Special Ops: A Soldier's Tale - Part 2 added 6/12/06

[Roton7]

Here's my first attempt at a PN. It will be in the perspective of Commander Krattak. Part 1 will be very short, but later segments will be longer. So here it goes...


Part 1


I am Commander Krattak. I have led the 414th Legion into some of the worst battles this galaxy has ever seen or heard of--but considering that we are a Special Ops squad, most of the galaxy hasn't seen or heard of our missions.



Our next mission would be a hard one. We are to go to a far away planet, Kiroscaunt. This place is notorious for ending the lives of the hardest workers of the Republic. How did they die? No one knows.



General Grievous is murdering the Kiroscaunt people. Our job is to stop him. Whether this place is dangerous or not, there's nothing I hate more than nasty and cruel Separatists.



My time has come...I must stop this threat.

To Be Continued...



LMK what you think!

[BrentS]

Good start, I like the first person narration.  I really like the positioning on the second picture with the way Krattak is looking into the distance.

A couple of suggestions as you move forward.  If  you aren't going to create "sets" or backgrounds, take a long look at S_A Longhorns' PNs.  He does an outstanding job of creating background sets out of "common" household objects.    Secondly, obviously, you'll get more feedback as you develop this story and really add to it.  For my first three PN chapters I struggled with how many photos to actually use.  I've tried to use a minimum of 25 so that there is enough substance there to make it worth the read.

Good luck, keep it up and enjoy!

[CHEWIE]

Pretty good start, I like the tinting of the pics a lot.  And that's good advice from Brent too.

Also, if you can create all your pics to be in the same size/format, that will add to your story a lot.

Looking forward to more, and the custom commander looks very nice.

 

[Roton7]

BrentS - I see what you mean about making the "sets". The only reason I didn't use one for this particular chapter is because there isn't much action. In the future, I'll be making backgrounds for the figures, sets, etc.

CHEWIE - Thanks, and the only reason that the pics are different sizes is because I cropped some of them. I'll try not to in future chapters.

 

[BrentS]

CHEWIE - Thanks, and the only reason that the pics are different sizes is because I cropped some of them. I'll try not to in future chapters.

Nothing wrong with croping pictures, I do it all the time.  The key is to crop them to same overall dimensions.  I use photoshop and I crop all my pictures to a 16:9 ratio.  I then rescale them to the dimension I can use them to post (I think its 800 pixels wide).

[Roton7]

CHEWIE - Thanks, and the only reason that the pics are different sizes is because I cropped some of them. I'll try not to in future chapters.

Nothing wrong with croping pictures, I do it all the time.  The key is to crop them to same overall dimensions.  I use photoshop and I crop all my pictures to a 16:9 ratio.  I then rescale them to the dimension I can use them to post (I think its 800 pixels wide).

Huh?

Sorry, I don't know much about resizing pictures--how exactly do I do that?

[In Rem]

Roton -

Depends on what you're using to work with your pics. Cropping uses a ratio... think in terms of the rise and the run from your math classes (I can't remember...that may have been trig or calculus... I suck at math). 16:9, for example, means for every 16 units wide  a picture is, it's 9 units tall. So a picture that's 160 pixels by 90 pixels will have the same height/width ratio to one that is 320 by 180.

In photo shop you can use a fixed aspect ratio to crop, then go in to set the photo size. If you're using a consistent aspect ratio, setting the same width with constrained aspect ratios will always give you the same height.

If you're not using photo shop, I'm not sure what to tell you.

and yes, guys, I'm still here. I lurk painfully little anymore, and I never get to comment... I just thought I might be of help here.

Great start to your PN, too. Keep it up.

[CHEWIE]

Hmmm.... I never figured out how to really crop by dimension either, I just found a format I like, then use that as a template for future ones.

Good to see you around In Rem, you have been missed.   

 

[Roton7]

Well, In Rem, where in Photoshop do I go to set the pixel ratio?

[In Rem]

1. In my version of PhotoShop, 5.02, the tool you use for cropping is called the "Marquee" tool. The icon for it is a small, dashed-line box in the upper left corner of your toolbox.

2. Once you've clicked on the tool, check the Options pane. You may have to tell PhotoShop to display this pane.

3. You should see an option for "Style". The default is "Normal". Choose "Constrained Aspect Ratio". When you choose this, you will see spaces for two numbers. The first is width, the second is height. The two numbers form your ration (FYI, I use 600 X 325 - 600:325 - for the body of my PN photos, and then I add black canvas to the top and bottom to end up 600 X 450. This creates a "letterbox" effect)



4. When you use the Marquee tool, you will notice how it only lets you cut out rectangles with the right aspect ratio. And there you go.

[BrentS]

A couple things to add to Rem's comments.  I'm using Photoshop Elements and the tool is called "Rectangular Marquee"  On the drop down menu on the top there is a thing called "Mode"  there are three options, Normal, Fixed Size, or Fixed Aspect ration.  I select the last one and put 16 in the width and 9 in the height. 

The next step is to drag the box over the area you want frame.  Once it is selected (flashing dotted lines) then you have to select crop from the menu.  Voila.

Hope that helps a little.  You can also try searching the web for photoshop help features (or use the online help with Photoshop).

Good luck.

[Roton7]

Well, I don't think I'm using either of your versions. The version I use is Adobe Photoshop on  a Macintosh computer. Anyone know how to it with that?

[BrentS]

It should still be exactly the same.  The marquee selection feature has been around for a while.  Check the online help feature and it should give you the icon you are looking for.

[Artoo]

I like it so far,nice creating new clone leigons.

[Roton7]

Here's part 2 of the series...


Part 2


I was told to fly to Kiroscaunt without my crew. So here I am, alone in the city streets.


I was also told to look for Master Skywalker once I arrived. I'm not too fond of Master Skywalker. He never has liked me. I guess I'm just too good for him.


He isn't down on the city streets, apparently. Maybe I should just look around the docking bay.


There he is, right next to his starfighter! I guess I'm quite a smart clone after all.


I went over to greet him...

Commander Krattak: Hello, Master Skywalker.
Anakin: Hello, Commander.


Anakin: It seems that the docking bay has been attacked.


Commander Krattak: Separatists. It must have been Separatists.
Anakin: I think you're right.
Commander Krattak: (under his breath) Of course I'm right.


Finally there's SOMEONE that can lead us in the right direction...

Firespeeder Pilot: This damage was due to General Grievous. He raided the city streets just a few hours ago.


Firespeeder Pilot: He brought in an entire army--our forces weren't strong enough to hold them back.


If Grievous was powerful enough to destroy the forces of the city, I would be nothing compared to him. I MUST have my troops as soon as possible...

To be Continued...


Whattya think?