Hi all,
I've had a few messages asking how I made the LCY foil from a satellite image, so I made a step-by-step guide.
It does require some patience, trial and error, and some decent knowledge of basic Microsoft software, but I found it worked a treat.
I hope this is of some help:
1) Choose the size of your base, and stick to it.
2) Use something like Microsoft PowerPoint to act as your blank canvas, and set the size of the page to exactly the size of your base.
3) Find the image from Google Earth that you want. Rather than pressing "print screen" on your keyboard, use the "Copy image" tool from Google Earth itself.
4) Paste your first image into PowerPoint.
5) IMPORTANT - make sure you can view your rulers in PowerPoint, and then adjust the zoom of the page to make sure that 1cm on your screen is equivalent to 1 actual centimetre, i.e. a 1:1 ratio. NB! This isn't always the 100% setting, and may vary somewhere between 80% and 130%. The easiest way to do this is to hold a manual ruler up to the screen, and compare it with PowerPoint's ruler. REMEMBER THE ZOOM PERCENTAGE so that if you need to zoom back out, you can quickly zoom back in to the value you need for a 1:1 ratio.
6) At your 1:1 ratio, go to the Google Earth image which you copied and crop it as needed.
7) Take a model aircraft in the scale you need, and which ALSO appears in your Google Earth image, and measure it from nose to tail. Say, for instance, it's 10.5 cm.
8) Go to your Google image in PowerPoint at 1:1 zoom ratio, and find the aircraft. Adjust the size of the image until that same aircraft measures 10.5 cm nose to tail - the same as your model.
9) Then, right click on the image, select "format image", then "size", and make a note of the % size of the image.
10) Go back to Google Earth, but DO NOT ZOOM IN OR OUT. Find the next section you need to copy, and then paste it into PowerPoint. Then simply go to "format image", "size", again, and ENTER THE SAME PERCENTAGE as the first image, and you will have easily and quickly matched the ratio to the scale you need. Then simply crop and move as needed so that it marries up with your first image.
11) Once you're done, and you have an image you're happy with, select all of the images at once, and "group" them in PowerPoint.
12) Right click on the group, and select "Save as image". I would suggest saving as a JPEG or BITMAP.
13) If you're happy with your image as it is, great, otherwise open your file in Photoshop and make any amendments you need such as sharpening, or airbrushing out unwanted aircraft or shadows etc.
14) Once you have an image you're happy with, choose how you are going to have your foil printed. I just chose an online photo retailer and selected one of their poster prints on good quality paper stock. Then, open a NEW PowerPoint document, and adjust the size of the page (as above), but THIS TIME, make it the EXACT size that your chosen printers will print for you.
15) Now insert your chosen foil image which you made either in your previous PowerPoint file, or in Photoshop. You may find that the size has changed a bit. No problem - just right click again, "format image", "size", and just change the size to the size of your base.
16) Insert a grey or black background onto your NEW PowerPoint document which is the same size as the page, making sure it is UNDERNEATH your foil image.
17) Once again, group both items, right click, and save as image.
18) Upload this image and have it printed, when it arrives, simply cut around the excess, and you have your custom satellite image foil!
I've had a few messages asking how I made the LCY foil from a satellite image, so I made a step-by-step guide.
It does require some patience, trial and error, and some decent knowledge of basic Microsoft software, but I found it worked a treat.
I hope this is of some help:
1) Choose the size of your base, and stick to it.
2) Use something like Microsoft PowerPoint to act as your blank canvas, and set the size of the page to exactly the size of your base.
3) Find the image from Google Earth that you want. Rather than pressing "print screen" on your keyboard, use the "Copy image" tool from Google Earth itself.
4) Paste your first image into PowerPoint.
5) IMPORTANT - make sure you can view your rulers in PowerPoint, and then adjust the zoom of the page to make sure that 1cm on your screen is equivalent to 1 actual centimetre, i.e. a 1:1 ratio. NB! This isn't always the 100% setting, and may vary somewhere between 80% and 130%. The easiest way to do this is to hold a manual ruler up to the screen, and compare it with PowerPoint's ruler. REMEMBER THE ZOOM PERCENTAGE so that if you need to zoom back out, you can quickly zoom back in to the value you need for a 1:1 ratio.
6) At your 1:1 ratio, go to the Google Earth image which you copied and crop it as needed.
7) Take a model aircraft in the scale you need, and which ALSO appears in your Google Earth image, and measure it from nose to tail. Say, for instance, it's 10.5 cm.
8) Go to your Google image in PowerPoint at 1:1 zoom ratio, and find the aircraft. Adjust the size of the image until that same aircraft measures 10.5 cm nose to tail - the same as your model.
9) Then, right click on the image, select "format image", then "size", and make a note of the % size of the image.
10) Go back to Google Earth, but DO NOT ZOOM IN OR OUT. Find the next section you need to copy, and then paste it into PowerPoint. Then simply go to "format image", "size", again, and ENTER THE SAME PERCENTAGE as the first image, and you will have easily and quickly matched the ratio to the scale you need. Then simply crop and move as needed so that it marries up with your first image.
11) Once you're done, and you have an image you're happy with, select all of the images at once, and "group" them in PowerPoint.
12) Right click on the group, and select "Save as image". I would suggest saving as a JPEG or BITMAP.
13) If you're happy with your image as it is, great, otherwise open your file in Photoshop and make any amendments you need such as sharpening, or airbrushing out unwanted aircraft or shadows etc.
14) Once you have an image you're happy with, choose how you are going to have your foil printed. I just chose an online photo retailer and selected one of their poster prints on good quality paper stock. Then, open a NEW PowerPoint document, and adjust the size of the page (as above), but THIS TIME, make it the EXACT size that your chosen printers will print for you.
15) Now insert your chosen foil image which you made either in your previous PowerPoint file, or in Photoshop. You may find that the size has changed a bit. No problem - just right click again, "format image", "size", and just change the size to the size of your base.
16) Insert a grey or black background onto your NEW PowerPoint document which is the same size as the page, making sure it is UNDERNEATH your foil image.
17) Once again, group both items, right click, and save as image.
18) Upload this image and have it printed, when it arrives, simply cut around the excess, and you have your custom satellite image foil!