Tip 8: How to Produce "Wrap Round" Images - Technique 1
Take a look at the cover image on the right...
Notice how the picture appears to wrap around the cover on the right, how is this effect
achieved?
The trick is to make sure the that image used on the right-side of the cover exactly
lines up with image on the front. If you're clever, this needn't be so hard...
When you do this, it's a good idea to use a lossless format for your images
for each of the sides (such as PNG or BMP), so you don't get any distortions
that can be produced by lossy formats (JPEG). If you're starting from a JPEG
image, convert the image to BMP or PNG (using Save As... in your
painting program)
before starting.
Wrapping Around The Right
- First, get the image for the front, let's say front.bmp.
- Next, we are going to prepare and image for the right-side. Load
front.bmp into your Paint program, crop the image to include only
the right-most column of pixels (so you end up with a very tall but narrow
image, 1 pixel wide), and save this as right.bmp
If using the Windows Paint accessory, an easy way to do this is:
- Use Flip/Rotate... on the Image menu to flip the picture
horizontally.
- Click Attributes... on the Image menu, and change the
Width to 1.
- Click Save As... on the File menu and save the file as right.bmp.
- Go into CoverFactory, go to the front of your cover, and select
front.bmp as the picture for this side. You will most likely be
prompted because the image is not the correct size, and you should choose
to use the Right or Stretch option on the dialog box
(the Right option may or may not appear depending on the shape of
front.bmp).
- Still in CoverFactory, go to the right-side of your cover, and select
right.bmp as the picture for this side. You will be prompted
because the image is not the correct size, and you should choose
the Stretch opton on the dialog box.
- When you to the Render tab, you should see the wrapping in effect.
Wrapping Around The Left
- First, get the image for the front, let's say front.bmp.
- Next, we are going to prepare and image for the left-side. Load
front.bmp into your Paint program, crop the image to include only
the left-most column of pixels (so you end up with a very tall but narrow
image, 1 pixel wide), and save this as left.bmp
If using the Windows Paint accessory, an easy way to do this is:
- Click Attributes... on the Image menu, and change the
Width to 1.
- Click Save As... on the File menu and save the file as left.bmp.
- Go into CoverFactory, go to the front of your cover, and select
front.bmp as the picture for this side. You will most likely be
prompted because the image is not the correct size, and you should choose
to use the Left or Stretch option on the dialog box
(the Left option may or may not appear depending on the shape of
front.bmp).
- Still in CoverFactory, go to the left-side of your cover, and select
left.bmp as the picture for this side. You will be prompted
because the image is not the correct size, and you should choose
the Stretch opton on the dialog box.
- When you to the Render tab, you should see the wrapping in effect.
Wrapping Around The Top
- First, get the image for the front, let's say front.bmp.
- Next, we are going to prepare and image for the top-side. Load
front.bmp into your Paint program, crop the image to include only
the top-most row of pixels (so you end up with a very wide but short
image, 1 pixel high), and save this as top.bmp
If using the Windows Paint accessory, an easy way to do this is:
- Click Attributes... on the Image menu, and change the
Height to 1.
- Click Save As... on the File menu and save the file as top.bmp.
- Go into CoverFactory, go to the front of your cover, and select
front.bmp as the picture for this side. You will most likely be
prompted because the image is not the correct size, and you should choose
to use the Top or Stretch option on the dialog box
(the Top option may or may not appear depending on the shape of
front.bmp).
- Still in CoverFactory, go to the top-side of your cover, and select
top.bmp as the picture for this side. You will be prompted
because the image is not the correct size, and you should choose
the Stretch opton on the dialog box.
- When you to the Render tab, you should see the wrapping in effect.
Wrapping Around The Bottom
- First, get the image for the front, let's say front.bmp.
- Next, we are going to prepare and image for the bottom-side. Load
front.bmp into your Paint program, crop the image to include only
the bottom-most row of pixels (so you end up with a very wide but short
image, 1 pixel high), and save this as bottom.bmp
If using the Windows Paint accessory, an easy way to do this is:
- Use Flip/Rotate... on the Image menu to flip the picture
vertically.
- Click Attributes... on the Image menu, and change the
Height to 1.
- Click Save As... on the File menu and save the file as bottom.bmp.
- Go into CoverFactory, go to the front of your cover, and select
front.bmp as the picture for this side. You will most likely be
prompted because the image is not the correct size, and you should choose
to use the Bottom or Stretch option on the dialog box
(the Bottom option may or may not appear depending on the shape of
front.bmp).
- Still in CoverFactory, go to the bottom-side of your cover, and select
bottom.bmp as the picture for this side. You will be prompted
because the image is not the correct size, and you should choose
the Stretch opton on the dialog box.
- When you to the Render tab, you should see the wrapping in effect.
Wrapping Around More Than One Side
- First, get the image for the front, let's say front.bmp.
- Next, we are going to prepare and images for the other sides
(Not: In most covers only some of the sides are visible, so you needn't
worry about the content of those sides which will be occluded in the 3D rendered
version).
Prepare the right.bmp, left.bmp, top.bmp and bottom.bmp
images according to the procedures described in step 2 of each of
"Wrapping Around The Right",
"Wrapping Around The Left",
"Wrapping Around The Top" and
"Wrapping Around The Bottom"
(see above).
- Go into CoverFactory, go to the front of your cover, and select
front.bmp as the picture for this side. You will most likely be
prompted because the image is not the correct size, and you must choose
the Stretch option on the dialog box.
- Still in CoverFactory, go to each of the right, left, top and bottom
sides of your cover, and select
the corresponding pictures as the picture for this side. In each case,
you will be prompted
because the image is not the correct size, and you should choose
the Stretch opton on the dialog box.
- When you to the Render tab, you should see the wrapping in effect.
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