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I am thinking about grabbing some screenshots of my favorite NES games / moments and blowing them up to print and frame them. Anyone done this? Also what would be the best way to do this? I know NES screen shots from emulators are teeny tiny.
What emulator / file format / upscaling technique should I use to make sure the quality stays nice and crisp?
<3<3
Well if you take a screen shot in an emulator, you can scale it up nicely in paint.net if you use the re-size with the nearest neighbor property, it looks really decent.
Nestopia is the best NES emulator I've used.
I am thinking about grabbing some screenshots of my favorite NES games / moments and blowing them up to print and frame them. Anyone done this? Also what would be the best way to do this? I know NES screen shots from emulators are teeny tiny.
What emulator / file format / upscaling technique should I use to make sure the quality stays nice and crisp?
Take a screenshot in Nestopia (the shortcut is ALT+E) and resize in 200% increments (200, 400, 800, 1600, ∞) in Photoshop using the "Nearest Neighbor" algorithm. The output size of the enlarged screenshot will be tied to 200% increments, but this technique will guarantee crisp and square pixels. You can always extend the canvas size in the end if you're aiming to mount the print in a, say, 18"x24" frame. Just keep an eye on the newly calculated image size numbers that way you'll know when to stop enlarging the screenshot.
Like this:
This is the original size, 256x240
If I enlarge it 400%, it comes close to my imaginary 24"x18" picture frame (it's 1024x960 now)
Go to Image → Image Size...
You'll see that it's 14.222"x13.333", quite a ways from 24"x18".
So enlarge the canvas to 24.25"x18.25" because you'll want the color to reach the edges of the page when it comes time to print. I chose black under "Canvas Extension Color" because it matches the original screenshot's background color, but you can choose whatever you want.
And there you go; it's ready to print. Just make sure that the printer doesn't resize to fit the page otherwise the image will be slightly reduced and blurry.
Lazerbeat wrote:I am thinking about grabbing some screenshots of my favorite NES games / moments and blowing them up to print and frame them. Anyone done this? Also what would be the best way to do this? I know NES screen shots from emulators are teeny tiny.
What emulator / file format / upscaling technique should I use to make sure the quality stays nice and crisp?
Take a screenshot in Nestopia (the shortcut is ALT+E) and resize in 200% increments (200, 400, 800, 1600, ∞) in Photoshop using the "Nearest Neighbor" algorithm. The output size of the enlarged screenshot will be tied to 200% increments, but this technique will guarantee crisp and square pixels. You can always extend the canvas size in the end if you're aiming to mount the print in a, say, 18"x24" frame. Just keep an eye on the newly calculated image size numbers that way you'll know when to stop enlarging the screenshot.
Do you know the Paint.Net and GIMP equivalents of the "Nearest Neighbor" algorithm, perchance?
Google led me to the GIMP site which says that "None" under "Interpolation" equals Photoshop's "Nearest Neighbor":
http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tools-transform.html
I'll let you Google the paint.net one <):'p
Google led me to the GIMP site which says that "None" under "Interpolation" equals Photoshop's "Nearest Neighbor":
http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tools-transform.htmlI'll let you Google the paint.net one <):'p
Oh, that makes sense. Thanks for doing the leg-work for me. I was just about to google it, too. I assume it's the same for Paint.Net.
When resizing, resize it to some integer multiple, e.g. 200%, 500%, 1300%. Otherwise some of the pixels will be wider than others and it will look uneven. If you want a final size that is not an integer multiple, I recommend resizing it to a size larger than what you want, then turn on high quality resizing (e.g. lanczos) and downsize from there.
Last edited by rainwarrior (Jul 31, 2012 5:42 am)
+1 minusbabe for that sweet tutorial with screenshots and errthang
Thanks rich! I will post pics of what I print out and frame eventually.
Would this work for regular pictures as well? Last week someone broke into my car and stole all my equipment and I believe I found it on craigslist. Just cant read the serial all too well to match my box.
it doesn't increase the detail, it just makes all the pixels bigger, you could just open that image in firefox and zoom in. it's still unreadable unfortunately
make sure you set your resize method accordingly to preserve sharp edges of the pixels
Photoshop save for web and devices or re-size in Photoshop using the nearest neighbor interpolation and it will preserve the pixels as squares not rectangles or unwanted dither breaks. I have always subscribed to the right wing "Preserved pixels are a lie of the emulation age" theory though :x