#hope this helped anon! feel free to ask if smth is unclear

[bluebrine]

how do you find coli captcha dragons?? like what's your process for searching for them?

It’s quite simple actually! :> First I just grind through the training field, and when a captcha pops up, I check carefully for any interesting dragons. (Hint: you can go through 4 captchas before coli boots you out! After the first three, just click on the dragon on the fourth captcha to keep grinding.) If it looks like a design I can actually narrow down (visible apparel, discernable genes, etc.) then I take a screencap. 

Next, open the screencap in an image editor like gimp if you can. Try to match the dragon to the correct position for that breed’s gender/ pose. This really helps later, since the image is so stupid tiny that any simplification helps here! :p Here’s a F!SD example I took, cropped, and flipped. 

After this, you’re gonna wanna enlarge the pic because it’s just too hard to pick out details at the original size- I use waifu2x to do this. Much better!

While this lady is a bit hard to see because of the forest rogue set she’s wearing, we can still pick out some helpful details. Like on her wings, you can see the shape of a green opal tert. It seems to be a green/ blue gradient color, and the wings are a cool-toned green with some spotting around the edges. Her primary is also a yellow-green color, with what appears to be stripes or spots around the shoulders. Zooming in, the eyes appear to be a lighter, cool color- maybe nature or lightning? (Eyes are not always visible however, though this isn’t a gamebreaker!)

From this, I messed around in the scrying workshop. Primary could be something like moss or crocodile, with either tiger or jaguar (apparel makes things difficult, but that isn’t really a problem overall!) Secondary could be something like green or avocado, either clouded or rosette maybe? The green/ blue gradient on her tert really helps narrow it down- it perfectly matches crocodile opal! 

Next we take to the dragon search. From here we just input our best guesses (female skydancer, adult, opal tert, etc.) with some wiggle room for error. Because of the apparel in the captcha, I first checked for unexalted dragons… and got nothing! :( Shame, it looks like this girl isn’t active anymore- though we can still find out her history!

Aaaand that’s a match! ^^ Got lucky on this one, there’s only one possible dragon that fits our narrowed search. (Though if the first try doesn’t work, just expand your parameters and keep looking!) While it’s a bit more exciting to find a dragon kickin’ around somebody’s lair, there’s still a fun challenge in tracking down a long-lost, exalted dragon that’s been forgotten by everyone else (RIP Hakari- thanks for serving as my example. She looked very cool as a forest witch while she was still around!)

(PS: beware! Some coli captchas can also be hue-shifted… though you can use hue balancing to find the real colors of the dragon! This is certainly easier when you have apparel to cross-reference to the correct colors though. Otherwise, it can be very, very hard to tell the true colors of some captcha dragons. More are un-shifted than not, though, so this method still works! Here, the navy aviator set and wavecrest accent matched perfectly when changed to blue tones.)

[twise]

Hi it’s me again (the one who asked about the gif thing) I’m both interested in the process and the colouring and sharpening and thank you so much for being willing to help it means a lot

hi again! no no it's really nothing and as i already said, im more than happy to help! idk if you want to know how i make my live performance gifs or mv gifs but i'll describe both processes!

it got a little bit long lol

- process: so for my mv sets, i first search for either a bugs, melon or master (master > rest) online. i then use mplayer for mac to screenshot the parts that i want to gif (found a tutorial online on how to screenshot with mplayer, idk what settings i had to change again but i can look for you if you want to know!) -> open ps and with "scripts" ("load as stack" i think?) import the screenshots -> convert to video time line -> convert to frames -> convert to frame animation -> reverse frames and delete the first frame. i then crop it using the ps crop tool and select the dimensions that i want (540 x 400-540 px depends on what looks the best). for live performances i use vapoursynth with denoise (6.1.1.1.2 ? something like that? idk) and sharpen in ps

- sharpening: for my mv sets, it really depends on the file im working with. i have three different kind of settings i can use, and if these don't fit i just do smth else lol, but i use lens blur, radius 0.3, 500, select "use legacy" "more accurate" + lens blur, radius 10, 10 OR gaussian blur, radius 0.3, 500 + lens blur, radius 10, 10 OR lens blur 0.2, 500 + gaussian blur 0.2, 500 + lens blur, radius 10,10. and if this doesnt look good i fool around a bit with the settings :D. for my live performances, i dont really know .. i think i fool around a bit with lens blur 0.2 or gaussian blur 0.3 ? idk i try something and select what fits

- colouring: okay so for my mv sets i stay true to the original colours. i like to add contrast and to make the colours really pop (im still struggling with this btw) but qua process i dont really have a standard psd i use i just colour from scratch everytime cuz every mv or scene is different . itd be kinda weird to make everything look the same imo. anyways i usually use the levels layer and select the brightest + darkest spot. most of the times this adds a lot of difference. so much sometimes that i only need to add one other layer but those moments are rare. i then add some contrast (still with levels) . i then move on to selective colour and make the neutrals/greys darker. i then go the colour balance and see what fits. then go to brightness contrast, add some brightness + contrast. go to vibrance and add some vibrance. then go back to selective colour and change the settings of some colours if needed. but this is not my standard process. sometimes i use 7 layers and sometimes 2. really depends. btw this is my own preference!! there are so many different kind of styles of colouring id advice you to just look around and try something for yourself and see what you like the most :D

so for my live performances i always struggle lmao. i do the same as above but with live performances its far more difficult. i make tiny adjustments and i have no idea honestly. i use levels/selective colour/colour balance/contrast+brightness/photo filter/vibrance/gradient map sometimes/colour lookup/channel mixer sometimes/hue+saturation to get rid of some colours. i just use everything basically sjfjsf

im sorry anon it got a little bit too long hshhs i hope this helped tho! if anything is still unclear or if you have additional questions, feel free to ask them!

[umbled]

sum anon got pissy cause i didnt follow them back so. i need 2 update my rules but like. if im not following you back there’s undoubtedly a reason. dont be afraid 2 msg me about it (sometimes i just miss you cause tumblr’s a fuckin dumbass!!!) but if u do im gonna be blunt. the most common reasons are:

u’re not clear on whether u support aging up chs 4 smu.t / u interact w a lot of ppl who do do that

ur fc is from kill.ing sta.lking which freaks me out tf

our chs just. dont seem like they’d interact well / i cant see a situation where they wld    –  this is the most common ngl well. after the v first bullet.

ur icons are more than 100px. like i’m ok if u dont use them at all but if they’re larger than that it’s just. hhhhhhh it distracts from the text way too much

u support racism / shit like that or appear to / think that this shld be a safe place for those who do do tht.

the only other reason i can think of is. u leave shit untagged. im not talkin abt ooc posts but like. ns//fw & other triggers.

u keep msging me ( & i mean like once per hour or smth ) even when i say i need 2 stay off of 1-1 convos

keep buggin me 2 make u themes / icons / art / w/e the fuck it is when i say that i rly dont think i’ll have time. if i ask u 2 remind me it’s gucci but. otherwise nah.

i dont care if u:

are an oc. i may not appear to interact w those as much but it’s only because (1) oc blogs are usually less confident & are less likely 2 approach me first, & i rarely approach first cause i have way 2 much stuff already (2) the fandom is mostly canons.

cont: lmao the blogs i look up 2 are always ocs, nvr canons. ths the reason why i have a larger percentage of ppl ta’lkin 2 me ooc when theyre an oc than ic. cause’ yall (& i do this to on my ocs tbc) are much less likely 2 approach canons. :/

cont: put urself out there & be confident. it’s rare ppl will approach ocs first just cause ‘its harder 2 plot w them for the same reason that they’re less likely to approach canons in a series that no one knows. those out-there canons have 2 step up their game, too. lmao sorry abt that it’s just a theory ive had for a. v long time. movin on:

dont have a bio yet. lack of rules pages i can handle too, since i write ur blog down on a list to check for updated rules pages

use icons or not. whether u have formatting/special tags. as long as u dont have longass posts that are untagged, i dont care whatchu do in relation 2 that.

are mostly ooc. i lov those blogs the most if im honest. the best rps i have are ones where i connect w the mun.

^ those arent things i take in account. anw. feel free to ask me why im not followin if we arent mutuals — assumin u’re followin me, cause more often than not i dont follow ppl first avnklsdfj so if u’re wonderin why im not followin u when u’re not followin me it’s cause i . dont usually follow first; when i do it’s either cause i wanna support new ppl or u interact w my friends.

hope that helps. im gonna leave this here so i can link it in my rules instead of expandin them.

anon talk 2 me if u ave a question lmao. ‘if its a misunderstnading (like the unclear rules thing) u might be able 2 fix it, but dnt be nasty ..  if u’re mad just cause u rly want a toko 2 interact w, i can recc some of my dupes ! theyre all super tight.