DVD logo (you'll find one on this site) and change it white.

I can see black boxes throughout the cover with grey shades and sections. Use the levels adjustments to raise the overall black levels. I'm glad to see you are willing to get it right. That is the only way to really learn.

Ok i have now changed 'dvd' logo to white have re-written the red text and the main info text on red background.

Also altered barcode number so it can be read for dvd profiler.

Tidied up some black but not too sure how to '' Use the levels adjustments to raise the overall black levels'' ?

Thats much better. However there are still other things to do to make it look great;). It's hard to explain in words so I have taken the cover and edited it to show what it can potentially look like.

The first thing different in my edit is the text. Compare yours and mine very closely and you'll see that I have no coloured pixels around the text. Every single sentence has been edited. The red text on the front 'the 25th anniversary concert' was replaced with custom text. However I simply used the levels adjustment for the white text in the red box at the back of the cover. BTW to use the levels tool select image > adjustments > Levels

Secondly compare the set of elvis pictures on the front of your cover to mine. You will see that those grey shades are now black and that the integration of pictures is more cleaner.

Anyway, try to make yours look as close to mine. Thats what I do when I try something new. When I made my first custom ever:omg:, I looked at various covers to see what the quality was like and made a target for myself to achieve that quality. I've fixed thousands of covers (seriously:p), and so obviously its a lot easier for me.

Keep at it mate, we'll help any way we can.

Yep...................thats fixed it now............SW:thumbup: :goodpost:

I'm getting such great advice from you guys i cant thank you enough :thumbup:

Ok i have been playing around a bit more and have now adjusted the levels as you said(what a great tool really cleans text up )

Kept orignal text on front cover but just cleaned it up a bit with level adjust.
Re-wrote small section on back cover and cleaned up main text in rede box on fromt and back of cover.

Also managed to spot a few spelling mistakes on back cover in the 'info' box :D

Only thing i couldnt quite see was the picture difference whch you spoke about, must be my eyes they've gone all blurred lol :D

Anything else i can change?

I thought the title and front image looked a little flat.............most of the music DVD's do to my mind..........so I added my interpretation to your cover and spine......You could do the exact same if you wished...........unless you are going for the retail look-alike!:thumbup:

I thought the title and front image looked a little flat.............most of the music DVD's do to my mind..........so I added my interpretation to your cover and spine......You could do the exact same if you wished...........unless you are going for the retail look-alike!:thumbup:

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/4069/elviscustompsv272dpidb7.jpg

Thats nice i like that. :)

How do you get the pic on the back to 'go behind' the text, that looks great?

Also did you find a picture for the front like that or did you do it, if so how? :D

Ive bben looking but just cant seem to be able to put the transparent picture on the back as clear as you got it :(

First young master :

"the beast must know his prey, and until that day the beast must endure much hunger"

:thumbup:

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo im hungry and want to eat now!!!!!!!! :p

:lol: :goodpost:

Hows this?

almost....................the black level on the elvis pic needs to be adjusted now to match the background...................if you zoom in you will see the differences between the too.............can you see?;)

Ok, now that im kinda learning about the prey before i eat :D , can you tell me how you did yours just so i can see if it was how i did mine,( iused 'blending option' also how do you adjust the background?

To do the Elvis pic I used linear dodge and set the opacity at 55%..........you can really make him stand out by duplicating the layer after making that filter adjustment.

Unfortunately, it does not end there..........you really need to make another red line to pass over the original red line that is already there..............this is because the original red line looks transparent with Linear Dodge over it.:)

Ok have done another edit, cant find linear dodge anywhere though, can you point me in right direction please :D

How does this one look?

First off...................Linear Dodge along with a host of other photographic filters can be found at the top of your layers palette ...........just hit the drop down menu to reveal them all!:thumbup:

Secondly your Elvis image looks great but, the black levels are still off..............USE YOUR ZOOM and you will see it:biglaugh:

Ah right cheers i see it now, is that better to use then the 'blending option' i have used?
Also do you alter the black levels on the background pic before adding to main one or once it all been set in place?

there are many ways of doing this depending on the image colour you are using.........but, it is better if you place your image first then adjust the black level etc afterward:thumbup:

I have posted a comparison shot to show what I mean with the text. Notice that the text on my one has no artifacts whereas your one does around the letters. Have you re-typed typed the text or it might be that you are saving it at lower quality jpeg.

I have also hight lighted the problem with the Elvis image that we are talking about. You can fix it with the levels tool. Grab the marquee tool, select just that picture and raise the black levels.

Ah right, i was looking at the back piccy and not the front DOH!!!

Ok i think ive adjusted the black levels, retyped all text, so now it doesnt look 'blocky'(fingers crossed :D)

Is there anything missing from spine?
Not sure if something else should be there?

I gotta say I really like you mate! No matter what we throw at you you keep going back and fix it and I really respect that. Any other member would have just said 'stuff this'. You have pretty much made a scan look like a custom.

You've fixed the text. There is still some artifacting around the cover and the other text (eg. spine text). Try raising the overall black level of the cover and see if that helps. It can be difficult to see the artifacts if you are using an LCD monitor.

Well done mate:thumbup:. I hope you try to make a custom from scratch soon, I honestly think you have potential.

Thanks very much that means a lot coming from you :)

I just hate giving up on something when i know its within my abilities to do, i doubt very much if i could ever get close to 'proper' custom covers like whats on here but i do like to try. :D

This is my first real time of using PS and its a bit daunting getting used to it, but i am getting there, with yours and kylumi's help of course, wouldn't of been able to get this far without both your input. :thumbup:

This cover is for my dad and in the past i would of downloaded a crappy scan cleaned it up a bit and said 'that'll-do' but now Ive got my teeth into this i want it to be spot on. :)

Ok re-done spine text, there still seems to be a bit of 'artifacts' (is like the blockness lol) around the song list where i layered the new pic, i just cant seem to clean that bit up, any ideas what i should do?

Yep, spine is fixed. I have checked the back of the cover in PS. The back shows some minor artifacts around the text in front of the elvis picture. But in all honesty I don't think that would be visible on print. Finally I would say to raise the remainder of the covers black level to '14'. I have tested it and that setting seems to fix the remainder of the black levels on the cover. If you don't know how to raise the black level to '14', let us know. You can input the number manually when you open the levels tool. It's the first of the 3 boxes.

Ok have set level to 14. :)

*fingers crossed this works out* :D

Looks good to me. You have essentially made a scan look like a custom. looks like you have also learned a lot about PS in the last few days:D

Cool, really enjoyed it too which is good, nothing worse then keep going over your work and not enjoying what your doing. :)

Oops just noticed a spelling mistake in 'Anniversary' on front cover!!!!!!

Would this be considered to be added here, or is it still not 100%, or maybe you just dont upload Music Video covers here?

Off to work on label now, so im bound to be back with more questions LMAO :D

i think you misspelt musicians on the back in the red section

Yeah theres been 2 or 3 that ive found, that'll teach me not to use spell-check :D

Well at least you are doing your own work mate and not resorting to stealing other peoples

Ok heres final edit (hopefully) :D

I'll wait a bit before printing in case theres other advice :)

Also done a quick Disc Label :)

Nice work and you stuck with it brilliantly m8..............pity others don't apply themselves as well as you did!:thumbup:

No w bang out that lable and then get onto a proper cover...........but, remember...........HIGH REZ IMAGE HIGH REZ IMAGE HIGH REZ IMAGE all the way:biglaugh: :thumbup:

Well if it wasnt for yours and SW help i doubt i would of bothered, but now i know how helpful this place is i'll start another for sure :D

We are sure happy about that m8 thanx:thumbup:

Now your label size needs to be 1400 x 1400 and your black is still off.........check it out.............ZZZZZZOOOOOOOOO....MMMMMMMMM:thumb up:

I used the template what SW posted, and its set at 1416 x 1416, should i still have to change tthe template size?

I'll look into the black, cant seem to pick the black errors up for some reason. :)

SW sent you that...................well I guess it must be ok then..........I usually make mine at either 1400 x 1400 or 1500 x 1500.........but, if SW's template is 1416 x 1416 I do not understand the upload guideline..............I would wait until it is confirmed before you upload m8:jedi:

I downloaded it from the Tools of the Trade section http://www.dvdcoversfuzion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9

I wasnt sure myself as i had some artwork that i had done for 1400 x 1400 but when i added it to the template there was a gap round the edges.

I'll wait and see before i go on :)

thanx m8................i will grab it and check it out...............i may have something very nice to go in its place:biglaugh:

The image size is actually 1417 x 1417..............:omg:

I have just uploaded a pretty little thing for you .................. go check it out:thumbup:

Nice one, just got it, looking good, btw you say to disable the center spot before uploading, why is that and how do you do that? :D

see the little EYE in the LAYERS PALETTE..............use that to disable any layer you wish................see the little ARROW INDICATOR next to it............that opens the FOLDER to expose the layers.

If you wish to disable the whole folder as you will with some of the layers in this template just DISABLE the EYE:thumbup:

The reason for disabling the CENTER SPOT is an aesthetic one..........and looks much better in the gallery:cool:

Well i learn something new everyday in this place :thumbup:

The one that I have uploaded is 1417x1417. That one works fine, its just that the minimum is 1400x1400. However you cannot for example have 1450x1470 because you wouldn't have a perfect circle..

You're probably better off using the one kylumi uploaded, it has all the bells and whistles ;)