T O P I C ��� R E V I E W
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MinutiaeMan
Member # 444
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posted
So, I'm finally making good use of a 20" Cinema Display that I bought at a great price a few months ago (haven't had time or space to set it up, my room was too messy). And I find that I'm now in desperate need of some good sci-fi desktop backgrounds.
See, for the last four and a half years, I've been using laptops with little 12" screens with puny (but sufficient) 1024x768 resolution. And before that, my iMac's 800x600 backgrounds often could easily be scaled up without appreciable loss in quality. So I've got a collection of background images dating back to early 1999, and I can't reuse them for my massive (to me) 1680x1050 resolution display.
I've got a starter selection of some backgrounds from some astronomy sites, but I'd love to have some kick-ass starship beauty shots and action scenes as well. Can anyone point me to some good collections of high-res background-sized artwork?
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HerbShrump
Member # 1230
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posted
http://www.desktopstarships.com/wallpaper.html
30 new images are added every month to their new images section. This is a really sweet site for custom-made/fan art.
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MinutiaeMan
Member # 444
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posted
*sigh* I said HIGH-RES artwork, Herb. If you read my post, you'll notice I said I need pictures that are at least 1680x1050 pixels. I know all about Desktop Starships, and they've got nothing more than 1280x960.
To illustrate the difference, here's a thumbnail and full-size chart to compare various resolutions, so you can see just how big a difference there is...
None of the easily-found artwork that's floating around the Web without limit will suffice. Which, I believe, is what I said in my original post.
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Masao
Member # 232
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posted
Jeez, Herb was just trying to be helpful. No need to sigh.
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MinutiaeMan
Member # 444
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posted
Sorry, Herb, I wasn't trying to sound annoyed, it's just that most everywhere I look to find new sources, it always seems to lead back to the same old stuff. I didn't mean to let that frustration slip through.
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Masao
Member # 232
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posted
I have some 1725 x 1350 shots of ships Thomas Pemberton did for a Starfleet Museum Calendar a few years ago. They're big, so I can put them up at Photobucket for you to examine and download.
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PsyLiam
Member # 73
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posted
Any chance you've got some good Professor Chaos wallpaper? Eh? No?
*sigh*
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MinutiaeMan
Member # 444
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posted
Masao: Yes, please! I actually sent an e-mail request to Thomas earlier today requesting exactly that.
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Shakaar
Member # 1782
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posted
Frustration is irrelevant- Searching is futile. 1680x1050 is not a common resolution, it would not be logical for a site to post large images on their server when only a fraction of one percent of users would ponder downloading them. I�ve had a 21� monitor for some time (I fear it�s now entering the last stages of its life though), set at 1600/1200... I made a wallpaper for both my systems to give them an identity and then never changed it� my suggestions.. find the highest ones you can find, re-size them a wee bit larger, and then apply them without stretching and set the desktop to black� you can organize you icons in the black area around the image. OR, you can alter new images from what you can find� �find a couple desktops of a ship� combine them into a multi-view of it.
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MinutiaeMan
Member # 444
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posted
Uh... Shakaar, you do realize that 1680x1050 is the resolution of many widescreen monitors that are starting to gain popularity? There are some brands of monitors out there that have used that resolution for years, and there are quite literally millions of them. (Try here and here, for starters. ) And I know for a fact that there are several websites that offer high-resolution artwork for people with their high-resolution displays. At the risk of sounding testy again, your suggestion is equivalent to suggesting that the owner of a new HDTV satisfy himself by watching four standard-definition TV shows at once rather than one high-definition show. (No offense intended.)
To put it another way, I've got a very expensive, professional computer monitor here, and I want some beautiful artwork to show it off with, dammit!
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Masao
Member # 232
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posted
Tannh�user Torsk Paris and Lancaster Cabbages in Orbit Wasp D5
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Masao
Member # 232
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posted
A few more:
Lancaster Yorktown/Minotaurs
These are real big, so download with caution!
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MinutiaeMan
Member # 444
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posted
Curses, where's that drool icon I uploaded a while back? I guess I'll have to settle for a really big grin instead... Thanks!
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TSN
Member # 31
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posted
Just offering my support here : I'm on 1680x1050, too.
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Masao
Member # 232
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posted
Yer welcome.
Hmm, I think I need to get myself one of those cinema display thingies.
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Mucus
Member # 24
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posted
Hey, I'm currently running two monitors at 1280x1024 using a wallpaper going across at I guess 2560x1024. I think I dug many of my wallpapers at http://wallpaper.deviantart.com/ either in the MultiDisplay or Widescreen sections.
Lots of good stuff, harder if you have to limit yourself to science fiction though.
Another suggestion is to look for the photography section at the same website. With 8MP cameras and the like and stitch modes, there are pretty nice huge photographs out there and you can crop the appropriate section for your display.
In my own collection, the only things sci-fi-ish are http://flareupload.pleh.net/uploads/24/shrug.jpg and http://flareupload.pleh.net/uploads/24/Rings.jpg (Both not my work, obviously)
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Lee
Member # 393
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posted
There are a coupla people on DA who do a lot of stuff like that Rings one (in fact it's probably one of theirs), I saved some of their wallpaper packs a while back, I'll see if I can dig any out.
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Reverend
Member # 335
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posted
quote: Originally posted by Masao: Yer welcome.
Hmm, I think I need to get myself one of those cinema display thingies.
You should, they're loads of fun! Very good for watching DVDs when you should be working on PaintShop Pro...not that I would ever neglect my hobby in favour of high resolution entertainment...honest.
Oh and why are you still naming alien ships after vegetables? why-why-why?!
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HerbShrump
Member # 1230
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posted
Sorry, I was at work when I'd read the post and I didn't notice the size resolutions mentioned.
Not that I've paid attention to the resolutions on Desktop Starships either. I just know they have images bigger than my monitor.
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Masao
Member # 232
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posted
quote: Originally posted by Reverend: Oh and why are you still naming alien ships after vegetables? why-why-why?!
Don't blame me, blame the United Earth Stellar Navy!
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Shakaar
Member # 1782
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posted
Mac monitors, meh! *L* Still, 1680/1050 carries a very small market share, and Mac is still below 4%. ....Masao, look at these nice monitors http://9xmedia.com/pages-Build_a_system/X-Top_Design_a_system-Configurations.html *L* I know... I couldn'a stop laughing with glee and envy at the 30 screen "my monitor is larger than the Enterprise D viewscreen" monitor...
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MinutiaeMan
Member # 444
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posted
But as I was saying in my previous post, Macs are not the only computers with widescreen monitors... there's a Dell XPS laptop with a 1900x1200 screen, for example.
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bX
Member # 419
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posted
And the brand spankin' new 17-Inch Mac Book Pro is 1680X1050. (Which is sort of a joke you'd get if you think about boot camp as much as I do.)
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Jason Abbadon
Member # 882
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posted
That (linked) show of the Amby hosing a K'Tings is swhweet!
We really dont see enough of that ship.
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