Tutorial Database

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laylaylb
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Tutorial Database

Postby laylaylb » Sun Apr 23, 2017 6:50 pm

Tammi's Magazine Cleaning Tutorial

Here's a tutorial I found.

I was asked for tips on topaz, but I feel like I wouldn't be able to fully explain everything and
it's mostly just playing around with your own settings on the filters anyways. I also noticed that the
magazine cleaning tutorial on here is from 2012 by Imperial Scans, so here's an updated version.

It's best to use this tutorial sparingly and in the right situations. In my opinion, if you just need to level
the page, don't bother using Topaz. Most of the current series in DeathToll don't need this anyways since
we rely on Tankoubon raws (BLESS).

The reason why this tutorial goes to great lengths for a single page,
is because it's for magazine raws which are made from recycled paper that are maybe scanned to 1300-2000 px, or higher.
This results in a cleaned page with screentones that are far from the original patterns. Examples of this end result
is anything by MangaStream.

Use this tutorial with caution, please...PLS. My two-cents below.

The only reason I would use Topaz on HQ tank raws is:
A. Even the tone under the pattern.
B. Sharpen the patterns.
C. Attempt to preserve the tone of a pattern by sharpening, bluring, then resizing. You'll be able to see the
difference by fitting the page to screen.


If you do this correctly and sparingly, you will end up with
A. a clean page with crisp patterns that are extremely close to
the original,
B. have most if not all details preserved, and
C. look as though you never used any filters at all. ;p


General steps are as follows - Dup Layer > Smart Sharpen > Topaz 3 > Topaz 5 > Level > Resize down to appropriate size.
Of course if you feel like it, you can ignore some of the steps here and there depending on the raw quality as well as
the way the manga is drawn. Just eye-ball it.


Cleaning Example of Sense-scans test:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w23txy8v11z1if7/05.jpg?dl=0 - Raw
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ytl8ro8ehjggl2f/05.png?dl=0 Cleaned

I just added the filters, resized and burned. Didn't really bother to redraw or crop correctly. But you get the idea. There's a great loss in detail in the
background so you can try to preserve it, when you do your own clean. Good luck.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Random Tip - Resizing can do your work for you - W/O Topaz:

When I don't use Topaz, I use resizing as a way to blur the page without topaz filters.
Im a cheater and lay-zy.

The idea is > resizing down = bluring page/jpeg artifacts = easier leveling of jpeg artifacts etc = no need for topaz or built in blur
filter (maybe just surface blur) = original details preserved = little to no dusting and burning (even with a page heavily filled with jpeg artifacts).
The only caution is over-levelling.

This also saves you the time of selecting whites and leveling/filling them individually.

General steps - Dup layer > Level Blacks > Surface Blur (only if jpeg artifacts are easily blurred, if not dont even try. Do not surface blur
before levelling the blacks, you will potentially lose the light tones and patterns if the raw isn't HQ) > Level Whites with Eyedrop tool
> Curve up/down depending on the light/mid tones > resize down (at this point the raw doesn't need to be completely free of dust) > level
blacks and whites both at once to get rid of remaining dust > Select the midtones and level if they're too light.

A caution, when you level with the eye dropper tool be wary of the light tones. The first level is to get the blacks and whites as close
to the finished result as possible. But don't try to level everything out at this point, you will over-level.
Resizing the page down will blur out the remaining dust on the whites and blur the small gray specks on the black, this is when you
carefully level again. Almost all of the time, this will work out well and you won't even have to touch the burn tool. Of course, it depends
on the raws.

You will end up with a page that is crisp and sharpened. At this point people usually reduce blur, but personally I don't bother. Once the pages are uploaded
to a browser, it's going to be blurred anyways.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My ending note is to learn from the first few tutorials that Kabuto listed. Practice and try to create your own way of cleaning that suits you. Then that's when you move onto Topaz, because you're more likely to mess up or filter too much if you don't completely know the basics or understand when its too much. I personally still use the things I learned from basic cleaning tutorials.

Thats it from me. Hope this helped...somehow? I dont have any screenshots for my tip, but if you managed to get accepted into the group,
you probably understand already. lol o/

Thanks to Wraith for letting me post this.

(May update this post with pictures...later lol)
Last edited by laylaylb on Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
How many yeets can you yeet? -3-
I can clean mangos - past & current project/group list/status: https://tinyurl.com/lg4eqzs
Will clean for any group for the summer.
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laylaylb
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Tutorial Database

Postby laylaylb » Fri May 05, 2017 2:35 am

Creating you're own screentone/gradient with Color Halftone:

Before anything here is the pathing on Photoshop:
Filter > Pixelate > Color Halftone

Color Halftone setting in order:

4 Max Radius
45 Ch1
45 Ch2
45 Ch3
45 Ch4


Select the area you want the pattern to be on, add a gradient/solid value with the gradient/paint bucket tool (or you can even draw the tone in with a paintbrush), run the halftone filter with above settings while it's still selected. THat It. Feel free to change the settings
if you need to.

Before: http://imgur.com/TmjomkJ After: http://imgur.com/kSh17Iq

The problem: the max radius does not go below 4. This means that if you are, for example, redrawing on a page that has been resized down more than a few 100px with a resolution lower than 600DPI, you won't be able to achieve the correct pattern that fits the page - the reason being: the cleaning process and resizing the page, which creates detail loss in the original patterns/screentones. To put it simply, the space between the pattern/dots visually becomes smaller.

If you take away some factors like poor paper quality and printing quality, what you will get is a page that looks like Ichigeki. Just
the drawing and the screentones, regardless of if its traditionally or digitally done. The exception is art styles and some webraws or webcomics. Another example, since the paper quality is great, is the Vagabond Tank/Volumes.

The solution I find that works (at least LOL), is doing a backtrack on the cleaning steps. Let's say you have a 1400px cleaned page, with
a gradient under the text, but you can't reference the gradient anywhere else on the page or in the rest of the chapter,
and the page isn't typset, so you have to recreate the gradient entirely, you try the Color Halftone but the screentone
doesn't match the pattern --->

Figure out the original raw size
If you don't have access to the original raw page
    dup the cleaned page,
    resize the copy to the original raw size,
    run the halftone filter on this page on a separate layer
    resize down to cleaned page (1400px in the example)
    copy screentone layer onto original clean page.
If you do have access to the original raw page
    its the same shit but with the raw page lul, but you will probably get better accuracy since you can see how the original
    pattern looked before it was resized. If you can't see how the original looked like then it's trial and error.
If the page is filtered with topaz
    lol good luck, you'll probably have to run through the previous steps as well as filter the screentone. It would require collaboration with
    the cleaner...unless you're the cleaner too? You poor bastard.


Anyways, it's a lot of work for a gradient. I'd rather just redraw under typesets, that's probably why im just a peasant cleaner lol.
This is just one of many ways to recreate screentones, if you find that the other ways you use can't seem to recreate
the exact pattern, try it out. You do you fam, you do you.

Two other alternatives is Manga Studio/Clip Studio and Kyle's 180 Screentone Brushes.

Also here's a few patterns I made from this method $1 each...just kidding. These are mostly for generic light tones:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h7wu7161hime6 ... s.pat?dl=0
How many yeets can you yeet? -3-
I can clean mangos - past & current project/group list/status: https://tinyurl.com/lg4eqzs
Will clean for any group for the summer.
User avatar
laylaylb
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Tutorial Database

Postby laylaylb » Wed May 10, 2017 7:30 pm

Running a Batch Action:

Probably everyone knows how to do this, but here it is anyways. lel

Running a Batch Action - Example Video

In the video I run a greyscale mode conversion, which is why I have to keep clicking "dont merge," I honestly only do this to have a second to check out the page and see if its a double page or not. You can just change the mode before adding layers to make sure you don't need to do that. This action is lightweight, if I don't add that little detail the pages will brisk by and I won't even get a chance to take a look at it. You do whatever you want.

PS Action Box Example

I run actions on Sprite, Ouroboros, Funouhan, Shounen Y, and Wonderland. They're not all the same though, Sprite and Ouro are specialized to use Topaz filters (at different settings for both). Funouhan only creates layers. Shounen Y and Wonderland run a surface blur filter and greyscale convert.

If you don't use actions you can always try it out on Windows -> Actions. Press the record button on the action box and record how you clean a page, then you run it on single page or entire folders. You can use actions for the pre-cleaning (getting layers/folders made, setting mode etc), and to do the actual cleaning with specific filters and settings. Heck, you can even get it to level the page for you if the pages are consistent enough (I don't dare do that though, hehe).
How many yeets can you yeet? -3-
I can clean mangos - past & current project/group list/status: https://tinyurl.com/lg4eqzs
Will clean for any group for the summer.
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achyif
Posts: 220
Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:02 am
Location: EST timezone

Re: Tutorial Database

Postby achyif » Sat Nov 23, 2019 4:40 am

My own list that I will keep up to date:
https://quicksandscans.wordpress.com/resources/
If a link of mine that you need is broken, message me

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