Ocean's 'Road Race' inlay

Mark R. Jones · July 2014

Have you still got your copy of 'Road Race' given away with the May 1987 issue of 'Your Sinclair' magazine? It came with no inlay didn't it! Cheap skates! Poor thing looks ugly with no inlay just sitting there all forlorn in a tape box.........

Well, now it can sit along side the rest of your Ocean collection! (if you have one of course!)

Full size image available here: https://www.sendspace.com/file/h8pz6n

It might be sh*te, but at least it now looks good! :)

malczx · July 2014

Excellent, thanks! Used to love playing this game. :)

leespoons · July 2014

nice... if I'm being picky the shadow effect (or whatever it is) on the title looks a bit "early 2000s" but a vast improvement on the original :lol:

Who was this mysterious "Sheik" fellow? Or are you sworn to secrecy? (I see he also coded Donkey Kong, perhaps he wanted to keep that quiet!) :)

Mark R. Jones · July 2014

I have no idea who he was. Never met him.

JuanF. Ramirez · July 2014

Odd to see those F1 cars and the OCEAN seal! :-) Cool inlay, anyway.

I didn't even know this game so I'll give it a try.

sj_howlett · July 2014

Very cool :)

chop983 · July 2014

JuanF. Ramirez wrote: »

Odd to see those F1 cars and the OCEAN seal! :-) Cool inlay, anyway.

I didn't even know this game so I'll give it a try.

It was free for a reason.

zedexspectrum · July 2014

@Mark R Jones Can i ask what you used to create this?

(Ill die if he says MS Paint):-D

Sokurah · July 2014

zedexspectrum wrote: »

@Mark R Jones Can i ask what you used to create this?

(Ill die if he says MS Paint):-D

I can answer that. He used Adobe Photoshop CS 5.1 for Mac.

rich_chandler · July 2014

zedexspectrum wrote: »

@Mark R Jones Can i ask what you used to create this?

(Ill die if he says MS Paint):-D

Melbourne Draw...

Mark R. Jones · July 2014

Sokurah is spot on

jamorski · July 2014

Mark, I know I'm probably being picky, but the font for 'ROAD RACE' looks wrong don't you think? In the original Ocean games the font used is basically the same as the one used for 'Spectrum 48k', but a larger point size. Bloody good though!:)

Had you thought of trying Illustrator, as thats generally what I've used all along for inlay and instructions recreation, mainly the Ultimate Play the Game ones I've been doing for some time.

It allows a lot more flexibility for editing the text and boxes etc.

weesam · July 2014

yes;

the illustration is a piece of retro excellence;

However, the choice of font for the title is poor (does not illustrate speed or racing) and the treatment (semi-transparent, blurred drop shadow) does not fit stylistically.

I'm not sure if the effort to fix it is worth it; but a 80s style logotype would have been more suitable (ie like weclemans, outrun, etc..)

jamorski · July 2014

Just edited the blemishes and YS bits out of the poster. Link here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28052510/YSPoster17%20corrected.jpg

weesam · July 2014

nasty smearing now.

To remove the printing process halftones, whilst minimizing blur (this is the absolute best method)

Scan the image in at an ultra-large size (800% or even 1600%) at 300 dpi (this will result in a very large file, often several hundreds of megabytes)

Then, using photoshop (or similar) convert the scan to CMYK.

Then, view the individual colour channels one at a time.

On the CMK channels, one at a time, use guassian blur until the halftone just disappears (useful to view the scan at 400% for this). Be sure to use the correct radius - not too much, not too little; just enough and no more for the halftone to merge.

On the yellow (Y) channel, guassian blur the image until it is entirely smooth (you can use a very large radius here).

Convert the image to LAB colour

View the A and B channels at 400% - they should be free from halftones. If there are slight artifacts, you can introduce a very slight radius of guassian blur to fix this. But very very slight

View the L channel and apply an auto levels correction. Viewing all three channels, fade this correction as neccessary so the colours "look correct".

Resize the image using the "best for gradients" method to 100% finished size at 300dpi.

At this point, you can do any cloning and fixing to the image to remove specs and dust etc (because it is now free from the halftone, making it much easier).

Still in LAB colour apply "Smart sharpening" to the L channel only, to re-introduce sharpness to the image, but not so much as to introduce artifacts. Lens sharpening is often a good tool, as it introduces apparent sharpness without too much local contrast and artifacts.

Now convert to RGB (for screen) or CMYK (for print) using the appropriate colour library.

The sucess of this method relies entirely on the quality of the original print and the original scan.

Original prints with linescreens of at least 150 lpi and good registration will work very well.

Linescreens of 100 lpi not so well. Below this, it requires so much blurring to remove the screen that the image becomes too soft (but that may be better than the halftone?).

Poor registration will also cause problems. If it is out of register, it can be fixed somewhat by shifting the channels, one pixel at a time, once coverted to CMYK. This is not brilliant, but often you will have no choice.

The scan has to be perfectly flat. Often the orignal image will have printing on the back or be on dirty, scuffed paper. Place a piece of thick BLACK card behind the original image to be scanned. (this will stop any printing showing through but stopping the light from the scanner reflecting back off of it). Then put some heavy books on top of the image to hold it flat. Try and get it exactly square on the scanner. Rotating it to make it straight will introduce artifacts.

I'm quite happy to do this process if an original scan of sufficient size is provided

bagpuss22 · July 2014

Nice!

Anyone thought about doing one for the missing 'Sinclair' version of Tranz AM G29/R?

Cheers

BP

jamorski · July 2014

weesam wrote: »

nasty smearing now.

To remove the printing process halftones, whilst minimizing blur (this is the absolute best method)

Scan the image in at an ultra-large size (800% or even 1600%) at 300 dpi (this will result in a very large file, often several hundreds of megabytes)

Then, using photoshop (or similar) convert the scan to CMYK.

Then, view the individual colour channels one at a time.

On the CMK channels, one at a time, use guassian blur until the halftone just disappears (useful to view the scan at 400% for this). Be sure to use the correct radius - not too much, not too little; just enough and no more for the halftone to merge.

On the yellow (Y) channel, guassian blur the image until it is entirely smooth (you can use a very large radius here).

Convert the image to LAB colour

View the A and B channels at 400% - they should be free from halftones. If there are slight artifacts, you can introduce a very slight radius of guassian blur to fix this. But very very slight

View the L channel and apply an auto levels correction. Viewing all three channels, fade this correction as neccessary so the colours "look correct".

Resize the image using the "best for gradients" method to 100% finished size at 300dpi.

At this point, you can do any cloning and fixing to the image to remove specs and dust etc (because it is now free from the halftone, making it much easier).

Still in LAB colour apply "Smart sharpening" to the L channel only, to re-introduce sharpness to the image, but not so much as to introduce artifacts. Lens sharpening is often a good tool, as it introduces apparent sharpness without too much local contrast and artifacts.

Now convert to RGB (for screen) or CMYK (for print) using the appropriate colour library.

The sucess of this method relies entirely on the quality of the original print and the original scan.

Original prints with linescreens of at least 150 lpi and good registration will work very well.

Linescreens of 100 lpi not so well. Below this, it requires so much blurring to remove the screen that the image becomes too soft (but that may be better than the halftone?).

Poor registration will also cause problems. If it is out of register, it can be fixed somewhat by shifting the channels, one pixel at a time, once coverted to CMYK. This is not brilliant, but often you will have no choice.

The scan has to be perfectly flat. Often the orignal image will have printing on the back or be on dirty, scuffed paper. Place a piece of thick BLACK card behind the original image to be scanned. (this will stop any printing showing through but stopping the light from the scanner reflecting back off of it). Then put some heavy books on top of the image to hold it flat. Try and get it exactly square on the scanner. Rotating it to make it straight will introduce artifacts.

I'm quite happy to do this process if an original scan of sufficient size is provided

Well, thats all very concise! :)

Actually I did start to do the Sinclair missing Tranz Am inlay. I'll have a look how far I got.

bagpuss22 · July 2014

jamorski wrote: »

Well, thats all very concise! :)

Actually I did start to do the Sinclair missing Tranz Am inlay. I'll have a look how far I got.

Sounds interesting, would be nice to complete a gap in the collection :-)

Mark R. Jones · July 2014

Like this you mean?

weesam · July 2014

jamorski wrote: »

Well, thats all very concise! :)

Actually I did start to do the Sinclair missing Tranz Am inlay. I'll have a look how far I got.

it looks a lot more long winded that it actually is because the instructions assume that the reader has never used photoshop (which you obviously have!) - it takes just a couple of minutes.

The important thing - which takes the longest - is getting a good, flat, clean scan.

bagpuss22 · July 2014

Mark R Jones wrote: »

Like this you mean?

Wow! I'm impressed. Looks awesome.... :o

jamorski · July 2014

Mark R Jones wrote: »

Like this you mean?

Wow! :o

Thats much further than I've got so far, looks really good!

Paul van der Laan · July 2014

Mark R Jones wrote: »

Like this you mean?

Very nice! It appears you've used Myriad for the titles and text. The actual typeface used on these inlays is Syntax.

rich_chandler · July 2014

Paul van der Laan wrote: »

Very nice! It appears you've used Myriad for the titles and text. The actual typeface used on these inlays is Syntax.

Geek!!!!

richl · July 2014

If we're really going to get geeky (which would be a first for WOS) then the layout inside the inlays ought to follow the other Ultimate releases.

I've only got these two but I'd imagine Cookie is the same...

You're simply not trying hard enough, Mark ;)

Mark R. Jones · July 2014

I just copied the Ultimate inlay as I wanted to include the same instructions and all the keys too, which aren't on the Sinclair inlays.

richl · July 2014

Hey, I was only kidding :) It's your inlay and you can do it you see fit. The Sinclair ones do have the keys etc on the reverse but they do miss the odd line of text out here and there. Well, I say that.... this is purely based on me quickly checking my Ultimate Jet Pac against my Sinclair one.

Mark R. Jones · July 2014

Plus I wanted it it all on one side so I could print it out in one go and not then have the hassle of attaching extra flaps with glue or trying to print out on the reverse so it's in exactly the same place. I want an easy life please.

Mark R. Jones · July 2014

And yeah I do agree that logo on the front looks ploppy. I gave myself half an hour to do it and that was the last thing I did before my dinner was ready. I'm done with it though. To tell you the truth, I'm not that bothered. It's just an inlay.

Anyway, here's a version of it with no logo. So, come on, who can come up with the best one? Have a go and come up with something jolly. Don't put your logo on the one shown here, download the slightly bigger file (link under the pic). Remember to post a version of it here and a link for the full size file so people can choose what one they want! :)

Biggest version: https://www.sendspace.com/file/tew2cz

Paul van der Laan · July 2014

karingal wrote: »

Geek!!!!

I?ve never been called that before on a retro computing forum..! :)

Sokurah · July 2014

Paul van der Laan wrote: »

I?ve never been called that before on a retro computing forum..! :)

It must be really bad then. ;)

Ocean's 'Road Race' inlay

Comments