Will our modmakers ever be able to create leader animations comparable to Firaxis'?

[monkspider]

Simply put, is it a reasonable possibility? I'm sure everyone has a leader or two we would want to see in the game. Plus if we get into the buisness of creating all new civs, we will want to see at least half-way reasonable leader animations, to give things a feeling of legitamacy, ya know?
I know there are some who are totally anti-"graphical fluff" anyway, but I have found them to be very entertaining. It is just a hoot to see Modern Hammurabi or Medevial Abe Lincoln.

[FrostyBoy]

I doubt it, it'd take months and it wouldn't look the same.

I can bet you that those faces were all done by one person.

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

One good way to think about creating new leader animations is to consider clips of TV footage. You could easily digitize some old footage of Clinton or someone else with a PC and TV tuner card and then create a FLC using the frames of that capture.

Dan

[monkspider]

Not a bad idea Dan, thanks
Obtaining video footage of say, Vladimir Lenin or Genghis Kahn may be a tad bit more difficult to come by though.

[Barnacle Bill]

Originally posted by monkspider
Not a bad idea Dan, thanks
Obtaining video footage of say, Vladimir Lenin or Genghis Kahn may be a tad bit more difficult to come by though.

You could probably do clips from old movies.

I hope, though, that there will be a way to substiture a still picture in some common bitmap format for the animations - much easier for the typical modder.

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by Barnacle Bill


You could probably do clips from old movies.

I hope, though, that there will be a way to substiture a still picture in some common bitmap format for the animations - much easier for the typical modder.

The files used by the game will always be animations, but you can string a couple of single-frame bitmaps together and get the same kind of effect. For that matter, all you'd really need is a "happy" face, a "neutral" face, and a "angry" face.

You can use Pro Motion to create leaders that should work in the game right now. Just paste in a picture and save it out as a FLC. Of course, the more frames of emotion you have, the more it'll sync up with the game, but theoretically just one should work.


Dan

[Shadowstrike]

Any chance that Firaxis will occasionally release leader animations for say, Isabella of Castille? Or Sauron? Or the Borg Queen?

[DarthVeda]

Let's see... to edit the terrain I'll need a $3500 graphic utility (3DS Max, right?), to edit the .pcx files I'll need a $300 software suite, and to edit the leader files I'll need at least $20 more of software.

Astounding... That's all I'll say for now.

[FrostyBoy]

no u don't need any of that



u could just send me $50 and i'll do it for ya

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by DarthVeda
Let's see... to edit the terrain I'll need a $3500 graphic utility (3DS Max, right?), to edit the .pcx files I'll need a $300 software suite, and to edit the leader files I'll need at least $20 more of software.

Astounding... That's all I'll say for now.

Admittedly, the terrain system is complex, there's no question about it. I don't think you'd be *required* to have 3DS Max to model new terrain, but trying to do new terrain freehand would probably drive you clinically insane.

Most freeware and shareware programs handle PCX files, as they're a standard file format. You certainly don't need a $300 software suite.

I've posted a link in this thread to a piece of software that will allow you to download it for free (30 day trial) and start working on leader animations now. That program also happens to edit PCX files. Two birds with one stone.

I know these aren't ideal solutions, but for the time being, they should get you started, and you don't need to spend a dime.

Dan

[FrostyBoy]

The roads and railroads drove me clinicly insane, I am going to sue u for that now

[TheDarkside]

The rails are truly amazing. only thing which would make roads a little better is if they connected across rivers after u research engineering

[Fintilgin]

Well, if you have access to a program like `Poser' you could probably do some 3D faces a lot like the ones in Civ3. They might not be quite as detailed and fancy (unless you were really good) but that'd be a start.

Hrmmm... I'll have to play around a bit...

Joe