SS2 ZylonBane Logo Pack

[663bdbd04764bZylonBane]

Tags: °art °SS2 This package contains high-res versions of the commonly-used logos in System Shock 2. They were originally created for SHTUP, but I figured other people might have some use for them. Included logos are:

TriOptimum logo (SS2 version)
Rickenbacker
Von Braun
Von Braun Command
Von Braun Engineering
Von Braun Hydroponics
Von Braun MedSci
Von Braun Operations
TriOptimum Consumer Concepts logo

All logos are stored as PNGs with transparent background for maximum portability. No antialiasing was used to allow easy recoloring. Average resolution of each logo is around 2000 x 2000 pixels.

[663bdbd047867Kolya]

BTW: Why did you make the Triop Logo inverted? Also why the grey backgrounds on Rickenbacker and VB command?
I think I already mentioned that vector grafics would have suited the job better, but okay they're big enough to retrace them without great glitches I guess.

[663bdbd0479ffZylonBane]

The TriOp logo is light-on-dark because it's normally that way in-game. Doesn't matter much to me either way.

Grey background on Rick and Command logos because they use more than one color, of course. Using a black or white background on the Rick logo would destroy quite a bit of the detail. On the Command logo a white background would make it ambiguous whether or not the inner ring should be transparent.

Maybe I should use a grey background on all of them just to be consistent?

Yes, a vector format would have been better... but WHICH vector format? I'm not aware of any vector format that's as universally well-supported as a raster format like PNG. Plus, most of these are really quite horrible in their vector forms. I created them with PaintShop Pro, which only has very basic vector support.

[663bdbd04810cKolya]

The TriOp logo is light-on-dark because it's normally that way in-game. Doesn't matter much to me either way.

I was just asking because for further use a positive is slightly more convenient. Doesn't matter much though.

Grey background on Rick and Command logos because they use more than one color, of course. Using a black or white background on the Rick logo would destroy quite a bit of the detail. On the Command logo a white background would make it ambiguous whether or not the inner ring should be transparent.

I wasn't sure if the Rick and Command logo really had these boxes around them. They'd certainly look better without them. I can't see what would be lost with a white background for the Rickenbacker for example. And the white ring of the Command logo wouldn't be ambigous in a vector file or bitmap file with transparent background. Anyway you go for authenticity which is fine.
If you added a grey background to all of them though that authenticity would be lost as it would look as if all logos were meant to be boxed.

A good vector format might be SVG which is nonpropietary, can be opened and saved by professional vector editing programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Freehand and free vector programs as well. Plus it gets displayed in modern browsers.


EDIT: Just played around a while with Adobe CS Illustrator's "LiveTrace" feature .... Turns out tracing a bitmap still has the same problems as when I last did that years ago in Flash: You either get a precise but bloated vector or it's getting very unprecise but clean. By "clean" I mean that as few anchor points are used as are necessary to display the vector.
Anyway, here's the slightly bloated and unprecise SVG file I got from it.
Oh yeah, while Firefox displays the SVG fine, this forum software doesn't know the format... 

[663bdbd048277ZylonBane]

The problem with SVG (like most vector formats) is that it's not usually supported by the sort of low-cost paint programs that enthusiasts such as ourselves are likely to have access to. Heck, the version of PSP I use doesn't even know what an SVG is. And when I import AI/EPS files, it flattens them into bitmaps.

Besides, why would anyone need a TriOp logo larger than 3500x3000? 

[663bdbd0484b2Kolya]

That's because PSP is a bitmap editor. I mean Photoshop's vector editing capabilities are limited too. Usually you just flatten an imported vector like you do in PSP. I linked to a free vector vector editor named Incscape in my previous post. And of course there is the free bitmap editor Gimp which comes with SVG support and basic vector editing. So it's not a matter of money but more a matter of taste what tools you choose for editing.

You're certainly right to assume that noone will need larger logos in the foreseeable future. Still vectors are a safe bet and they beat a bitmap at large sizes as well as tiny sizes, eg if someone wanted to create an Icon from one of the logos. That's why in the industry logos usually get created as vectors.

EDIT: Enough talking. Below is a clean vector rebuild of the SS2 Triop-logo in SVG and Illustrator format.

[663bdbd048816ZylonBane]

Updated. Added another logo and switched to using the PNG alpha channel for the backgrounds, so there's no ambiguity at all regarding where the logo ends and the background begins.

[663bdbd04892bKolya]

Ah, the happy consumers. Nice.
Thanks ZB.

[663bdbd048a7ddoctorfrog]

Thanks for this, ZeeB. And after I went to all the trouble of creating a vectorized VB logo in Inkscape. ;-) Seriously, though, I might go to the trouble of tracing one or more of these for personal purposes, and will post the results on StrangeBed when done. You should consider tooling around a bit with Inkscape, if only to experience working with a vector graphics editor. For a free tool, Inkscape is pretty powerful, I'm finding, especially if you crave the smooth look that Shock2 is known for.

[663bdbd048bbedoctorfrog]

Hey, just found a new toy in Inkscape.

Path -> Trace Bitmap. Has to be similar to what Kolya was referring to above with Illustrator. (Only Inkscape is free!)

Seems to have worked well with the Tri-Op logo, which is fairly simple. It also didn't hurt that ZylonBane gave up a very high-res traceable.

Cheeseball shading included to show some vectorized possibilities.

[663bdbd048cbcdoctorfrog]

Consumers done, as another example.

[663bdbd048decKolya]

Nice work, I hope I can bring the forum to display SVGs under their posts as it does with other pictures.

EDIT: It turns out there's the PHP function used to get the image size doesn't support SVGs.

[663bdbd048f7cOutsider]

Perfect! 
I've just taken a look at the triOp logo svg-files and what confuses me is that the last triop logo has this weird blue top going on, which fades into transparency and then back into black (top to bottom). I'm viewing it with GIMP, but is this wanted or is it an error in my program?

Another two questions:
I thought I'd paint the thing WHITE before I print it, because black looks stupid on black. This will not affect the vector file. Right?
Aaand: Are fonts possible in vector files?
Thought I'd write TriOptimum above and the slogan beneath it. But maybe I won't. Depends on the price.

€dith: Just noticed I can't edit .svg files anyway.

[663bdbd049099Kolya]

The vectorised Triop Logo posted by doctorfrog has a gradient filling, you can easily change that using Inkscape. (Read the thread.)
The SS2 font is available here.

[663bdbd04919bWrench]

the ss2 logos got lost... error 404

haha "got lost" maybe its the fault of the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42

[663bdbd04926cKolya]

Fixed

[663bdbd049346Wrench]

Thanks Kolya, you are fast as hell!!!

[663bdbd04944cYorick]

Hate to bump a horrifyingly old topic, but it feels more relevant to ask here. The SS2 TriOptimum vector logo is pretty brilliant, but does anyone have something of comparable quality for the System Shock 1 TriOptimum Logo? I searched around but did not see anything, figured I could have possibly just missed it.

[663bdbd049525Link6746]

I'm still looking for a way to integrate these into my SS2 installation.

[663bdbd049b35Marvin]

I'm still looking for a way to integrate these into my SS2 installation.

Those aren't textures, they are not meant to be used for the game.

[663bdbd049cdblgs]

Does anyone have System Shock 2 title logo in vector?