TV Overlay Creating Tutorial?

Could anyone please create a simple tutorial for creating and editing TV overlays and graphics for GPxPatch? (such as driver / team names / car numbers etc) Would love to be able to create and edit them but don't know where to start.

I have Paintshop Pro but again no idea how to use it.

Regards

thestig88

anyone please? just a few tips to get me started? have tried googling tips but to no avail.

If you mean GPxSAT then it's not possible, it's all hardcoded. The only thing you can do is replace images in gpxpdata\gfx, or use GPxCInfo, but it's pretty generic and may not have everything you need.

René Smit, Independent Software Developer.
Download my GPx tools here.

just to be able to edit current gpxdata/gfx & gpxinfo panels would be great and much appreciated!

Yeah as SDI said, just open the images in Paint.net or Gimp, see what it was, what it should be, paint over it and save it as a .tga again And if you like how it turned out, release it! :P

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"Anything can happen in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does."
"The lead car is unique, except for the one behind it which is identical."

And it's .tga because of compatibility with GP3 (DirectX 7). This means the sizes must also be a power of 2.

For GPxCInfo panels, just install some existing HUDs and investigate how they were made. Everything can be configured from the GUI. Edit a panel by double clicking on it in the list on the GPxCInfo tab.

René Smit, Independent Software Developer.
Download my GPx tools here.

I think what he's saying is he's already tried that, we're not all technically minded and need a few visual guides to kickstart the creativity, which is what I think he's asking for.
The UI isn't exactly what you could call "user friendly" if your not familiar with the structure.

F1Dev

SDI Wrote:
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> And it's .tga because of compatibility with GP3
> (DirectX 7). This means the sizes must also be a
> power of 2.

So if I change the size of an image to an odd number then it will still work in GP4 but not GP3?

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"Anything can happen in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does."
"The lead car is unique, except for the one behind it which is identical."

Yes, but power of 2 means: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, etc. If it is a different size then GP4 works fine (DirectX 8 can also handle .png), but GP3 will show the images wrapped somehow, not what you want.
The internal size is hardcoded though. For example, in digital 2010, an image that was 222 pixels wide is a 256 pixel .tga, but the code uses the first 222 pixels only. In this mode I also assume sizes of edges for vertical alignment. Digital 2004 is easier to change.

René Smit, Independent Software Developer.
Download my GPx tools here.

Aha of course, bit of a dumb moment from me there, my apologies :s Ah, I see. So if a mode was made solely for GP4 then it would be much easier, would it not?

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"Anything can happen in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does."
"The lead car is unique, except for the one behind it which is identical."

Not easier, just less work

René Smit, Independent Software Developer.
Download my GPx tools here.

SDI Wrote:
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> Not easier, just less work


In my eyes, that is easier!

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"Anything can happen in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does."
"The lead car is unique, except for the one behind it which is identical."

Excellent! Many thanks guys! I would never have known about paint.net or gimp so it really was worth asking. I've had a play around with some pnl graphics available with the 1993 mod from gp4forever and i've added another driver. its not perfect, font sizing and missing black shawdow effect but its a start + I'm a quick learner! (trying to upload a screenshot but can't seem to)

Awesome, good to hear!

Use ImageShack to upload, it's free and you don't have to sign up

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"Anything can happen in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does."
"The lead car is unique, except for the one behind it which is identical."

as you can see I've also tried modifying to create the 94 style car numbers as for 94 it was just a blue number, then in 1995 they introduced the blue oval background for the car numbers

spencer4242 Wrote:
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> Awesome, good to hear!
>
> Use ImageShack to upload, it's free and you don't
> have to sign up


cheers!!!!!

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It would be nice if you can take off the "G" from Goodyear...that wasn't on TV until 1997

If you erase the image so it's all transparent then you won't get issues of '____ not found' like you might do if you delete them

__________________________________________________________

"Anything can happen in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does."
"The lead car is unique, except for the one behind it which is identical."