Forum:Expanding Image rules

As I noticed, the Call of Duty Wiki:Image rules is incomplete and mostly unrelated to Call of Duty. I think, it should be expanded or completely replaced with new version. You can expand my version, but please don't make direct edits to my version - explain your ideas after it. Here is my version: =BEGINNING OF MY VERSION= Those guidelines below will help you to add images to articles:

Screenshots
Take screenshots on PC if it's possible. If not, use high-quality PVR. While making screenshots, set graphics settings to maximum. When taking Call of Duty screenshots, enable anti-aliasing in graphics card settings. Disable unneeded elements such as HUD using developer console. To enable developer console in singleplayer, use game settings. In multiplayer, the console is enabled by default. Some console commands that may help you:
 * cg_drawHUD 0 - disable HUD elements (doesn't work in Call of Duty, doesn't remove items indicators).
 * cg_drawGun 0 - disable weapons (doesn't work in Call of Duty).
 * set thereisacow 1337 - enables cheats such as "noclip" or "god".
 * spdevmap Name of mission - allows to use cheats on chosen mission while using "thereisacow 1337". Remember that you should specify console name of map but not localized name. For example, to launch Black Cats with cheats you should type spdevmap pby instead of spdevmap Black Cats.
 * devmap Name of map - same as "spdevmap", but for multiplayer.
 * noclip - player will fly without collisions to world (in cheats mode).
 * ufo - same as "noclip", but with collisions (in cheats mode).
 * god - player will be invincible (in cheats mode).
 * demigod - player will take damage, but won't die (in cheats mode).
 * notarget - enemies will ignore player (in cheats mode).

Textures
If you want to upload element of HUD, Create-a-Class image or pickup icon, do not make screenshots of it. Upload texture instead. To convert texture to standard format, do following steps:
 * 1) Extract .iwi file from game .iwd files (IWDs are placed in Main directory and can be opened using any archiver).
 * 2) Convert it to .dds using any converter (ex. IWI_X_DDS).
 * 3) Open .dds using NVIDIA Photoshop plugin.
 * 4) Make new file with transparent background and same dimensions as .dds.
 * 5) If there is alpha channel in .dds, click it while holding Ctrl key. If there's no alpha, select entire image.
 * 6) Copy selected part of .dds to new picture.
 * 7) If required, move the pasted part to the same place as in .dds. Also change size of new image if needed.
 * 8) Save resulting file as .png or .jpg (depends on size of image).

In Call of Duty there are .pk3 archives, they are similar to .iwd files. Textures are saved in .jpg, .tga and .dds formats.

Formats
There are many formats of images. Some of formats have lossless compression, some have lossy. Some of formats support transparency, some don't. Here is the list of mostly used formats on wiki and purpose of them:
 * JPG: The format with lossy compression and low file size. Use it for screenshots and other realistic images.
 * PNG: Lossless format with 8-bit transparency support. Best for textures, but have large size, so, unuseful for screenshots. Supports animation with errors on some web browsers.
 * GIF: Format for simple animated files. Has lossless compression and can hold only 256 colors. Supports 1-bit transparency. Not recommended.
 * SVG: Scalable vector format. Used for simple and accurate pictures such as flags. Can be scaled to any size without blurring. Made of parts, requires vector image editors (ex. Inkscape) to make.

Naming
While the naming is not very important, the name should state what is displayed on picture. Avoid offensive names of your pictures. DO NOT use special characters in name of image because they can cause errors.

Embedding
Embedding images to pages is simple. To add picture to article, put  to article. The image will be full-size and won't have any borders. Use  instead. It will create 180 pixels wide image in right side of page with frame and description. You can also choose size of image by adding |XXpx (replace XX with preferred width) and place on page by adding |left or |right to the brackets. You can add any description to your image and use wikitext in description.

For example,   produces:



and   produces.

You can also put a link to image without embedding it. Just add File:Name of image to page. You can make add any text to your link, for example,  UMP45  produces UMP45. =ENDING OF MY VERSION= What do you think about it? 15:14, August 2, 2010 (UTC)