Meppi's Work In Progress...

[ricther3]

yo thanks meppi, u upload this magz neogeo freak july 1996 & rep+, i have long time search this magz

Maybe u have another magz like neogeo freak july 1997 & october 1997

If u have it, would u upload?

by the way thanks

keep it up

[meppi]

yo thanks meppi, u upload this magz neogeo freak july 1996 & rep+, i have long time search this magz

Maybe u have another magz like neogeo freak july 1997 & october 1997

If u have it, would u upload?

by the way thanks

keep it up

Hi there.

Well, yes. In fact I have a whole bunch NeoGeo Freak magazines. But the only problem is that they haven't been scanned in yet, and editing takes quite a long time as well.

I've been primarily working on Sega Saturn and Maximum magazines, but other issues of NeoGeo Freak will be coming in the future. It just might take a little while.

[triverse]

Just want to say to all who come here and want more of meppi's work, it is like a fine wine, well worth the wait.

[meppi]

Just want to say to all who come here and want more of meppi's work, it is like a fine wine, well worth the wait.

Always nice to hear good things said about someone's work.

But sometimes the wait isn't quite that long......

Official Sega Saturn Magazine 028 - february 1998 (UK)

Download page here.

Rapidshare link

[meppi]

Now we're starting to get into some really awesome things from here on out.

Features on games like Grandia, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Burning Rangers, Shining Force 3.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Official Sega Saturn Magazine 029 - march 1998 (UK)

Download page here.

Rapidshare link

[meppi]

MAXIMUM The Video Game Magazine Issue 3 - january 1996 (UK)

Download page here.

Rapidshare link

This is the 3rd issue in a series of re-scans I'm doing for all the Maximum magazines.

Besides the pages being 1440 wide now instead of 1280, they also have been color corrected and touched up more diligently.

These are brand new scans of the issues, so not just cleaned up ones from last time.

The magazines have been debinded to up the quality of the scans even more.

These are the definite editions of the Maximum magazines, so for everyone who loves them as much as I do it's a must to download.

[meppi]

I feel like I have to start off with an apology yet again. (seems like this is becoming a recurring event...)

I certainly wasn't planning on taking this much time to release my next scan, so for the people who have been waiting for it, I'm really sorry it took this long.

Several things came together and created a situation where I didn't have time to do everything that I wanted.

Working on a yet to be revealed web project that is taking lots of time to get it just right, starting on doing quite a bit of renovation work on my house, and when that was just about done I got around to after a long wait finally being able to pick up a brand new 46" plasma along with a PS3 and soon to be Bluray home theater system.

So you can imagine after the weeks of slaving away clocking up 16-18 hour days most of the time, I needed some relaxation time so I could enjoy my new toys.

The next issue (which starts off the Radiant Silvergun coverage btw) looks to be in pristine condition, so the editing work should be minimal compared to issue 30.

The biggest time was probably spent on getting the Grandia Guide looking as good as new again, so I hope you enjoy it.

There's so much good stuff in this issue that I won't even bother naming it, as it would end up being about half the length of the table of contents.

So without further adieu, let me present you:

Official Sega Saturn Magazine 030 - april 1998 (UK)

Download page here.

Rapidshare link

[meppi]

Not too much of a delay this time around.

The only thing working against me was a week of the graveyard shift, so I'm glad that that's over with.

I'm glad to say that this issue's cover speaks volumes about the quality inside.

Not to mention a first look at Radiant Silvergun (one of many features to come in upcoming issues) and a very nice Burning Rangers interview as well as Panzer Dragoon Saga goodness.

As always: enjoy!

Official Sega Saturn Magazine 031 - may 1998 (UK)

Download page here.

Rapidshare link

[meppi]

This is the 4th issue in a series of re-scans I'm doing for all the Maximum magazines.

Besides the pages being 1440 wide now instead of 1280, they also have been color corrected and touched up more diligently.

Also, these are brand new scans of the issues, so not just cleaned up ones from last time.

The magazines have been debinded to increase the quality of the scans even more.

Official Sega Saturn Magazine 031 - may 1998 (UK)

Download page here.

Rapidshare link

[meppi]

Finally a new Official Sega Saturn Magazine scan!

Been a while and progress was extremely slow once I got back to editing again, but I'm slowly starting to pick up where I left off.

Now lets just hope my editing skills haven't degraded too much since last time.

And that all the retard pills* I needed to take haven't impaired my judgement too much.

As always: enjoy!

*Retard pills are the actual ones I had to take in the hospital, and yes I know what it means in french.

Official Sega Saturn Magazine 032 - june 1998 (UK)

Download page here.

Rapidshare link

[Helperspanish]

Good work.

Your scans have a high quality, it's impressive.

And SSM and Maximum, two great magazines.

Thank you so much.

[meppi]

Thank you.

The only problem is that it takes too much time to get them to look this way.

Other magazines aren't such a problem it seems from tests I've been doing with CVG and Mean machines for instance.

Since they use lots of colored backgrounds it's much easier to clean up overall then when you have a yellowed white one or a faded black one you'd want to restore.

In the case of Mean machines for instance it doesn't look like I will be able to restore the black or white parts of the pages to their pristine new condition as it looks very out of place with the rest of the magazine. And it seems that it's more or less the same with CVG from between 1996-1999.

Not sure if it's the paper used, the use of colored pages, the way certain magazines preserve better than others or what.

Probably a combination of all these factors.

So even though the other mags I'll be scanning in later won't look as incredible as the OSSM series (only speculating at this point), I will make them look as good as my editing abilities will allow me. Which is pretty much the only thing I can do.

Not sure if you've read CVG magazines from the Paul Davies are, but if you haven't, you're in for a very, very pleasant surprise, especially if you like Maximum and OSSM as much as I do. Those were neck and neck for overall quality. And the way they all were written made you not only understand how much fun these guys were having, but also made you feel like you somehow knew them. God I miss that writing style, and more specifically those people.

[puslar_t]

It is interesting that you mentioned CVG. From this interview with Rich Leadbetter he did mentioned CVG was his favourite magazine during that era.

[KiwiArcader]

I have a lot of C&VG issues and I agree with Meppi .... they were printed on newsprint not much different to the stuff you see in the daily newspaper. I got them new and I can tell you they had that browny grey colour from day one. I will be scanning my copies but probably won't be doing a huge amount of work to make pages look white as it simply isn't what they looked like when new.

The later Antic issues are in the same boat. While they were printed on nice white paper in the first few years as the company lost advertising revenues with the decline of the 8-bits they were forced into using newsprint to keep costs down.So early issues will always look nicer than the later ones. Bummer really .....

[Mister Zero]

Have you tried using auto color or the color tools in Photoshop to make them white? I checked out a few issues and it's a shame something can't be done.

Maybe I'll open one up and try playing with it a little.

[KiwiArcader]

Sure you can use auto-correct etc in Paintshop Pro or Photoshop .... but making the pages pure white is NOT representative of the way they are when you receive them.

I am a litle purist in that I believe the scans should reflect the magazine at the time it was published. So whitening the scans for this type of paper lessens the authentic feel of the electronic copy which I personally don't like.

[KiwiArcader]

Just to give you an idea what Meppi is saying here is a before and after example ...

..... which came from this original scan

Huge difference eh? In actual fact the original page is worse than the scan suggests in that the yellowing is fairly consistent across the whole page. The scanning process just highlights the edges where exposure to air/light have slightly worsened the colour.

Now the ANTIC's are probably the worst of ANY magazine I have encountered so the C&VG's won't look as bad but as you whiten a page up you start to impact the images etc. So it's a fine line trying to make it look nicer while not degrading the page too much.

[BarbieOnWeed]

This is how I do it.

I hope this helps.

1.

Use the "Rectangular Marquee Tool" to select the whole

scan.

2.

The hold down "Alt" then use "Rectangular Marquee Tool"

to select the areas you dont want to get effected.

3.

Now use "Paint Bucket Tool" and "Tolerans 25-35%", (I use the white color)

the apply the "Paint Bucket Tool" on the discolored area.

[Guest s1500]

Did that Antic magazine come from a smoker by chance? Dem old magazines are wonderful nicotine sponges.

[E-Day]

I colour correct my scans for a few reasons.

1. The magazines are old, so the pages are probably not as white/vibrant as they were when first printed.

2. To prevent bleed-through, I've taped black construction paper to the top of the scanner. Especially on white pages, it darkens them, so they aren't as bright as the original.

3. I haven't tweaked my scanner, so the scans come out slightly dull.

So I've set up an action to adjust the levels, making the blacks blacker and the whites whiter. It also makes the colours a bit more vibrant. I also made an action to save the image, and when it does so, it increases the saturation bu 20%. I personally prefer having a scan that is more vibrant than the original since it's an electronic copy of the magazine. The printed version of something is never as vibrant or exact to the original electronic file created for printing. While reading a downloaded magazine, I would rather read a whitened, adjusted page over a yellowed one, even if the original magazine page was yellowed.

[Mister Zero]

I'm a big fan of brightness/contrast as well as color correction. Brightening and then using contrast can help bring out weak lines(good or bad) which might make for a better overall scan and help find unnoticed creasing, etc..

I do like the yellowing a little bit, but at the same time it leaves the scans looking kind of dingy. I agree that that's how they originally look and so it's nice to keep that touch to an extent. Personal preference comes into play here, since there are no guidelines on newsprint coloration. That and I'm not a scanner, anyways. Yet.

The way you guys are doing things right now is pretty good, so keep doing what you're doing!

[KiwiArcader]

I don't know if the previous owner of the ANTIC's was a smoker. I bought a box load of them off a local auction site .... some 80+ magazines .... and all the later issues were printed in the crappy newsprint style paper in comparison to the early ones that were made with better paper stock.

Every single newsprint mag in the collection looks the same. They are the worst of any mag I've ever seen. The C & VG's and Computer Gamer's are better as they are on a slightly better grade of paper. The ANTIC pages look like they will crumble in my hands in the next few years hence me wanting to scan them as soon as possible.