How can I edit the picture files?

[Jaylactus]

Does anyone know how to edit those .pcx faction pictures? I tried to paste a picture of Dr. Doom over Wang's, but PSP5 just won't do it. I've tried changing the format of the Doom pic, making it 8 bit, and anything else I could think of. Can anyone help?

[Caroliner Rainbow]

Hmmm I've had no problem changing the faction pictures, i just save the file in pcx format after changing it and it works.

[Jaylactus]

I've tried that, but Paint Shop Pro syas that it can only save the file in 2 colors or something like that. What ends up happening is that picture only shows up in shades of grey. Even then it looks all screwed up. Do you use PSP? Any suggestions?

[Pythagoras]

For PSP5 (this took me a while to figure out)-

This is what you need to do, lets say I have a picture of George Washington I downloaded, and I want to make an American faction. (this file will be reffered to as Americans.pcx)

Step 1 - Load faction.pcx, and go to colors, and save pallete, save it as whatever, but I will be refering it as "SMAC.pal."

Step 2 - Load up your picture of GW, and with that window selected, or "on top," go to colors and load the pallete-"SMAC.pal," the colors should now be "SMAC-ish," and the picture can be cut and pasted between Americans.pcx and, GW's file.

Step 3 - Using the selection tool (the sixth tool down, on the left-its a "dotted" rectangle") Select the "SMACed"(hehe) image of GW, and go to "edit-->copy."

Step 4 - going to faction.pcx and zooming in to the portrait in faction.pcx, select the entire picture of the faction leade inside the defined border.

Step 5 - Go to Edit-->Paste-->Into selection, and walla you should have a nice picture of George Washington, now you would save this as Americans.pcx.

PS Keep in mind when naming files, they must follow this pattern:
.txt
.pcx
1.pcx
2.pcx

If any of this is confusing, please reply and I will try to clear things up.

[Caroliner Rainbow]

No, i dont use PainShop Pro.. my computer did'nt have any good graphics editor on it so i downloaded some program called Lview off the net and it works like a charm, it automatically changes the colors to the correct pallette, so i dont have to worry about that. It sounds to me like your problem has to do with the pallette, I think you have to use the exact colors that SMAC uses, i think it uses 200 and some odd number of different colors in those PCX files and you probably have to be using the exact ones for it to read the picture correctly.

[JLAVM]

I still can not edit the pcx files
every time i try i end up with a Gain picture

What can i do please help

[Coug]

An easier way to choose multiple colors is to select "Save As" and under options or preferences or whatever in the file select menu (It should be to the bottom right corner), there you select Type 5. Presto, lots of colors!

I don't know the exact words, but I can find them easily and will post them here as soon as I figure out what they are.

-Coug

[Pythagoras]

Another way, take the pcx file, go to colors--> increase color depth to 24 bits, then add pictures, do whatever, then after you are done, load the SMAC pallete.

------------------
"I think you're all f*cked in the head!"
Chevy Chase-Nat'l Lampoon's Vacation.

[Narck]

Using Microsoft Photo Editor might work better for you - In my opinion easier to figure out than Paint shop pro 5

[flud]

It's even easier in Photoshop 5. I messed around with cut and pasting .jpg and .gif files into the .pcx (using the area select tool on the .pcx to get the image where I wanted it, then dragging the image in the selected area to center it). Using the 'save as' function (I assume 'save' would work just as well) there were no questions about palette, and Alpha Centauri has no trouble with it. I assume that Photoshop automatically adjusts inserts to the new palette, since being photoshop it does that kind of thing . What's more, being photoshop, it lets you do lots of nifty little things if you can use the program.