Problems with default flc

[zulu9812]

Inspired by civfan01's excellent tutorial, I had a go converting the trade federation droid trooper for civ3. I got as far as the default animation. I've attached the Droid Default.flc, the Droid Default_StoryBoard.FXM and the Droid Default.pcx

As you can see, the unit has this wierd shimmer to it. What gives? I used DRS Viewer to extract the images, FLICSter to make the storyboard and Paintshop Pro for pasting the individual images into the pcx file.

[zulu9812]

anyone?

[Level]

The problem is that the palette is fliped.
What program did you use?
I have noticed that if you open a PCX in paint it flips the palette, to fix it just flip it again.

You may also want to center it and make it so it does not jump around.

[zulu9812]

Well, I used DRS Viewer to extract the images for the default animation from SW:GB. I used FLICSter to create a new storyboard. Copied the pcx file and converted it to a bmp. Pasted all the images into the bmp storyboard in MS Paint(coz it's easier), then pasted the whole thing into the pcx file using Jasc Paintshop Pro. So I never actually opened a pcx in Paint.

[Level]

Hmm, well something fliped it, try fliping it by opening in Paint if you can (not all windows versions can) or by doing what you did before.

[CivGeneral]

, On the first SW frame, The Battle Droid jumped and then whet back to normal. Try copying the entire bitmap( The one you extracted from the drs viewer) on to a Bmp version of the story board and use paste as solid (Indicated by the button on the left, It should be a solid boxed in image aganst the background Image with the background not showing through.) When you are ready. Copy each section (Since Copying the entire Bmp version of the story board and pasting it on PSP would work but you would have troble allinging it with the Pcx version storyboard. This is why you should copy each section and copying from paint and pasting it as a Transperant object in PSP. (This should retain most of the Color in the unit.)
Sorry, for not responding quicker since I have started my summer job just this week.

[Level]

Another thing I found, if you draw while in paint it can change the palette.

[Mike Breitkreutz FIRAXIS]

Your problem is the palette. The last color in the palette (color index 255) is the transparent color. Note that if you use Photoshop, the palette ordering is inverted and color index 0 is transparent. I've attached an updated PCX file with transparent color moved into position 255. I also changed the color to bright green so you can see what exactly is transparent. I changed the grid lines to blue also. As you can see, there are still several pixels of pink in the image that will not be made transparent. Only the green pixels in the attached PCX will be transparent when loaded into Civ3. Transparency is controlled by the palette index (255) and not the color itself.

[zulu9812]

cheers folks - I'll have another go tonight