Formatting the Wiki's Card Images

With the new set coming out today, I figured it would be a good time to outline how this wiki's card images are made. This process, and the layout decisions I made, aren't official policies of this wiki - they can change should our community decide to do so. I've just been handling these for a while, and wanted to get this down in case someone else wants/needs to do it.

My goal with these screenshots is to maximize consistency. To do so, I try to take screenshots of the cards using the same setup each time, and have created a template to editing the images. Ideally, anyone else following this guide will use the same setup, but may need to make adjustments for their particular situation.

Note: I need to leave for now, I will add the final sections later.

Before Starting

You will need to set up some system, game, and screenshot tool settings before starting.

Tool Settings

I use Steam’s built-in tool (the 'F12' button in-game) for capturing card screenshots. If you use something else, try to capture high-quality uncompressed images..

To set Steam for uncompressed images, some settings need to be changed from the defaults:

1. Go to Steam’s “In-Game” settings. (Steam -> Settings -> In-Game)
2. Make sure the “Save an uncompressed copy” option is enabled.
3. Set a screenshots folder (required by the ‘uncompressed’ option).

Make sure you are saving your images as .png files, not .jpeg files.

Image Resolution

Most cards should be captured at a 1920x1080 pixel resolution. A higher resolution can be used, at the same 16:9 aspect ratio, then scaled down to match. This aligns the card images with the template, when captured in the game's Collection screen, for consistent cutting and cropping.

In some special cases, cards need to be captured at a higher resolution. Because noncollectible “tokens” (i.e. cards that are created by other cards, that cannot be added to your deck), and cards that only appear in campaigns or used by the AI, can't be viewed in the Collection screen, screenshots of them must be taken during gameplay where they appear at a smaller scale. Capturing them at a higher resolution allows us to make them appear at the same size as the regular images.

If you have a 1080p monitor, you may be able to capture larger resolutions by changing your graphics card settings - only do this if your computer can handle it!!!

This is done by supersampling your resolution output, you can find guides for setting this up on your particular system (I followed a guide like this one's "Option One"). I've found that up-scaling my graphics card output to 3072x1728 pixels is enough so that the cards appear slightly larger than their 1080p Collection screen equivalents, and can be scaled down afterwards to match.

Once you are rendering at a higher resolution, Eternal's in-game settings will pick up on the change and allow you to match it. After this, your screenshots should be taken at the new resolution.

Graphics Editor

You will need a graphics editor to turn the screenshots into wiki card images. This guide will use GIMP; it's what I personally use, and it's a free, cross-platform software. You can use another program, but some of the processes and tool names may be different.

Here is the template we created: Master Card Image Template.psd

Note that it's a .psd (Adobe Photoshop) file, not a .xcf (GIMP) one. This is for maximum compatibility with other programs - it will still open just fine in GIMP. If you save a local copy, you can use .xcf instead.

Taking Screenshots

Collectible Card Screenshots

Collectible card screenshots are taken in the game's Collection screen:

• In your collection filter, allow unowned cards and disable premium cards.
• If capturing cards from a new set, filter to show only cards from the set.
• Right click cards to bring up the individual card inspector. This allows for larger card images, and positions them consistently for easier template cropping.
• If the card creates other tokens, try to include their ‘token’ frames in the capture as well. These should appear when hovering over the main card, and shouldn't obfuscate the main card. (Only do this if your screenshots do not capture your mouse cursor. Steam’s tool does not capture the mouse, others might.)

Noncollectible Card Screenshots

Noncollectible cards must be captured during gameplay:

• Remember to upscale your resolution to capture a large enough image.
• For each of these cards, this requires crafting at least one of the cards that create it.
• Put it in a deck with tutor effects and card draw, then play against the AI in Gauntlet.
• Capture the card’s image in the larger ‘hover’ display. Hovering over the card in hand or in play displays the largest available image of the card.

Naming Card Images

After taking your screenshots, make sure to rename them to match the name of the card. For example, the image file for Yushkov should be named Yushkov, the Usurper.png

When uploading the screenshots (here), please sort them into the applicable sub-folders. Noncollectibles go in a separate folder. Collectible cards are sorted:

first by type (to account for the frame shape differences), then by Legendary vs non-Legendary, then by Influence amount (separate 3+ Influence cards).

Editing Card Images

Once you have your screenshots, you are ready to convert them to wiki card images. Here are the steps for editing a single image:

1. Open GIMP, with the above template.
2. Add the screenshot as a new layer. This can be done by drag & dropping the file into GIMP, or using the "File -> Open as Layers..." dialogue.
   1. Make sure the new layer is on top, in the 'Layers' tab in the sidebar. You can drag it to rearrange.
   2. Be sure the new layer is aligned with the image - use the 'Alignment' tool to adjust if need be.
   3. If it doesn't already have an alpha channel, add one by right-clicking the layer, and selecting "Add Alpha Channel"
3. In the sidebar's 'Channels' tab (next to 'Layers'), you can find pre-formatted selection channels for the different shapes of Eternal's cards.
   1. Select the appropriate Channel with right click -> "Channel to Selection". They are divided by card type - Units, Weapons and Relic Weapons, Power, and everything else (Spells, non-Weapon attachments, and Sites have the same shape. Each is further divided, by 0-2 vs 3+ influence, and for Legendary cards.
4. A selection should now appear around border of the card. Cut this (Ctrl + X) to remove unwanted content.
5. Now, crop the image to the final card size.
   1. In 'Channels', choose the appropriate 'edge crop' channel, and use "Channel to Selection" again.
   2. In the top menu, select "Image" -> "Crop to Selection". The image should now be resized.
6. Add the card border and drop shadow effect by making the matching layer visible. Like the selection Channels, these correspond to the different card shapes. Make sure no other shadow layers are visible.
7. It should be done! Export the file with the "File" -> "Export As..." dialogue. Be sure to export as a .png file.
8. To reset the template, make sure you don't save it. You can use "File" -> "Revert" to undo all changes.

Uploading the Images

Thats it! If you have any questions, message me here, or on our Discord.