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[SuperFusion]

Why are your DVD cases so small?

[Jerseymilk]

What's even more amazing is that that colossal bookcase still isn't enough! If you notice, bottom right corner, there's a stack of DVDs on the floor right next to it. My friend who owns it, she's 45, a huge gamer, and is on the PC 24/7. She'd be the perfect girlfriend ... if she wasn't 25 years older than me.

Well that depends on how old you are. If you're at least in your twenties, I don't see anything wrong with dating a 45 year-old.

[M-Vegeta]

Could you please share a link to the site? I'm always interested in seeing custom DVD covers. I don't know about anyone else but I've always wanted to make or buy custom DVD box casings. The Funimation made ones leave a lot to be desired image wise and are mostly just flimsy pieces of paper. If anyone knows of a way to make or purchase custom box casing be sure to share it.

I'll PM it to you. I'm not sure how VegettoEX feels on scanned back up covers since they can be used for bootlegs. The site isn't just DBZ related, it's also feature films, and so far I'm the only one adding anything Dragonball. I'm mostly adding them as back up covers, or if someone wants to do what I did ... it'll save them the trouble of having to scan them all.

Why are your DVD cases so small?

To Save Room.

[Dayspring]

Could you please share a link to the site? I'm always interested in seeing custom DVD covers. I don't know about anyone else but I've always wanted to make or buy custom DVD box casings. The Funimation made ones leave a lot to be desired image wise and are mostly just flimsy pieces of paper. If anyone knows of a way to make or purchase custom box casing be sure to share it.

I'll PM it to you. I'm not sure how VegettoEX feels on scanned back up covers since they can be used for bootlegs. The site isn't just DBZ related, it's also feature films, and so far I'm the only one adding anything Dragonball. I'm mostly adding them as back up covers, or if someone wants to do what I did ... it'll save them the trouble of having to scan them all.

Do they make custom boxset boxes? I want to keep my DBZ movies boxed together. If they do, please PM the link to me so I can check them out.

[The S]

A dude selling them out of the trunk of his car doesn't count.

To quote myself at another board (where I was blatantly bragging, which I don't do much, but this is a special occasion):

At the Gamestop I work at, someone had screwed up on the trade-in for a boxed set of Fusion Saga and had it selling at $7.99 - the price of one disc. Add in Tree of Might, Freeza Saga: Transformation, a buy 2 get 1 free offer, and an employee discount, and the whole shebang cost less than $13.

[MajinMetroid]

Whoa! That is the coolest thing I have ever wished I thought up first! I have been wondering what I am going to do once my DBZ collection gets unruly. Right now I have all the UUSE, Ginyu, Freeza,Trunks, and several others and they take up way too much of my bookshelf. This mini case conversion is one of the sweetest things I've seen in my life, man. Is there a step by step FAQ/walkthrough on how to do it, sites to buy materials from, etc? I'm very interested in doing this with my collection now.

[M-Vegeta]

Whoa! That is the coolest thing I have ever wished I thought up first! I have been wondering what I am going to do once my DBZ collection gets unruly. Right now I have all the UUSE, Ginyu, Freeza,Trunks, and several others and they take up way too much of my bookshelf. This mini case conversion is one of the sweetest things I've seen in my life, man. Is there a step by step FAQ/walkthrough on how to do it, sites to buy materials from, etc? I'm very interested in doing this with my collection now.

Well, thanks.

1) You need a printer and scanner. I use an EpsonCX3200 all-in-one printer scanner, it's considered cheap, but it works good enough for me. I get my ink at printpal.com for $11 ... usually costs me $60 for official Epson ink. They have ink for all types of printers. And I just get Glossy Premium Color Presentation Paper at Office Depot (you can probably find it cheaper on-line)

2) I get my frosted thin cases from either Office Depot or Shop4tech.com. Shop4Tech is 25 pack - $8.75 Office Depot 25 - $14.00 I sometimes go for the Office Depot cases because they're better quality and seem to hold the paper flatter.

3) Get UnderCoverXP http://jump.to/undercoverxp very simple simple SIMPLE to use! Open it up, find the scanned image, and use the drop down box to pick "Slim Box," it'll size it for you automatically, print.

Below is help on getting the best scans possible. I'll be adding all my covers to a hi-res cover site at some point very soon (PM for URL). I have all the covers except for, I think one ... "Awaking" which a friend re-scanned for me, but isn't hi-res. Maybe you can add it once you learn a few scanning skills.

4)SCANNING PREPERATION

First of all, you have to make sure you scanner's surface is clean, get a soft cloth and gently wipe it, getting rid of any dust that may have settle on the surface. You may want to use some Spray and Wipe or Windex if there are marks on your scanner glass, but make sure you wipe the glass dry before you place down the cover.

Make sure the cover is straightened in the corners of your scanner - If the cover is out of line, use Photoshop's straightening technique which will allow you to rotate it down to 0.01 degrees if you need to, which is a lot more precise than most image editing software...

FLATTENING OUT THE COVER

1. Don't use the lid of the scanner at all.

2. Do Not use your fingers to try and straighten out the folds prior to placing the cover on the scanner.

3. Place the cover in the middle of the scanner bed up against the right edge of the scanner. Do not use the top or bottom edge of the scanner.

Note: I place the cover in the middle of the scanner bed because most scanners trim off a small amount of the cover’s edge. I then use Photoshop’s Measuring Tool to straighten it.

4. Place a white sheet of construction paper on the DVD Cover.

5. Followed by a large catalog (they work better than books)

6. Press firmly down on the center of the catalog while scanning.

These steps will result in a flat cover and spine area.

You are now ready to go! - Scan the cover following the instructions below...

Covers - Scan the cover at 600dpi, this should give you an approx resolution of 6480x4350. Then open in Photoshop (or which ever program you like to use) and apply the appropriate filters (SEE HALFTONE DOTS FOR MORE) then resize it down to 3246x2160 at 300dpi AFTER APPLYING FILTERS.


I will assume the majority of people are using Photoshop, since polls indicate that this is the program the majority of people use.

STRAIGHTENING UP THE COVER

Open up your 600 dpi scan in Photoshop, go to the toolbar on the left-hand side of the screen. Find the Eyedropper tool, right-click it and select Measure Tool. Whith the measure tool is selected, view the scan at about 12.5% or larger providing you can see all four edges. Then click and hold the Measure Tool from one corner across to the other corner. Then go to Image --> Rotate Canvas --> Arbitrary. Click OK and the cover will now rotate so it is perfectly straight.

Then go to Image --> Rotate Canvas --> 90 CW or 90 CCW depending on which way you scanned your cover, so that the cover is in the Landscape position. To determine whether you need to use the Measure Tool again, use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to verify how straight each of the Cover’s edges are.

CROPPING

Then go to the select tool on the toolbox. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and crop the edges of the cover. Try to trim off as little of the original cover as possible when doing this.

HALFTONE DOTS

Now we will try and get rid of the Halftone Dots while still keeping as much quality as possible. Go to Filters --> Blur --> Gaussian Blur. Set the radius from 0.8 - 1.0 but no higher or lower. Try not to blur the image too much...just enough to be able to rescue it later on.

Then go to Filters --> Noise --> Despeckle. Make sure your scan is still 600 dpi (6480x4350) then apply the Despeckle filter 2 times, because the image is larger, we need to apply this filter more, but DON'T apply it more than 3 times, otherwise you will lose too much information and the cover will look too edited.

Then resize your cover down to 3246x2160, at 300 dpi

Then go to Filters --> Sharpen --> Unsharp Mask. Set Amount to 60%, Threshold to 1, and the Radius to anywhere from 1.2-1.6 but no higher. I would recommend 1.4 because I feel this is the ideal setting.

SAVE YOUR WORK

File --> Save the image at number 11 quality setting in Photoshop. And your Done!