Graphics for Freeciv 2.0 and beyond...

[CapTVK]

Originally posted by fairline


I'm using this for the Finnish skier in Red Front ToT Redux.

He's drawn from scratch, so no worries about infingement of copyrights etc.

Looks nice Fairline. I think that one is going in.

[fairline]

Cap: Can you allay my fears over the issues raised by Mercator about the GPL in Harry's Freeciv thread? I'm not too keen to have anything I create potentially be used to make money for someone else without my permission. Thanks.

[Yog-Sothoth]

Originally posted by fairline
Cap: Can you allay my fears over the issues raised by Mercator about the GPL in Harry's Freeciv thread? I'm not too keen to have anything I create potentially be used to make money for someone else without my permission. Thanks.

If you release it under the GPL you give people permission to potentially try to make money of it. So it's not without your permission, because you have given it by using the GPL license. The freedom the GPL gives also extends to allow for people to ask for money for the material under the GPL. In reality however, since other are free to distribute the same material for free, this really isn't as big an issue as it might seem.

[CapTVK]

Originally posted by fairline
Cap: Can you allay my fears over the issues raised by Mercator about the GPL in Harry's Freeciv thread? I'm not too keen to have anything I create potentially be used to make money for someone else without my permission. Thanks.

Fairline,

The tileset right now is a work in progress. It's not yet official. My intention is to only release graphics actually used in the tileset. All your other work is safe.

P.S
As i've stated in the other thread I will remove any of your graphics from the tileset if you request it.


I'm a bit pressed for time right now and will be back tomorrow.

[Vasc]

Originally posted by fairline
Cap: Can you allay my fears over the issues raised by Mercator about the GPL in Harry's Freeciv thread? I'm not too keen to have anything I create potentially be used to make money for someone else without my permission. Thanks.

Licensing your work under the GPL means other people may profit from your work, by re-selling, etc. However it also means they are forced to give a copy for free upon request once they distribute it. In addition, they have to give free copies of any modifications they make in the future, that include your work, under the same license. Creative Commons calls this last clause 'share alike'.

If you think hard about the subject, licensing your work under exclusively non-commercial terms like some people proposed on the other thread can generate more trouble than benefit. More negative than positive effects.

One example is Linux distros. Many Linux distros currently sell Freeciv together with hundreds of games and applications packaged in boxes sold over the counter, while also offering a free download for those who want one (e.g. RedHat). Having work under a non-commercial license precludes this. The Freeciv project is getting no money from these commercial distributors, but by including Freeciv these distributions increase our exposure, providing us with free publicity. We know from past polls that at least a fifth of our users got to know Freeciv this way.

Another good example is Apolyton (this place here). Apolyton has banner ads, which they carry to pay for their bandwidth and hosting expenses. Apolyton cannot legally distribute any works you license under a non-commercial license while forcing you to view banner ads in order to do a download.

I will not force anyone to license anything under terms they do not like, but speaking personally, I think the GPL protects my interests quite well. I liked the terms enough to make me license several hundred thousand lines of code and some simple graphics ( I cannot draw as well as you do ) under its terms.

[jdorje]

Originally posted by CapTVK


FC uses PNG. I can use 16/24-bit plus transparency levels.

You can't use transparency levels. You can use transparency of course (just like in civ2/civ3 data files, but without the weird purple/green transparent backgrounds) but you can't use alpha-level transparency (like civ3 fog uses).

[CapTVK]

jdorje,

Doesn't the client you use (GTK2, XAW, WIN32) have something to do withsupport for alpha-level transparency? I was under the impression some could and some not.

[jdorje]

Originally posted by CapTVK
Doesn't the client you use (GTK2, XAW, WIN32) have something to do withsupport for alpha-level transparency? I was under the impression some could and some not.

I don't think any of them can handle alpha layers yet. I know the gtk2 and xaw clients cannot (even though the gtk2 client has anti-aliased drawing for text).

-jason

[CapTVK]

Originally posted by jdorje


I don't think any of them can handle alpha layers yet. I know the gtk2 and xaw clients cannot (even though the gtk2 client has anti-aliased drawing for text).

-jason

Ah, so GTK2 in itself can do alpha-level. It isn't supported in Freeciv clients (yet).

Still, one can hope...

http://lists.complete.org/freeciv-dev@freeciv.org/2004/12/msg00285.html.gz

> > Take a look at this screenshot of Civ3 fog of war, for an example:
> > http://img.gamershell.com/imagefolio...on_3/tanks.jpg
>
> No way we can use alpha-level drawing for 2.0. Doing it for 2.1 will be
> hard enough, since none of the clients (including the GTK client) are in
> any way set up for it.

[CapTVK]

Review request

Finally, after weeks of browsing through 100's of of units, selecting, shifting through numerous collections and tweaking I can announce that the tileset is almost complete. I've got two units left to go. A good looking fanatic for the fundamentalism government and a medieval siege cannon/mortar.

The next version I'll post is also meant for review and critique. I've tried to make a good common set of Civ units but i want to hear your opinion and questions first.





Note: The entire tileset has been updated. All units in the tileset are marked with the author's personal tag/symbol/sign.

[CapTVK]

Here it is, the first draft. While I would like to keep tinkering you have to show your work at some point.


I would like to thank all the unit&scenario makers for allowing use of their graphics, help and inspiration.

Special thanks go to:
Alex Mor (for his RF work and misc unit work)
Bebro (for his fine collection of medieval units)
Captain Nemo (for his naval units in particular)
Fairline (for his outstanding collection of units across all historical era's).



Note: Not all but many units in the tilesets have have gotten a small touchup, some a total makeover. If the end result is a new unit I've included my sig at the right.

[CapTVK]

Here's a screenshot as to how things look in the game.

[CapTVK]

Plus another one of me capturing the aussie capital.

[CapTVK]

Have I seen this before?

And here's one that might look familiar...

[Broken_Erika]

nice
can u make bigger units, that way u could have tanks and infantry in proportion, not in this one but in another one,
i'd like to see a full sized t-35 or a js-2 with a full sized turret
and infantry in proportion with the tanks