Creating new units

[valmont]

Yesterday, I spent several hours working on a new unit graphic - a fighter plane for a WWI scenario. I worked from an existing JPEG image, reducing and simplifying it many times until it was the right size, and changing to GIF format somewhere along the way. It became clear to me that I would have to start over, but it was an interesting exercise.

Those who create new units: do you use existing images or work from scratch?

Two things I noticed about working with an existing image: 1) you have to spend a lot of energy simplifying details in the original image; 2) eliminating the background is a major pain. [I am using a shareware graphic editor.]

I have read Alex's writings on creating units, but I'm interested in other viewpoints.
[This message has been edited by valmont (edited November 15, 1999).]

[Cam]

valmont,

I'm not sure if I'm the best person to answer this, not having done too much in the way of creation for quite some time, but...

Unfortunately in my experience it does take hours, and there are many more failures than successes.

In answer to your questions, 'yes', I do use existing images as the basis of my units, however there is a lot of touching up by hand as well.

To give you some idea of the extent...
to

Note that *.jpg files are terrible for resizing. They rely very much on dithering, which is (in my layman's understanding) a technical process that uses compensation to 'fill in the holes' of an image's colours and reduce the image size in terms of bytes. Once you start resizing the area of the image, these compensatory measures (dithering) become compromised and the image starts to lose some integrity.

If you're looking to bring out a 'richness' in colour, also look at using the 'sharpen' tool that comes with some software. A lot of images taken from photos become quite blurry, dark and grey. This will help overcome this (as well as manipulating the brightness and contrast).

As for eliminating the background, if your software has a lasoo tool, and better still, a point-to-point lasoo, you can cut your way around 95% of your image in surprisingly quick time. Once you've selected the unit, copy and paste it as a new file.

What shareware program are you using? Paint Shop Pro is a 30-day shareware program, although I lashed out and bought the thing in the end. www.jasc.com/psp6dl.html - 14 megs though!

Alex's summary is fantastic nonetheless, and I think there are plenty of lessons in it for those who've yet to come across it... www.aha.ru/~mor/units.htm

[This message has been edited by Cam (edited December 20, 1999).]

[Stefan Härtel]

Isn't that rather "Last Man Standing" with Bruce Willis? I saw that picture a short time ago in my TV guide, I think... if someone's shooting in front of a car and some people,it defienetly is

[Cam]

10 out of 10 Stefan! I thought it was a poor film, but had a few useful still shots that I used for 'Gangster - The Taking of Chicago'.

{b.t.w. - your e-mail isn't working because your mailbox is full (I think)}.

Allard - personally I have had more trouble in getting the dimensions of units right than it's worth when trying to start from scratch. Do you use any tricks - or is it hit and miss? Do you sketch an image and scan it (like the pro's)?

Clearly one of the strengths of not relying too heavily on pre-prepared base images is, as you suggest, you can get the angles right. Many customised units appear odd and out of place because the perspective angle is very much out of synch' with other Civ2 units. This is one of the key cautionary notes with using photos. Another is of course that you try to ensure that they don't look too much like scanned photos, and this is where spending time touching up the image is so important.

[Allard HS]

I actually never make my graphics program do the trick, I prefer it to make the units myself. That way you can control much more, like the angle, colours but also you have much more options to make details.
It does not require more time to start a unit from scratch if you're aiming at making a good quality unit, oddly.
So I would always advise, draw them yourself!

[Allard HS]

By the way.. that picture.. Godfather part II?

[Stefan Härtel]

Thanks for the message Cam, I was already wondering. I didn't get any mails the last days, which is quite unusual (especially because I subsribed to 2 mailing lists)

[valmont]

Since I don't have a scanner, I can't do the sketch-and-scan, which I think would be the best way, assuming you could get a faithful scan. Surely Allard isn't suggesting drawing with the mouse! It's impossible - like trying to do brain surgery wearing boxing gloves.

The point about the angle is apt. I pored over hundreds of images, selected about 70 that seemed to have potential. Of those, fewer than 10 had the angles I wanted.

Cam: don't I wish my software had a point-to point lasso! [I don't like using the plain lasso tool, there's no control there.] What I do instead is, with the pencil tool, draw a white outline around the entire form. In a JPG this is difficult because all the edges are blurred, but that's what I've got to work with. It's really tricky when the background colors don't contrast enough. Once the outline is in place, I use the eraser tool to eliminate the background. Actually, the result is probably better than I'd get using a lasso. But it takes time.

Last night, instead of reworking my Strutter, I started on a canary yellow Spad. My software has a function called "dynamically resize color palette" which gets very interesting results. It can be an effective remedy for the JPG "dither", as all those myriad yellows resolved into 3 or 4 hues, and the clean-up job is then relatively simple. After nearly 3 hours, there is still an ugly black outline around most of the plane (remnant of the original blurred edge); and some of the features need to be redrawn with simpler lines. Still, I think I'm getting the hang of it, & feel I'm making progress. I can't wait to try out these units in a game & see what they look like.

[Stefan Härtel]

I use Adobe Photoshop. It is quite old, has no resize or mirror options, and the color bar isn't really good, but I know how to work with it.
I usually modify existing units, sometimes only changing smaller things like the weapon or so, but sometimes you can really not recognize it anymore.

Cam, eMail's working again!

[valmont]

Allard: first I made a Sopwith Strutter, then I made a Spad VII.C1. I chose these models simply because I was able to find nice images. [nice = clear, bright and readable.] If you have any knowledge of ww1 planes, perhaps you could help me. I don't know how I should assign the attack, defense, movement, and cost for custom units.

[Cam]

valmont,

On the point-to-point lasoo, check your help index if you haven't already. Some programs do support it if you hold down the 'Alt' button while doing the mouse clicks. Also, when using this tool, zoom into the image to minimise error. If you're happy with your white-border technique, obviously continue with it!

Allard has made a very compelling case for the hand-drawn technique, and perhaps we all should give it a go!

Out of curiosity, why don't you e-mail the image to me, and I'll give it a shot? c.hills@bigpond.com

[Allard HS]

Damn, wrong guess. Well, it could have been the Gotfather II. Last Man standing, not a very good movie, nice costumes and look. Also quite original theme. Oh, it was not thàt bad.. I think simply a movie to watch only once.

Ok, now about units Yep, I ám talking about drawing units with the mouse. No, not that hard to do really. Most people overestimate how hard it is. It mainly depends on the graphics program, I guess. Cam already advised PSP. Very good program, but it stops after 30 days, so you need a cracked version. (or buy it, but I, and most Dutch, am disgusted by spending money at useless things). It's also very important that you know all functions of the graphics program, so if you don't I suggest to play around a lot with them.

Dimensioning is what I think the most difficult, so it might be useful to use a scanned image for that. Just for the dimension, it's best to paint it all to one colour and then add details.
But personally I can dimension it pretty well by sketching it. After I'm satisfied with the sketch, the hardest work is done, but the most rewarding part (that mákes the unit) is the colouring and adding of details.

The big trouble I have with scanning -the reason why I never do so- is that finding a good picture in the right angle costs me more time than to start from scratch.

Really, drawing units is what I like most about making scenarios..

[Allard HS]

Again a by the way...
Valmont, you said you created a ww1 fighter plane. What kind of a fighter?

[johnmcd]

I'm down with Allard. IMHO drawing by hand (mouse) is much easier than resizeing to the point of tears. It is fun (not a labour), it looks better (some things that work on one scale do not on another) and it feels nobler. I use MS Paint(!) for the initial sketch, and Corel Photoshop or Adobe Photoshop to finish. You can do a unit in about an hour once you have the hang of it.

[mindseye]

Valmont,

I believe that both the "paint-by-hand" and "scaled photo" approaches have their merits, you just need to pick one and stick to it for consistancy. Definitely avoid mixing styles.

Hand-painting can be quicker, and you don't have to worry as much about finding source material. You have far greater control over the results. However, you really do need to have some artistic talent to pull this off, or you just end up with cartoons.

Scanning and scaling (the method I used to create the HiRes modpack/patch) has a different set of tradeoffs. The search for source material can take an enormous amount of time. Angle/aspect, contrast, detail - there are so many variables. Some you can compensate for, others not. Sharpening, contrast, and saturation tools can correct a great deal. A lot of trial-and-error is involved. If you are creating ancient units, finding photo-quality images will be much harder than if you are creating more modern units. And at least some artistic skill is still needed for quality results, as often you need to significantly alter the original image (placing a weapon in someone's hands, bending a limb, re-creating something hidden in the original).

However, the big payoff with the scan-and-scale approach is a level of detail unobtainable by hand-painting. The subtle hints given through shading and hue fool the eye into perceiving detail that isn't actually there. Just zoom in on a photo-quality graphic and you can see what I mean. Five pixels of seemingly random colors become, at normal zoom, a face.

Also, I suggest that in general, you not waste too much time working on the original image (outside of deleting the background). Wait until you have scaled it. Something you slave over to fix might end up being two pixels anyway.

Beyond all of this mechanical stuff are other questions you must consider. Will your units be more or less the same size or the same scale? And concerning size, larger units mean more detail, but they cover up more terrain and make a more cluttered gamespace. There is much more to good unit design than most would guess.

Whatever method you use, I suggest you reconcile yourself to the the fact that the results will in general be proportionate to the time you put in. Probably you will not be able to produce a quality unit in ten minutes. Some of my units were the results of MANY hours of work (alas, I am not a professional).

And finally, do yourself a favor and use the best tool you can find or afford (I use Adobe Photoshop v5), and learn how to use it. Tools like point-to-point lassos and layering can save you enormous amounts of time and sanity.

Best wishes and good luck with your work!
Tim Smith
yoohootim@hotmail.com