Ever since launch, LittleBigPlanet creators have been somewhat disappointed by the lack of an HDD image import tool. Despite there being a working version in existence, Sony says it’s not coming out. The reason behind this decision is kind of unclear, because as far as we can see - there isn’t much difference between the two apart from image quality.
Although, it’s arguably easier to take a photo of your arse with the PS3 Eye in order to share it online with other players, but then perhaps Sony don’t have a problem with that.
Anyway, issues of stifling the creative community aside, we don’t have that tool right now, how can we get the very best quality images using what we have?
Here at the Planetoid, we’ve produced two designer sticker packs so far, and they’ve both been very popular within the community. In order to try and get the very best quality stickers for these packs, we had to do a fair bit of tinkering, testing and fiddling to achieve our results. In this feature, we’ll be showing you how we did it.
• First step: Which camera to use?
The PS3 is compatible with many plug’n'play cameras. But most people will be looking at what they have available, and in many cases it’ll come down to two contenders: The PS Eye or the humble PlayStation2 EyeToy.
You’ve probably got one of these, but did you know that they both have the same resolution?
What’s that you say? EyeToy? Isn’t that like, 6 years old now? Well yes, it is. But technically, when it comes to still images, there isn’t much difference between it and the PS Eye as they both have a standard resolution of 640x480. And one will cost you about £20 more than the other. The key difference between them is the focus.
Crucially, the EyeToy has a manual focus ring whereas the PS Eye has a focus ring that only allows for one of two settings.
It’s the manual focus on the EyeToy that gives it an added advantage for image capture.
Whilst it’s still possible to manually focus a PS Eye, you have to hold the focus ring whilst doing so, which is extremely fiddly, even with the help of some Blutac.
To make life easier we dusted off our much loved PlayStation2 EyeToy.
• Choosing the right image
No doubt, you’ll have specific images which you want to capture. Obviously, that’s not going to be an image that violates the EULA, but you knew that already. It is important to remember that clean images, with bright, strong contrasting colours or shades, will work best. Things like gradient fills, light or pastel colours - these details are more likely to be lost in the capture. Any images captured with a camera will also be subject to relatively strong image compression, which also takes its toll on overall quality and crispness - it’s an uphill struggle.
• Next: Capturing the best quality image
We’ve seen many stories of people struggling to get their images in to the game, including people printing out their designs, and then capturing them with the EyeToy. This may still be a viable option, although it’ll cost you more in inks and paper. The method we opted to use involves a laptop, or computer screen capable of displaying the image you are trying to capture.
Initially, we tried this with a 42” 1080p LCD hooked up to a PC, but ultimately it didn’t make much difference and the problem of “refresh-rate stripes” becomes a real issue when capturing images using a camera. And incidentally, the PS Eye’s faster refresh rate makes no difference at all when compared to the EyeToy in this area.
So we opted for a smaller screen - in this case, a MacBook Air with a 13.3” LED display. With the images already on the MacBook’s hard-drive, we opened them up full screen, ready to flick through them, slideshow style.
An important part of capturing an image is to make sure the camera is ‘flat-on’ with the screen which you are capturing from, a perfect 90° angle - so that your image is not distorted too much (this of course still applies if you’re capturing an image from paper too). To do this with an EyeToy, we flipped the base around 180° and positioned it extremely close to the screen, sitting it on the touchpad.
A 90° angle is what we’re after when capturing an image from a screen or piece of paper.
With LittleBigPlanet running on the PS3, open up a blank level in create mode. Create a large, cardboard wall, then pop-up the sticker-capture tool from the sticker menu. It’s best normally use the ‘square frame’ option as it gives us almost full view of what we’re doing - though bear in mind that the square frame is cropping your image, which will be a regular 4:3 ratio shot. Position the sticker-capture over the cardboard background at a fairly large size. Once we can see the image from the camera in the game, the focus on the EyeToy can then be adjusted to give the image a clear, crisp focus.
• Lastly: Tweaks and attempting perfection
So, we’ve got the image in to the game, but we’re not ready to capture it yet. We’ve got some ugly looking “refresh-rate stripes” and it’s not looking too good. The best way to combat these stripes is to adjust the brightness of your computer screen. When the brightness is changed suddenly, there can be a brief moment when there are no stripes at all - and that is the point at which you strike, and hit that capture button. Try changing the brightness of the computer screen and monitoring the quality of the image as you do so.
Further improvements can be made by adjusting the lighting in the room in which you’re in. We captured our stickers in a room with no lights on, but one which was brightly light from the outside, so: curtains open.
And there you have it. These of course, are just our findings - a good few hours of playing around, trying to get the best quality picture from a computer screen. But the key principles of focus and capture angle still apply for print-based images - and if you are using printed material then it’s going to be a lot easier.
You might have had better luck with different methods, and if you have anything to add, please post a comment to share with everyone!
Good luck and happy image capturing! 
I loves features, now we only need the forums…
Thanks alot for this my pictures are very bad quality
-Nick (Smellybadger)
Nice.
PS: It’s “bear in mind” not “bare in mind”. 
Are you sure? bear is an animal… yeh i think your right, but if you want to make suggestions to the website use the contact button at the bottom… Im sure it will be dealt with faster..
it’s a little complex… why sony don’t alloe yto import imagrs ftom HDD??? whyyyyyy ?????
:‘(
@Syroc
DAMN YOU! But thanks, well spotted
cool! i didn’t know that eye toys worked - i’ll have to borrow my friend’s ! thanks for the awesome feature!
@Ayvarn Its surprised me, i thought that the PS eye was alot better because of its price and look… turns out their both as good as each other…
Wow i cant believe it how come there the same maybe sony tried to trick us so that they get more money from the Playstation eye but thank you guys now i can go and buy it for only 20!!!!!!!!!!
should ask how ICHIGOchan15 took his pictures. they are more crisp then yours which is amazing
well when i need pictures, i use the printing method, using a ps eye, and when i have the picture in the game, i cut out what i need from the picture in LBP, change it to a soft cement material, place 4 white led lights around the cut out image on high radius and brightness, turn the background to black, and take a in game picture, it makes the picture more bright and add more contrast to it, my method shows in my levels :p
also whats with the flaws in LBP? i can take pictures off in any level, put it on a sacboy, and use it anytime i want after saveing the sacboy? and what about puting a community object and just capturing it so its no longer a community object? i dont know, they need to fix that somehow :p
DANG IT!! If i knew the eyetoy worked for this than i wouldn’t have sold it a while back. FOR 1 DOLLER!!!
Well, the Sam’s message was posted three days before the picture on MM’s Flickr so…..
PICTURE: Uploaded on November 4, 2008
POST: 11-01-2008 12:56 PM
But still, nice feature.
@Ghost
Yes that’s right. Sam’s original message was in response to comments from Alex in a video interview at the GameCity festival in Nottingham.
It would be easier for us that MM add a PNG import feature! Nice tut through.
Hey guys! A thing that Media Molecule and Sony could do is letting us put our pics from the pictures in the PS3 menu. It would be so cool if we could do it. thanx
i always use my ps2 eyetoy not just for capuring pics on lbp i use it for a webcam for my laptop and pc also i use it as a microphone because i broke my bluetooth headset.
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PNS: Norbury9395
I have added some photo backgrounds into my secret car garage level using the PSEye. The final result turned out quite well and there are collectable in that level to.
The backgrounds add an extra bit of style to the photos now and I am pleased with the result.
this method seems a little time intensive for just one picture…. i really wish they would incorporate the in game import thing :/
I have the Eyetoy, I got it used at game stop for like 2 bucks!
But I NEVER knew they were the same quality. I thought the PS Eye was HD.
I got my eyetoy when I bought it with the game. I’m gonna have to dig that out of my basement : ).
Wow, the eyetoy is not only cheaper but for 20 bucks it comes with a game, (well that’s how it was 3 years ago, so it must be even cheaper now!!! ) :D
Hello Tom, Really very nice and good information you share here on Playstation2EyeToy. I read your entire post and really superb cameras and it’s picture quality too. Fantastic information you share here. Thanks for your nice information.
sweet.. but mine wont detect anything
