Editing HOWTO
Toawa
editing, at least in my experience. This is written with the assumption
that the user is using GIMP, however the same techniques can apply to
any editor which supports layers.
The editing process consists of three main steps: Import, Cleanup, and
Text Overlay.
Import:
Load the image. Check to make sure that it's using RGB or grayscale
instead of pallette mode (it will show up on the window title bar). If
not, switch it to RGB (for colored or B/W images) or Grayscale (for B/W
images). Then save a working copy in the native file format of the
editor (XCF for GIMP).
Cleanup:
The goal of this stage is to remove all of the text, while preserving as
much of the original image as possible. Start by creating a layer over
the original. With that layer active, use the pencil tool to color over
any text bubbles. You can use the color picker to ensure that your
overlay color matches the background color of the bubble. If the
background is solid, you can use a large brush to make for quick work,
but if the text is overlaid onto a gradient or patterned background, you
will want to use a small brush and zoom in, to ensure that you only
remove the text itself.
Certain features of the image can make this stage more or less difficult:
* Square speech bubbles with a solid background lend themselves to the
use of the rectangular select and bucket fill.
* Rounded bubbles are more problematic; with those, I'll generally use
the pencil to remove as much as I can, getting close to the edge but not
up to it, and then I'll come in with the paintbrush and a softer,
smaller brush, and gently paint over the remaining marks. (This is
where having a tablet comes in handy.)
* If panel has borders, don't be afraid to paint over them. They're easy
to recreate with the pencil and a 1 pixel brush. Angled borders pose a
bit more of a headache, and should be handled like rounded bubbles above.
* If the background has a gradient or pattern, your best bet is to try
and position the new text over it as much as possible, to hide the
change. If the pattern is regular, you can use the clone brush to fill
in the space, and then the burn/dodge tool to lighten or darken it so
that it blends in. If you have a gradient, you might be able to use the
gradient tool to come up with a new one, but it's very hard. You might
end up doing less work if you removed the entire gradient block and
replaced it, but that might not be feasible.
Text Overlay:
Before you start editing, for consistency's sake, you should decide
which fonts you're going to use, and where. I personally use a font
called Segoe Print Bold for yukkuri, and Sans Bold for anon. I'd
recommend using Bold fonts, as they tend to show up better.
Once you've cleaned up the image, you can begin overlaying the
translation. Create a new layer on top and activate it. Use the Text
tool to put in the text; paying careful attention to font selection.
Don't be afraid to fiddle with the size of the text area or size of the
font. The two main goals are to stay within the bubbles (and image),
and for the text to remain readable. Each text area you create makes a
new text layer. Once you've gotten the text to where it looks good, you
can merge that layer down onto your main text layer (make sure that main
text layer is the next one below your current text layer, or you might
merge onto a layer you don't want to merge with.
You can see where the original text was by setting your cleanup layer's
opacity to between 60 and 80%. Just be careful that you don't merge
anything onto that layer while its opacity is turned down, otherwise it
will become permanent.
Some tips for overlay:
The Text tool has three checkboxes: Hinting, Force auto-hinter, and
Antialiasing. You should almost always leave Antialiasing checked,
unless you're going for a very specific look, as the letters will look
jagged. Hinting and Force auto-hinter will generally make the text look
better, unless you're working with a very small font (less than 12 or
so). If the font looks muddled, try turning Hinting or Force
auto-hinter off. (Turning off Hinting will automatically turn off Force
Auto-hinter).
Below that are the Color and Justification. You'll almost always want
Black and Center justification; though you'll generally want to match
the old colors with your new ones. Additionally, some contexts call for
a Left or, rarely, Right justification; typically in square information
bubbles.
Below that are three numeric boxes, representing indentation, line
separation and character separation. I've never had to change
indentation, and typically leave it to 0. Line separation is very
important, as some fonts can spread out widely at larger sizes. (For
typical yukkuri speak, at 16 points of font in Segoe Print Bold, I
typically need a line separation of between -6 and -10). Character
separation is also generally 0, but you can use it to bring characters
closer or farther from eachother.
Don't be afraid to juggle the translation around a bit to get it to fit
within its bubble; changing slurring, adding hyphens, etc.
Occasionally, if you're lucky enough to have a square bubble, you could
even expand it into empty space to fit your text (though I prefer to
avoid doing that, and have only had to once or twice.)
If you have to get a lot of text into a small area, but the small font
size looks bad, try typing it out at double the font size, and then use
the scale tool to scale your layer down to size. This will generally
give better results.
For effects, you will mainly use your scale and rotate tools. You'll
generally want to rotate sound effects into the same position as their
originals. For particularly emotional text (such as in
http://bbs.shii.org/yukkuri/post/view/13577), you might also use the
Curve Bend tool, found in Filters/Distorts/Curve Bend.
A word about signs: If you have a sign in the image, chances are the
text will be tilted to fit onto the sign. There is an easy way to shape
your text to fit onto the sign, rather than leaving it horizontal and
looking weird. Type out your text into a text layer, and then use the
Perspective tool. When you click on your text layer, four boxes will
appear in the corners of the layer. Drag those four boxes to the four
corners of the sign, and then click Transform. Voila! Your text is now
transformed as if it were laying on the sign. If you can't see all four
corners of the sign, then make your best guess as to where they are. I
have used this to great effect while editing Street Performing Marisa;
I've made sure to keep a copy of the sign's untransformed text layer
around so that I can copy it into new images and transform as necessary.
Finishing Touches:
Finally, when finish, save the working file, and save a copy in the
target format (JPG or PNG). GIMP is pretty good about selecting the
right JPG compression ratio, so I wouldn't fiddle with it to much.