Goober5000's Orion nameplate tutorial

This is Goober5000's Orion nameplate tutorial (link for original source), imported into the FreeSpace Wiki. Note that this tutorial was written for retail FreeSpace 2, but it remains applicable for present-day SCP use as well. See Texture Replacement for more information.

The tutorial

I used Photoshop for this, and I'm very pleased with the results. They look nearly identical to those made by both Volition and Dark. This method also allows you to easily mass-produce nameplates.

• Create a new Photoshop document, sized 420x61 pixels.
• Paste the blank nameplate on the bottom layer.
• Add a text box containing GTD Whatever in white 50 point STOP font on a new layer.
• Select the text box layer, then choose Layer->Type->Convert to Paragraph Text.
• Resize the text box horizontally to stretch across width of nameplate and vertically to *just* fit the height of the text (use the text tool; don't use the tranformation tool or it will distort the text).
• Choose Window->Paragraph (if the paragraph toolbox isn't there already), then center the text as a paragraph.
• Choose View->New Guide and create two guides: a horizontal one at 30.5 pixels and a vertical one at 210 pixels.
• Align the center of the text box with the intersection of the guides (you may need to select View->Snap To->Guides).
• Duplicate the layer four more times (total of five text layers), then set the blending options of each layer as follows:

Layer 1 - Normal, Fill 100%

Layer 2 - Color Dodge, Fill 10%

Layer 3 - Color Dodge, Fill 20%

Layer 4 - Color Dodge, Fill 30%

Layer 5 - Lighten, Fill 35%

Layer 6 - Color Dodge, Fill 5%

• Save as Orion Template.psd.
• Do Filter->Blur->Blur for each of the five text layers.
• Save as 8-bit (256 color) PCX. DON'T save changes to the PSD. You can use the template for more nameplates.
• Once you have the template, all you have to do to create a new nameplate is open up your PSD template, change the text on layers 2-6, blur layers 2-6, and save as PCX!

Additional links

• Blank Orion nameplate
• STOP and Bank Gothic fonts
• Photoshop template file
• Nameplates for the following Orions
  • GTD Agamemnon
  • GTD Amadeus
  • GTD Bastion
  • GTD Benedict
  • GTD Eisenhower
  • GTD Endeavor
  • GTD Enterprise
  • GTD Excalibur
  • GTD Excelsior
  • GTD Gaia
  • GTD Galatea
  • GTD Grey Wolf
  • GTD Intrepid
  • GTD Iowa
  • GTD Ithaca
  • GTD Krios
  • GTD Legion
  • GTD Ludwick
  • GTD Minnow
  • GTD Moscow
  • GTD Myrmidon
  • GTD Obsidian
  • GTD Odyssey
  • GTD Orion
  • GTD Paladin
  • GTD Phoenicia
  • GTD Phoenix
  • GTD Saratoga
  • GTD Soyakaze
  • GTD Sparta
  • GTD Voyager
  • GTD Yorktown