Image Properties for Renpy?

[nylney]

Hi, I'm new and am interested in creating a short visual novel to play around with. I was pointed to Renpy as a useful engine for some sites and was wondering if there are any specific image properties e.g. sizing, dimensions, formats I should be aware of for the characters and backgrounds when putting together the novel? (I tried using some random images as a test and it went disastrously wrong...)

Any help would be much appreciated - thanks!

[Sharm]

What I've done is pick a resolution for the game (in my case 1,920x1,080) make a image that size in my drawing program and made the art in that. It's a good way to make sure the sprites are at the scale and right placement on the screen. I also make the DPI high so when I reduce it to 72dpi it gets rid of a lot of tiny mistakes. I hope that's useful!

[OokamiKasumi]

I was wondering if there are any specific image properties e.g. sizing, dimensions, formats I should be aware of for the characters and backgrounds when putting together the novel? (I tried using some random images as a test and it went disastrously wrong...)

Yes. The first thing you need to be aware of is the size settings for your game.

On the Options.rpy tab near the very top, look for this:

Code: Select all

    ## These control the width and height of the screen.

    config.screen_width = 800
    config.screen_height = 600

You can change the game's size to anything you care to, but your graphics need to conform to whatever setting you decide to use -- unless you intend to Pan the image, (move to reveal full size). In that case, you'd need to make the image larger by either height or width depending on the direction you intend to Pan.

An easy way to make sure all your graphics fit --including your text box-- is by making a mock-up of your game. I do this in Photoshop, but you can do this in GIMP too. Create a new file the Exact Size of your game. (My examples are 1024x768 at 72 dpi.)

I then put all my graphics on separate layers so I can Show or Hide them as needed to check size and placement. Any adjustments that need to be made can be done in the mock-up and saved directly into the Game Directory as png or jpeg as needed.

When I create a graphic, I always make it twice the height/width I am going to actually use and at 300 dpi. Once I have the graphic the way I want it, I then Shrink it to the size I need for the game, and copy-paste the finished graphic into the mock-up --on its own layer-- to make sure everything fits properly.

The reason I make my graphics so huge is because when I shrink it, small imperfections tend to disappear. On the flip-side, making a small graphic Larger tends to ruin the image by pixillating it.

Caution! Always keep the original (huge) graphic file! This way if you ruin the copy in your mock-up, (resizing too many times tends to warp and blur graphics,) you can just grab a fresh version from the original file.

[dhussey111]

72 DPI would be best..

[J. Datie]

I guess I should step in to make my semi-annual post explaining that, unless you were planning on printing out these images, the DPI doesn't actually make any difference.

[OokamiKasumi]

I guess I should step in to make my semi-annual post explaining that, unless you were planning on printing out these images, the DPI doesn't actually make any difference.

DPI matters on two occasions:

• - 1 - You're going to Zoom the image in the game. In this case, it would be better to make the image huge and Shrink it in the game because stretching does bad things to low dpi images.

• - 2 - File Size of the game folder. 300 dpi images in your game folder make for a huge file size when it comes time to upload the game to say, MediaFire with it's 200mb limit on free accounts.

[J. Datie]

I guess I should step in to make my semi-annual post explaining that, unless you were planning on printing out these images, the DPI doesn't actually make any difference.

DPI matters on two occasions:

• - 1 - You're going to Zoom the image in the game. In this case, it would be better to make the image huge and Shrink it in the game because stretching does bad things to low dpi images.

• - 2 - File Size of the game folder. 300 dpi images in your game folder make for a huge file size when it comes time to upload the game to say, MediaFire with it's 200mb limit on free accounts.

You're talking about resolution, though. The actual size of the image (width and height) is different from the DPI. (Although, I believe most image editing programs are, by default, set to change the image size when you change the DPI, so I can see where the confusion stems from.)

[OokamiKasumi]

You're talking about resolution, though. The actual size of the image (width and height) is different from the DPI. (Although, I believe most image editing programs are, by default, set to change the image size when you change the DPI, so I can see where the confusion stems from.)

I learned to use Photoshop while part of a scanlation group. Part of the job was changing the dpi without changing the image's (height/width) size, and vice-versa. Because of this, I tend to think of size vs dpi as two completely separate things. Sorry about the confusion.