Saturday, July 10, 2010

Tutorial! How to Scanlate! Part-2

Alright~,there's nothing much to do left really~.I forgot to mention about the image resizing and another level after you've done the denoising, which I've already edited the post before. To the next step!

3) Translate and Type.
You can translate it yourself, or find a translated manga at Mangahelpers.But be sure to credit the translator! For the typing, i normally use GIMP software(again, Google it).What you'd need;
1)GIMP or Adobe Photoshop,there's no difference really, its just it's much easier using GIMP(for me).
2) if you're using GIMP, google for the Script-Fu files for making stroke words.
3) Fonts.(this is mine, link)
normally people used Wild Words, Manga Temple for typing, but its up to you.
-We start by opening the GIMP. Open the Image file. then don't forget to change the image attribute to Greyscale. I tend to forget that.Image->Mode->Greyscale.
-Choose the fonts.Normally the font size is between 17-19 for the normal bubble. Tick all of the squares. Make the words centered and the spacing is 3.
-and that's it, insert the translated words, move the bubble square so that it looks nice~.
-Once you'd finish, flatten the image by Image->Flatten Image.
-and Save!(don't forget .png) and press next2.
-Finish! Repeat the same thing with another 18 pages and you get yourself a chapter.
Happy trying~(if you have any question, just pm me).

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Tutorial! How to Scanlate! Part-1

I've always wonder, why is it there's so little Malay Scanlation group..Is it because that they don't know how to do it? or is it because its pointless? or because of this?There really is many valid reasons..but depends to the person..Scanlate can be quite fun, alot more fun if you do it in a group.Nonetheless, the reason that i write this post is to teach you one or two basics things about scanlate! Who knows that maybe there's someone here who'll try and make and make a scanlation group after this.Who knows! Alright2x!Enough chat!
I maybe wrong..but correct me if i'm wrong! I'll make this brief cause i don't like to write long.

Basically, Scanlation consist of 3 parts:
1)Searching RAW.
2)Clean.
3)Translate and Type.

You can scanlate either on your own or with your team,depends!
1)Searching RAW
For the first part, searching raw(raw is an uncleaned,grayish color of a manga) is fairly easy...Google it, there are lots of torrent sites for raw, or like J-dream Hishouhen...here

2)Cleaning.
What you need:
1)Adobe Photoshop CS3/Above
2)Topaz Vivacity plugin(Google it,pm me if you still can't find it),and install it of course!
I'll teach you the easiest way to clean. so don't expect an excellent result! try to save the below image.
Alright, i'll explain it in numbering manner:
1)Drag the image to Adobe photoshop.
2)Change the Image type by Mode->Grayscale->discard changes.
3)Level the image by Ctrl+L or Image->Adjusment->Levels
-The trick is, to make the black part to be blacker and the white part whiter.Stop when you see some changes in the Grey Colour.Or in this case, drag the black slider to 14 and the white slider to 231.
4)Notice there's still some grey part on the left side of the image.We'll deal with that. Select your Brush, and press Q. Right Click, and chose at about 195x diameter.Don't mind the Hardness level.While pressing Shift,click at the upper left-most part of the page,consisting the grayish area and simply drag down.And you'll probably get something like this.
5)Include the black part of the box surrounding the watch including the watch itself.Then press Q and Shift+Ctrl+I@Inverse.
6)You might want to not include the part that you want to turn white, by clicking the selection tool,select the unwanted part(the grayish lower right corner) while holding Alt.Now level it,Ctrl+L, only the white silder, 211 is enough.Deselect,now repeat the same process, Brush, but this time, choose only the grayish upper part.and the small long left part with smaller brush.
7)then press Q and and inverse and level it to 167.You can clean the grayish part left and the Japanese words using the eraser.If you made any mistakes, just undo by Ctrl+Z.Then Level once more with black slider to 18 and white slider to 234.You'll probably get something like this.
8)Image Resizing
Resize the image to the standard size, although, if you have a small RAW, it'll make your image look blurrier thus it looks bad. So, better search for a larger RAW! >_<. Re size accordingly by pressing Ctrl+Alt+i(px).
1600->1500->1400
Are you still with me?Hang On! here comes the last but the hardest part! 
Denoising(Topaz Vivacity)!
9)before that, burn any necessary part(make the black,blacker) using the burn tool.Such as.there is some white spots at kindaichi's hair,use the burn tool to eliminate that.
Ok!..now go to Filter->Topaz Vivacity->Topaz Denoise.
Configure it to your hearts content.For me..
*Don't forget to level once more if you see the black area not properly black.
 Then resize back to 1200px.Save your work by pressing Shift+Ctrl+Alt+S with PNG-8(for smaller size).
And thats all for Cleaning! I'm exhausted...See you next time for the next lesson!
if you want to learn more, lookie here

Triple Release! chap 29,30,31!

Waoh~.I'm pretty beat up.Just like always, it'll probably takes longer time to scanlate other chapter cause i'm returning to college. With this, plus the omake, thus ends the fourth volume and the Uruguay Saga.Looks like i did a good job in finishing just as Uruguay lost in World Cup.Alright~...adios,enjoy the World Cup final and also this chap! i wouldn't mind if you'd like to say thanks!^^


 Take that!