IIA. VISUALIZATION
Creating unique setups by using yener's CI
-Before discovering Unicode and yener's CI, we were using ANSI version of INNO. However today, thanks to yener's script, we can change and create unique conversions for games.
But to create good looking setup you need more than INNO Setup. You need second tools.
Corel X5, Adobe Photoshop (the one i'm using) and GIMP are good examples for creating different and unique looking buttons and background for your setup.
Example background work for 'Dishonored' - Photoshop CS5
IIB. Hints and Tips
I'll give you some advises about graphics (I'll talk on PS)
1. You may use different sized of backgrounds. In this case, work on fullscreen and resize the background you'll use in Photoshop. By doing this, you will see how background will look on %100.
2. Do not pass 720 resolution since it's the smallest monitor size and still selling global. Oversized Installer will create problems.
3. PNG is your friend during setups. By working without a background will create more possibilities about setups and in the end you'll get nicer setups.
4. Know the contrast. If you have dark texts in the setup, use light images so people can read them. If you have light text use the dark images instead. Same goes for button layouts.
TDU2 conversion with button which have PNG extension.
4. When you're creating buttons, apply the rule number 1 and work on background itself, so you can see how buttons will look over installer.
5. After applying rule number4, use Crop Tool and separate button from installer. Now you can work on buttons directly and all your buttons will have same size.
IIC. SPLASH.PNG/CREATING .PNG LOGOs
Most of the game have transparent logo. And since we're using Splash.png aka logos in conversion, you may need this tut.
There are couple of solutions for this. The most basic one is; search. Type the game's name and add 'logo' word on google search. Eventually, you'll find nice and one big logo for your work. (I have 8000x5000 logo for Shogun2) If you're not default person and want to be creative, search again. Since it has png extension, you can do literally everything. Change fonts, add additional pictures, grunge it etc.
But if you cant find a png logo, you'll have create your own.
A) Via Photoshop
Photoshop have Magic Wand function which will help you. Use Magic Wand (the wizard icon on toolbox of PS) and start to select your logo. Hold down shift key and repeat the process. You'll pretty much cover your logo. Then press Ctrl+J and you'll have your logo on second/different layer.
Couple of tips:
If your logo is dark, find the image which has light background. If it's light logo, find with dark background, this will make selection easier.
B) Irfanview
Load the picture into IrfanView, press S for "Save as...", set the image type (PNG), enable "Save Transparent Color" and the program will ask you to click on the color that should be turned into transparent.
Thanks to Joe Forster/STA for this tip.
C) GIMP
No additional info since i'm not using it.
TIP V2:
If you're heavy converter, i really recommend Photoshop, it's your savior in visual stuff
