CSW652 Posted April 30, 2020 The Emerald Night idea looks good to me, with one exception... it's missing tracks. It is much, much better than what we have now. Would be neat to see what other people come up with in a contest though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Roadmonkeytj Posted May 1, 2020 8 hours ago, TrainDragon said: This link to a discussion on the pirate forum suggests a size of 1920x200. Looks like the picture will be center cropped for users with smaller screens, so items at the center of the image will be preserved with the edges being discarded. Current in-use banner images appear to be a mixture of PNG and JPG. Correction it will be left cropped on mobile it makes it over to the pirate head with bandana But you need that pixel width and height Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rahziel Posted May 1, 2020 Yes, its a detail but very important, and that emerald idea from Duq its a keeper in my opinion. Steam it up! :D Lego trains rulle a lego city! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zephyr1934 Posted May 1, 2020 17 hours ago, Duq said: EN-Banner-Mockup by Duq, on Flickr Why not do the EN like this for now (perhaps with track if someone can do that quickly) and then redo it in the same style every N months with a train MOC that was posted to the forum since the last banner was chosen? We can use some voting system or trust our moderator to choose. Oh, we probably should have some text in the left image like "Eurobricks" and "Train Tech" too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duq Posted May 1, 2020 I can do a better image from the .ldr I found for Emerald Night - that'll remove the slight perspective you have in this image and let me add track and a background. And yes, it needs some text - this was a five minute mockup-job ;-) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JopieK Posted May 1, 2020 Really nice job Duq! Let me know when it is finished and I'll make sure it gets uploaded. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toastie Posted May 1, 2020 Well. Go to the Pirate Forum and enjoy what the Invision Forum software is capable of - just presentation wise that is. They have a background - the entire forum stuff floats on top. The forum content itself has a background - this wooden thingy. With a nice border. They have a banner - where I do not see any "repetitions", just one nice - well banner. They have animated bullets for each forum topic. They have a different font - like it or not, but Train heads may come up with something different as well - other than Arial. So I think there is much more to make it a "Train" forum. Maybe ask the Pirate folks? Best Thorsten Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ivanlan9 Posted May 3, 2020 @Toastie said, 'They have a banner - where I do not see any "repetitions", just one nice - well banner.' Not exactly so. The banner is about 200px tall, with a width of approximately 1700px. I can easily see it, since my browser is always full-screen, and full-screen for me is 2560px. I'd suggest that many, or even most, people have screens of 1920px, so anyone using full-width browsers would notice the repetition. But it is true that the Pirate Forum looks pretty good. Left to me, I'd leave the defaults in the Train Forum as they are with the exception of that sucky banner. Honestly, even replacing it with a panel of solid light blue would be an improvement aesthetically. (Please don't shoot me! ) Asking the Pirates for a how2 is an excellent idea. Metta, Ivan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toastie Posted May 3, 2020 @ivanlan9 ahh - I see. I can't see because I am too narrow Oh well, now I can't even change the theme anymore - that was easy a month ago or so - scroll all the way down, click on theme, choose TEST and solid color panel with noting on it. Guess it is an evolutionary type of thing. Or some sort of virus ... All the best, Thorsten Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Posted May 4, 2020 Hey guys, Chiming in. When you use a high resolution, the banner will repeat. That's something you need to take in account. That's why we usually have a background layer and a front layer. The background needs to be repeating and the front will be superimposed. I you mail me the images in the highest possible resolution, I can make it work. I will also add some titles and make it in line with the first themes you posted. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Roadmonkeytj Posted May 4, 2020 On 5/1/2020 at 7:19 PM, Toastie said: Maybe ask the Pirate folks? Best Thorsten @Jim and @Mister Phes were instrumental in what you see in the pirate forums ... Mister Phes had been working a long time for what you see to become a reality. We held a contest for the BOBS forum ... That took about 2 months ... Then several follow ups as we tried to figure out what works ... The 1920w x 200t is what we went with in the end. As that's the "comon" size Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toastie Posted May 4, 2020 OK. Now we have the graphics format - it appears though as if the Invision software has a number of features that render this "make it work" work rather difficult, particularly when one doesn't have a clue how to implement things. Graphics layering is one thing, hovering the mouse over graphics causing changes another, keeping a background static, when everything else is floating (layering again?) on top. It may be here in TrainTech all the same - white floating on white remains "static" white (that is what I call deep balance of evidence ). So how do we proceed from here? Besides creating a picture called banner? Is it worthwhile to study the Invision forum software features? Regards Thorsten Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Posted May 4, 2020 The most simple approach is to create two images of 1800 x 200 pixels. One for the left 1800 pixels and one that will repeat over the x-axis. Be my guest to come up with more fancy stuff, but I recommend starting simple and go from there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toastie Posted May 4, 2020 (edited) I take it that the graphics on the top layer is type of "no fill color"? Or does layering mean one bold graphics over the other? Edit: Sorry, just clicked on the two pictures: One bold over the other. OK. That is a good start then. Edited May 4, 2020 by Toastie Don't know - maybe all stupid Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duq Posted May 4, 2020 I understand the requirements for the graphics. Is everyone happy (for now) with a slightly better version of Emerald Night? Then I'll create the two images for that. If there are other suggestions members may prefer then I won't be offended... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Murdoch17 Posted May 4, 2020 8 minutes ago, Duq said: I understand the requirements for the graphics. Is everyone happy (for now) with a slightly better version of Emerald Night? Then I'll create the two images for that. If there are other suggestions members may prefer then I won't be offended... I've been following this thread for a while, and am I for one am perfectly happy with Emerald Night as a stopgap banner until we can design a all-in-one train banner for the forum. I also want to say got a couple ideas I'm kicking around to encompass 9v, PF / PU, and 12v eras in one banner to suggest to you all. Is it possible we could have three trains being overtaken by each other on parallel tracks representing different eras / types of locomotives? Such as: on rear most track, pulling the furthest ahead - 7740 Electric inter-city passenger train set engine.Then on the second track, slightly farther behind the first (yet superimposed over the first), 10020 Santa Fe super Chief loco, and then lastly and similarly to the second, the 10194 Emerald Night, with it's single coach, which can repeat behind the screen divider. This covers steam, diesel and electrics, UK, mainland Europe, and the USA, and 12v, 9v, and Power Functions. It's perfect! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ivanlan9 Posted May 5, 2020 @Murdoch17 Sure, that's possible, as well as doable. Come up with some rough drafts and post links to them. Then we can all criticize them to death without offering any better ideas. Seriously, that sounds like a fun banner, and if you can post some sketches or drafts, that would give us a starting point. Meantime, the Emerald Night's as good as any, better'n some, as they say. Go for it, @Duq Metta, Ivan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim Posted May 5, 2020 10 hours ago, Toastie said: I take it that the graphics on the top layer is type of "no fill color"? Or does layering mean one bold graphics over the other? Edit: Sorry, just clicked on the two pictures: One bold over the other. OK. That is a good start then. The bottom one will repeat, the top one doesn't. The top one can be transparent, but it doesn't need to be. 10 hours ago, Duq said: I understand the requirements for the graphics. Is everyone happy (for now) with a slightly better version of Emerald Night? Then I'll create the two images for that. If there are other suggestions members may prefer then I won't be offended... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zephyr1934 Posted May 5, 2020 16 hours ago, Duq said: I understand the requirements for the graphics. Is everyone happy (for now) with a slightly better version of Emerald Night? Then I'll create the two images for that. Go Duq go! Let's get something good up now and spend the next few months figuring out what to replace it with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CSW652 Posted May 6, 2020 Bring on the Emerald Night!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toastie Posted May 6, 2020 On 5/5/2020 at 12:44 AM, Murdoch17 said: I also want to say got a couple ideas I'm kicking around to encompass 9v, PF / PU, and 12v eras in one banner to suggest to you all. Wonderful idea! For the time being, Duq's proposal is >perfect<! As far as I am concerned. Best Thorsten Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JopieK Posted May 7, 2020 I also like the one from Duq and of course adding more banners to the arsenal is a wonderful idea as well! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duq Posted May 10, 2020 Ok, this took a little longer than I thought but... here it is: Eurobricks Trains Banner Mockup by Duq, on Flickr In the process I also cleaned up and fixed the LDraw file for Emerald Night I found elsewhere on Eurobricks. (Will post updated files there later). So @Jim, please go ahead and work your magic with the logo. From what I can see there's supposed to be an image with the logo on top of the banner image but that's not used - at the moment it's a 5x5 pixel transparent image. The two images are on Brickshelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=6650970 http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=6650971 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mark6399 Posted May 10, 2020 Nice job! That looks great! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
