STOWiki:Image guidelines


 * IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please use the highest graphics preset when taking screen shots. When your system cannot accommodate the max quality setting, please consider to place  on the page instead. This way other users can see, that there is an article in need of illustration by going to the missing images page.

General
We distinguish between several image types. Each one has a specific role and should be used consistently. Here is a quick break-down:
 * Screenshots
 * Role: Illustration of planets, space and ground phenomena, landscapes, mission plot points, ships, characters without portrait, use of abilities, uniforms, enemy types, trophies, in-game appearance of items etc.
 * Use: Right thumbnail with caption.
 * Format: JPG preferred
 * Size: Full HD (1920 x 1080 px) preferred, other sizes as appropriate.
 * UI icons
 * Role: Illustration of everything that they are used for in-game such as: items, abilities, injuries, accolades etc.
 * Use: Special templates.
 * Format: PNG
 * Size: 49 x 64 px for everything but accolades. Accolade icons should be uploaded in their native size.
 * Character portraits
 * Role: Illustration of all entities (mostly NPCs) that have their own dialog portrait.
 * Use: Special templates.
 * Format: PNG
 * Size: 280 x 340 px
 * Maps
 * Role: Illustrating Sector Blocks, Sectors and mission walkthroughs.
 * Use: As appropriate.
 * Format: PNG
 * Size: varying
 * Custom illustrations
 * Role: Explanatory graphics for aspects of the game not easily represented using screen-shots.
 * Use: As appropriate.
 * Format: SVG or PNG preferred
 * Size: As appropriate.

In-game item icons
Item icons can be found within the game's data files. We have uploaded a ZIP file of nearly every icon in the game for your convenience. Make sure an item icon is not already uploaded before uploading one.

Basic Guidance
Item icons should be named as such: in-game item name (e.g. "Disruptor Turret"); Mk level (e.g. "Mk IX"); "icon.png". For example: Disruptor Turret Mk IX icon.png.

Rarity
Please only upload the Common versions of the icon. Use coloricon if you need an icon of a different Rarity.

Mk Levels
If the icon does not have the Mk label on the bottom-right (or if there aren't any Mk versions of an item), then omit the Mk level from the file name. For example: Plasma Sample icon.png.

This includes "Standard Issue" items. For example: Use Phaser Beam Array icon.png Not Phaser Beam Array Standard Issue icon.png

Factions
For icons that have different versions for different factions (e.g. Abilities See Below) please include the faction name in the file name. For example: Abandon Ship icon (Federation).png or Abandon Ship icon (Klingon).png.

Messy Characters
If the ability name has a colon (e.g. ) do not include the colon. However, do include a hyphen for icons such as Hypospray - Dylovene icon (Klingon).png. Also include apostrophes for icons such as Tyken's Rift icon (Federation).png.

Underscores will be substituted for spaces when the file is uploaded. This is normal. For example: Plasma Sample icon.png will become Plasma_Sample_icon.png. You can still refer to the image without the underscores within the wiki pages.

Space Weapon Abilities
For space weapon abilities that have different versions for different weapons (e.g. ) please include the weapon type in the file name. For example: Beam Array Fire at Will (Phaser) icon (Federation).png or Cannon Rapid Fire (Disruptor) icon (Klingon).png.

Ability Icons
All Ability icons should be named as such:


 * Name of Ability icon (Federation).png
 * Name of Ability icon (Klingon).png

...as there are usually two versions of Ability icons. In the case that there is only one version of an icon, the ability icons template is made to handle that case; it displays one of the following placeholder icons if a (Federation) or a (Klingon) version cannot be found, respectively:



NPCs
Images of non-player characters should be the dialog screenshot &mdash; usually a blue patterned background with the NPC's face and part of his or her torso in view. These images should be 280&times;340 pixels in size after being cropped (if the screenshot was taken from a high-resolution game screen), but a slightly smaller image (by a few pixels) is acceptable.

Save the image under the name of the NPC without their rank. For example, the image of Commander Akira Sulu should be uploaded as "Akira Sulu.png" (PNG is a lossless format and therefore preferred over JPG).