Kirkland Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 I never noticed a color version of the manual floating around when I was looking for it. 4K goodiness. http://www.atensionspan.com/Gravitar (Atari) [4k].pdf Cover was a little scratchy, and of course once you start touching things up then it's a "custom" manual. At least I'm happy with the gradient at the top now so I can apply it on projects going forward.. Keepin' it clean and watermark free *cough* .. and at a viable resolution ? 7 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkland Posted January 24, 2021 Author Share Posted January 24, 2021 Oh, and also Sir Lancelot (I've only seen a black and white scan floating) http://www.atensionspan.com/Sir Lancelot (Xonox) [4k].pdf Not a fan of the Xonox manual covers- that blue is mean to scanners. Descreening didn't go as well as I'd like, but who knows, maybe I'll circle back around to it in a few years 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkland Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 So a couple free days and a couple more for the pile... I know this is one you've all been waiting for. http://www.atensionspan.com/Word Zapper (U.S. Games) [4k].pdf But then seriously, I've always thought the existing scan of Warlords done it dirty. Finally, some due justice for this original classic. http://www.atensionspan.com/Warlords (Atari) [REV. 2] [4k].pdf And last, but definitely not least, is Yars' Revenge. http://www.atensionspan.com/Yars' Revenge (Atari) [4k].pdf On these I start out with 800dpi 48bit RAW full page scans from de-stapled manual pages. In this case Yars was 1.89GB for the TIFFs. Then I chop them down into individual pages and clean them up (quite the time kill) which was then 193MB for Yars' TIFFs. I then resize to 96dpi and "x by 2160" (this makes for 1:1 pixels when the pdf is full-screened on a 4k monitor). That set of TIFFs was 31MB. Slapped it into a pdf and it shrunk to 5.5MB. So my question is, is there interest in *jpegs* of the cleaned up 800dpi files? In this case Yars was only 25MB. The small pdf version makes sense because it is right-sized for emulator/front-end usage, but I know some of you are quality guys and might have an interest in the bigger images. It's still jpegs, but resolution is king. My only concern (petty at that) is that people will instantly repackage my originals into watermarked versions for other sites (*cough* emumovies *cough* atarimania *cough*) whereas the pdfs I make aren't watermarked in any way, properly attribute the copyright, have the model number and manual revision, and slide my name as the source (for the hours of work I put into these). 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omegamatrix Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 These are amazing! The quality is top-notch, and can see the love and effort that is put into doing these. These are easily hours of work. I hope you continue and don't get burnt out. Years ago I picked up @user42 collection of manuals. I use them all the time when I am converting game roms. They are invaluable. I am going to start replacing them with your upgrades. Thye are perfect they way they are (for me). Thank you very much!! ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Great manual scans, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkland Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 One more before I call it a night http://www.atensionspan.com/Video Pinball (Atari) [REV. 2] [4k].pdf Eyeing Video Olympics next- it's a little thicker (has nothing on a good Koei SNES manual, though). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkland Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 This is what I'm talking about... http://www.atensionspan.com/Video Olympics (Atari)_01.jpg Why yes, that sumbitch is is only 3.3MB. http://www.atensionspan.com/Warlords (Atari) [REV. 2]_01.jpg There is no font for Warlord's goofy text, and honestly I've spent too much time on just the cover already. Wouldn't take too long to properly fix but it looked good enough when resized.. http://www.atensionspan.com/Video Pinball (Atari)_01.jpg Cover was a little scruffy. It is what it is. But at least the cover font is Bauhaus (Yay!) If I go through and scrub the bejeezus out of a page so it's just the text and images, file sizes get *amazingly* small. I can't imagine how functionally tiny these manuals would be if the text was retyped vs using the scanned text. I currently select a color range of 200 on pure black in Photoshop to select text, then inverse it to white out 99% of the paper that shows up in a scan, leaving the images and text. While this does wonders for legibility vs the original, that text itself is all over the place when it comes to compression. Oh, and that timekill thing again... I'm always tempted to just power through my scans, do a quick mask to make them 5"x7" (on the majority of these), quick white balance using levels (cheating just like Epson scan), maybe do some quick and dirty descreening and call it good. But when I look at all the half-assed, low-res crap out on the web I just know that while it would be better than what's out there, I would be nagged forever that no one will ever ever take the time to make them better- and I had the opportunity and skills to do it right the first time. OCD SUCKS!@ ..and to make it worse I have a backlog of plenty of Atari 2600, 200+ NES manuals, 700 SNES manuals (yes, all but 15 or so spendy mofos now), 1800 PS2 manuals (to scan), a bunch of Intellivision, and Colecovision, and 300+ Genesis, 130 N64, 125+ Gamecube, 300+ XBox manuals, and a bunch of oddities and other obscure systems to go. Eventually I will just have to draw the line. There isn't enough hours in the day and it does no good sitting in my basement (or hard drive for what I've scanned already). Playstation 2 covers ^^ Click if you dare. So yes, I know it is possible. And also yes, they get bigger if you click on them. Bah. I'm going to bed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insertclevernamehere Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 ? Wow. These are top notch. This is why your manuals get likes and the game covers I'm doing, while getting downloaded, don't get any likes. I have to be better. Much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkland Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 (edited) A couple quick examples of the rebuild process. I only redo the table of contents and section headers through the manuals (and top of page headers for page alignment consistency) First you type over top of the original: (Note the screen printing dots of the original text- horrible for compression) Then you manually kern the text (using Alt + left or right on *each character*) Then you wiggle the black lines to match, change the text color to match the Blur->Average of the original "Table of Contents" text, then completely white out the background. Even just this little section of the page went from 635K to 248K as a jpg, on the original TIFFs the size difference is huge. I'd like to think this gets it about as close as possible to the original intent of the designers, as opposed to the results of the printing process. I'm 99% committed to accurate preservation, but this is where I dodge a half step into these being a digital representation of the original. We're at the mercy of scanner optics and color profiles and individual monitor brightness and ink fade and some shaggy-ass cheap pulp paper stock. Just doing what I can with what I've got. http://www.atensionspan.com/evil/A2600-US-Missing.html ^^ If you've got spares you are willing to sell, this is my current "known missing" list. There are plenty of others I need to track down cover images of to even add to this (and I have a bunch of international I'd like to hunt down, and oddball revisions). As long as the cover images are good, I can easily accommodate folds, tears, some writing, and ratty edges- most of times the inside of manuals are just fine. Edited February 1, 2021 by Kirkland some clarification 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkland Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 This took longer than expected. http://www.atensionspan.com/Video Olympics (Atari) [REV. 2] [4k].pdf But I did manage to snag a bunch of UK manuals, so there is that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkland Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 Another one before sleepytime.. http://www.atensionspan.com/Surround (Atari) [4k].pdf and the covershot: http://www.atensionspan.com/Surround (Atari)_01.jpg I haven't been able to stumble upon a font that matches this specific variation for the title font. The ol' HammerFat works for some, but those goofy R's and the split D make this a candidate for a rebuild like Warlords. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkland Posted February 8, 2021 Author Share Posted February 8, 2021 If you had Superman next on your Bingo card, you would be a winner... http://www.atensionspan.com/Superman (Atari) [REV. 2] [4k].pdf and the covershot: http://www.atensionspan.com/Superman (Atari)_01.jpg I've always considered this revision of the Superman manual one of the best examples of "peak Atari manual". After this they diverged into the silver/gray versions that are a pain to clean up (still awesome inside though), but then it was posters (bleh for digitizing), the odd-sized Pengo/Crystal Castles/etc. ones, before finally devolving into black & white copies and the woefully sub-par 7800-like versions. When I get around to those later 7800-era releases, I'm planning on doing a set with color covers based on the box art just to do them some justice. Also looking for international/multilanguage versions of Human Cannonball, Millipede (color), Miniature Golf, Othello, Pigs in Space, Snoopy and the Red Baron, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Space War Anyone know if there was international versions of Oscar's Trash Race, Flag Capture, or Home Run? Hooking the scanner setup back up tomorrow, so only progress on the backside for awhile. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballblaɀer Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 I will check to see which manuals I could donate to the cause. Maybe I can ship some to be scanned and sent back to me. PM if you wanna discuss. There's an international Flag Capture "Big Book" manual. I've not come across another one. I've also seen a Home Run international "Big Book" style; I wasn't able to buy it, but I saved an image of the sale listing if you should need more proof than my word. Keep up the good work... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkland Posted February 14, 2021 Author Share Posted February 14, 2021 Well, it was functional right up until I started merging in all the oddball stuff from gamevariations.com. 4K viewing advised. http://www.atensionspan.com/evil/Atari/Atari_2600_Manuals-Atari.html Green I have, yellow should exist, red I'm looking for info on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 On 2/8/2021 at 1:21 AM, Kirkland said: If you had Superman next on your Bingo card, you would be a winner... http://www.atensionspan.com/Superman (Atari) [REV. 2] [4k].pdf and the covershot: http://www.atensionspan.com/Superman (Atari)_01.jpg I've always considered this revision of the Superman manual one of the best examples of "peak Atari manual". After this they diverged into the silver/gray versions that are a pain to clean up (still awesome inside though), but then it was posters (bleh for digitizing), the odd-sized Pengo/Crystal Castles/etc. ones, before finally devolving into black & white copies and the woefully sub-par 7800-like versions. When I get around to those later 7800-era releases, I'm planning on doing a set with color covers based on the box art just to do them some justice. Also looking for international/multilanguage versions of Human Cannonball, Millipede (color), Miniature Golf, Othello, Pigs in Space, Snoopy and the Red Baron, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Space War Anyone know if there was international versions of Oscar's Trash Race, Flag Capture, or Home Run? Hooking the scanner setup back up tomorrow, so only progress on the backside for awhile. Dutch versions here: https://atarimuseum.nl/nl-atari-console-manuals/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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