Snaps within GameEx

[Krakerman]

Ok I have never used this feature before which I think your able to do so am I correct on thinking so? Ok I read if you press ALT+1 it will create a snap, but I press that within GameEx and nothing happens. So am I doing this wrong or do I have something disabled as usual that doesn't let me take a snap. I want to take a snapshot of my theme in action so I can show you guys a sneek preview of it.

Thanks guys. Sorry there are still many features of GameEx that I haven't even explored yet even thou I've been using it for sometime now. Now that Draco has gotten me started on making my own themes I am working on a theme that has Inspirations taken from AtomicFE and Hyperspin and I have combined them into GameEx to some extent. So I'd like to take a snap of it so I can show you a few screens

[Adultery]

I just use ALT+PRTSCR, then open up Paint and press CTRL+V to paste it on to the canvas. Save and done.

Unless you have FRAPS, then it's F9 or F10. Can't remember offhand which is snap and which is video.

[Krakerman]

Been thinking of getting either Fraps or PlayClaw and create all my own videos/snaps as I want everything custom to my liking and systems that I have setup within GameEx.

[Draco1962]

There you go blaming me for you having to move your arse and get creative again! I look forward to seeing what you have done so far!

[Krakerman]

Someone has to take the blame (hahaha) figured you wouldn't mine.

I heard of another program as well to record videos called D3DGear. Read a review and it seems really good might try the 15 day trial out.Soon as I get this video capture issue figured out I'll post some snaps of it. What I like the most about my theme is I will have alot of the more obscure systems done which most themes are lacking. Hopefully I'll get a snap up this weekend as I want to spend alot of time working on this over the weekend.

[celly]

FRAPS is the way to go K-man. And, if for some reason you can't capture with FRAPS, give Camtasia a try.

[Krakerman]

@Celly took your advice and installed FRAPS! and is working good.

[Krakerman]

Here is a sneek peek of my new theme I'm working on

[Krakerman]

Here is one more

[Draco1962]

Wow! That is looking pretty damned good for a first theme attempt, Krake! You have provided proof to the addage "If you give a man a match, he will keep warm for a day. If you light him on fire, he will stay warm the rest of his life!" Keep it up! You are on fire!

[Adultery]

That is an addage? Who said that, the devil? Lol!

I always thought it was "give a man a fish he eats for today. Teach him to fish he eats for a lifetime". Lmao!

[hansolo77]

+1 to Adultery's. Never heard of Draco's, but definately heard of Adutery's!

[Draco1962]

Adultery's is more biblical and philosophical. Mine is more "illuminating" so to speak.

[Krakerman]

Glad you like it!

[celly]

+1 K-man! Looks slick! I scrapped my theme as it has no comparison to you "pros" theme entries. Very nice console pages, can't wait to give it a spin.

[Krakerman]

Thanks!

Wait til you guys see what I did for MAME and the Neo Geo backgrounds.

[Krakerman]

Here is a sneek peek at the Neo Geo (Aka WinKawaks) back/foreground for my theme!

[Draco1962]

I am thoroughly amazed! Great job! And all of this time you had us fooled into thinking you were just a duffer! Very well thought out, very colorful, great attention to organization of detail. I think you may have a contender on your hands for the theme competition!

[Krakerman]

Glad you like it Draco!

I almost got MAME completed. Had a softball game tonight so didn't get as much done as I wanted too but I'll get more done tomorrow after work. So far I have about 25+ emulators done with many more to go. So ..... hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be about 50% done with this theme. This theme will have close to 100+ emulators all with complete back/foregrounds .... if not more when it's all said and done.

[hansolo77]

Here is a sneek peek at the Neo Geo (Aka WinKawaks) back/foreground for my theme!

Looks like you kinda squashed your added character layers. Are you using Photoshop? If so; when you resize a new layer, make sure you hold down the SHIFT key so it maintains the aspect ratio. That way the images don't get short and fat, or tall and skinny.

Other than that, it looks amazing! I agree with Draco, a real competition is brewing!

[Adultery]

+1 to what Han said about your images maintaining their aspect ratios. Another tip... Hand cropping makes for smoother lines. You'll keep the tricky stuff (like hair which is a real b**ch to get right) nice too without sacrificing image quality.

That's me nitpicking though... This really looks fabu! I'm looking forward to the finished product!

[Krakerman]

Thanks for the input as I am learning as I'm doing this. Most of the images are intact as I only stretch them myself because I want them to look a particular way on my 47" Vizio as that is my main display that I run GameEx on. I know everyone has different display sizes. This theme is for 1680x1050 display.

@hansolo77 No I have been doing all this using Paint.net believe it or not. I've tried the others, but I really like this one the best. I was working on MAME this morning before work, but still not sure if I like all the images I've put on it. Here is a snapshot of it. What do you all think?

[hansolo77]

Not bad, the aspect ratio's look better on that one. One other thing I think I should mention.. don't make it too cluttered with a lot of stuff to look at. Keep it simple. That's one lesson I'm still learning with my own photoshopping. I like to redesign custom DVD boxes (mostly because my old ones were burned up in the fire). A big problem I have is with putting too MUCH stuff on it, and not keeping it clean. Your other images look good, but the MAME is starting to get a bit crowded.

But like Adultery said, this is just nitpicking. You can make/design it however you want. I think it looks awesome as it's going.

[Krakerman]

I hear you about clutter as I don't like it myself but with the MAME background it was a bit empty and the images I put in seemed to fill in perfectly. I even asked my wife if I should leave them in or not. I might make alternate backgrounds so there are a few to choose from. With the MAME or Neo Geo you can even make your own marquee for it if you don't like the one I made or anyone can create a custom one to match their own cabs. There are so many MAME Cab marquees out there it is limitless.

UPDATE: Tonight I finished up NEC Super Grafx, Sega SG-1000, Vectrex and Mattel Intellivision!

[Krakerman]

So far here is a list of systems I have completed so far:

Atari 2600/5200/7800

Atari 400/800

Atari Jaguar

Commodore 64

Commodore Amiga

Commodore CD32

Mattel Aquarius

Mattel Intellivision

NEC TurboGrafx 16

NEC Super Grafx

Visual Pinball

Future Pinball

PC Pinball

Daphne

MAME

Neo Geo Arcade

Neo Geo Home

Fairchild Channel F

Bally Astrocade

Vectrex

Sega Genesis

Sega 32X

Sega CD

Sega SG-1000

Sega Game Gear

Colecovision

ScummVM

Entex Adventurevision

Emerson Arcadia 2001

Magnavox Odyssey 2