One Busy Weekend...

We've got several things to cover this week, so let's get started...


Well...it has been a busy weekend...for the site anyway. I have spent a good portion of both yesterday and today working on it. The first thing I have done is move all of the printables to a new website so that they are all together.

Now, when you open the Home page, you will see this banner. When you click on it, you will be taken to a new website, which amazingly enough, looks just like this one. It just seemed like an easier way to keep the printables organized and together. At the bottom of the page is a link back to the SSCC, the average Joe won't even know they left our site. As we add new printables, they will be added to the new site.

Next, a new photo essay feature has been added to the home page - BATTLE OF FRANCE. This is a teaser for the spring shoot.

The teaser includes pictures that Hammer Six, Panzer Commander and I shot a couple of weeks back as well as pictures of the new Panzer II tanks that were taken at the meeting. They have all been clipped and new backgrounds added to make them a little more interesting in typical Point Man fashion, so I hope you will enjoy them.

What do I mean by "Clipping". Clipping is a process that involves tracing around the edges of the image that you want to keep with a pen tool to create what is called a "Clipping Path". There are some excellent technical reasons for doing this, rather than erasing the background, one of which is file size. Anyway, once a picture has been clipped, the image looks something like this;

What you are looking at here is just the clipped portion of the photograph. Actually, I save the image in such a way that the original background information is still there in case I should need it for some reason. In Photoshop I can utilize the picture either way. Clipping a picture like this usually takes 45 minutes to about an hour to do, but it is much easier than trying to erase the image of the background.

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This is one of the backgrounds that I used for the shoot. It is actually two different photographs with a portion of one duplicated to create a transition point. Some of the backgrounds in the shoots have as many as 10 layers in them. The trick is to make them look like they don't. This is kind of a simplified explanation of the process, but hopefully it makes it a little clearer about why putting out these sort of images takes so much time.

Next on the billet for tonight is a look at Okimbored's sd.kfz 222 armored car project. He probably can shed a lot more light on what we are looking at here, but I just want to say that this vehicle is looking nothing short of amazing. I really can't wait to see the final product, but even at this stage of assembly, it looks great. In the pictures you will get to see the interior details that he is working on, including the main gun (flak) and all the other interior components. Plus you get a little peak at the outside of the hull.

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As is the nature of any armored vehicle, the amount of interior detail that can actually be seen is usually pretty slim, but as you can see, Okimbored has done a beautiful job of making sure that there is detail to be seen none- the-less. It looks really slick buddy. I am telling you what, if Dragon is going to make another armored vehicle next year...this is the one that I would vote for. This baby is a beauty.

Finally, I mentioned to several folks that I was trying to upgrade some 21st Century Afrika Korps figures that I had. I have five of them. I have basically kept the uniforms and scrapped everything else. So far I have 3 of the 5 figures "done", so I took a few quick pictures. I am sure that there is a lot more that could be done to them, but already they look better than they did. Would like to hear what you think.

Actually, now that I see the pictures, they really aren't very good. I think I made them too small and killed what little detail I had. The pants, tunic, hats and boots are all 21st Century. The rest of the gear is pretty much all Dragon except for the gas mask canisters, which are also 21st Century. The figures are all Dragon. Not that you can really tell too much about it from these pictures, but the Eagle, collar tabs and cuff titles are all done in Indesign and printed on fabric paper. The straps on the canisters were replace with strapping material from GOOD STUFF TO GO.






Well, that is about all for this time around. A lot of changes here, hopefully I gave you all plenty of stuff to chew on for the new week. Check out the new page for the Printables, the new feature "Battle of France on the home page and take the time to let Okimbored how cool you think is 222 looks. There will be more changes coming to the website as I have time to get in and get them done, so until next time,
...have a good one!
            Point Man

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