Hudson River Route

[Zorronov]

A New York Central "extra" freight passes the old naval armory on Iona Island...



Cheers,
Fred

[DelmarvaFan]

So beautiful route and background with trees! And, somehow I love see NYC pass Chew Pouch barn so nice one, LOL!


- David

[DHayward]

Fred, good god, man. We need a Beta just to make sure that... Well, I just... It's the fact that... 

[Zorronov]

Still a long way from Beta...



Cheers,
Fred

[NewYorkCentral]

Looks Like NY to me... *looks out Shore-liner 3 Windows....* Yup, I'd Say It's Done XD, I'll have to reinstall... what? 09? or is it for 2010... Wish it could of been for 06 Haha.. That shot looks sweet too.. Where is that? MP wise, I know what town it's near..


 - Chris

[PerRock]

Well...since you've asked...   It's all about the difference between bitmap graphics and vector graphics.  Instead of manipulating the image as a bitmap (or raster) image, wihich is based on pixels, you can convert the image into a vector graphic, which is made up of lines and curves that are defined by vectors.  When you resize a bitmap image you are editing groups of pixels rather than objects or shapes.  The disadvantage is they contain a fixed number of pixels and will lose detail and appear jagged when scaled.  Vector graphics maintain their crispness whether they are moved, resized, or have their color changed.  In Photoshop, you create the vector shape by drawing a path around the image, in this case the NYC logo, with the Pen tool, Magnetic Pen tool, or Freeform Pen tool.  I used the Pen tool for this because it creates the most precise paths with very smooth curves.  You then convert the path into a selection and create a new "layer via copy" of the selection.  Open your skin file, drag and drop the selection into it.  It becomes a new layer and the image retains its vector character.  Then move it and resize as needed.  It stays nice and crisp.

There is an excellent tutorial on this in the chapter on Vector Drawing Techniques in Adobe's "Classroom in a Book" for Photoshop.  I got the edition for CS4 from Amazon.  They also have editions for other releases of Photoshop, including CS3.  I like it.   

Cheers,
Fred
P.S.  I used exactly the same image file for the logo...just a different technique.

I've gone almost completely vector in my reskining; and have found this site to be a gem: http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/ I couldn't find an NYC logo on it; however it has alot of others. Most logos there are vector based (png, svg, eps) with a handful still the old jpg or gif. I'll mention to be careful with .pngs some png images can be both vector &/or bitmap. So even though it says its a .png it may still be bitmapped.

peter

[Zorronov]

Chris...it's near MP41 on the River Line.

Peter...thanks for the link.  Yeah...I've not been able to find an NYC logo that's a vector object to begin with.  That would be ideal.  The above method converts a raster image to a vector graphic, so you are still limited by the resolution of the original bitmap.  It does make it scale a lot better though.

Cheers,
Fred

P.S.  I saw a nice Metro North logo on that site.  Hmmmmmm...

[socalwb909]

-Hope your years of journey building this route is coming close to an end cause this is awesome! Keep'em coming Fred!
-Joe

[Zorronov]

I like 'em!

CSX GP40-2's On The River Line









Cheers,
Fred

[CNRAIL]

Great pics Fred, your route is pretty bad ass.

Cheers, Milos

[Dermmy]

I don't speak American, but on the assumption the 'bad ass' actually means 'good' I'd like to add that IMHO it SUCKS UTTERLY!

Love it,

Andy

[sturmtiger]

I don't speak American, but on the assumption the 'bad ass' actually means 'good' I'd like to add that IMHO it SUCKS UTTERLY!

Love it,

Andy

Are you saying your doing something with a Cow? 

[Dermmy]

Are you saying your doing something with a Cow? 

No, a buxom blonde......

[s-driver]

I don't speak American, but on the assumption the 'bad ass' actually means 'good' I'd like to add that IMHO it SUCKS UTTERLY!

Love it,

Andy

Are you saying your doing something with a Cow? 

No, a buxom blonde......

LMAO! +1 to both of you.

Bill

[Zorronov]

I like brunettes myself.   

Since we are digressing and...since this is my thread...I can digress as much as I want...I would like to edit Mike's original tips for being a successful forum member.

My version is:

Tips for being a successful forum member:

1.  Don't act like a jerk.
2.  See Rule #1.
3.  See Rule #2.
4.  See Rule #3.
5.  See Rule #4.
6.  See Rule #5.