Sprite Editor

[The Big Mc]

Another one great

I just got my new pc so it may take a few days for me to test it but will let you know how it goes

[The Big Mc]

looking good

but I had problems with a test spr file i altered the death animation by deleted some cells of a ctp unit spr file when i cam to run the spr file it worked perfect but then lost the death animation preferring just to fade a way

I have found something interesting any way and have made a theory called the common origin theory

i know you want to know i have some civ terrain so I loaded up a patch of grassland and found a distinct pattern in the size difference form ctp2 to civ 3

a civ 3 tile is 32 * 16 bigger sounds odd to me what are the odds that that would happen the common origin theory can explain this as both ctp and civ 3 are both sequels in there own way to civ2. now here comes the interesting bit if I can figure out the civ3 hotspot I can generate a program or series of instructions that could convert a civ 3 graphic to ctp in less then five minuets

[Martin the Dane]

Originally posted by The Big Mc
but I had problems with a test spr file i altered the death animation by deleted some cells of a ctp unit spr file when i cam to run the spr file it worked perfect but then lost the death animation preferring just to fade a way

What unit did you modify? Was it a non-combat unit? I tried adding and deleting frames from an archer and that seems to work just fine (except changing the playbacktime does nothing).

Originally posted by The Big Mc
a civ 3 tile is 32 * 16 bigger sounds odd to me what are the odds that that would happen the common origin theory can explain this as both ctp and civ 3 are both sequels in there own way to civ2. now here comes the interesting bit if I can figure out the civ3 hotspot I can generate a program or series of instructions that could convert a civ 3 graphic to ctp in less then five minuets

Are you saying that the size of a Civ3 tile is 126 * 64?
And what do you need the hotspots for?

[Martin the Dane]

Forgot an item on my changes from build 6 to 7 list:

• Added register .spr-extention with SpriteEdit option. If you do double-clicking a .spr-file will open it in SpriteEdit.

[The Big Mc]

Well I did the maths and it seams a ctp 2 tile takes up around 75% of a civ 3 tile funny hay. so if we remove 25% of a civ 3 units size we get it in ctp format however we need to find a conversion matrix to convert a hotspot into a ctp unit hotspot

The unit I moded was a ctp2 unit of a werewolf created by activsion

[Martin the Dane]

Where did the unit die?

I tried looking at the death anim of two units the settler (GU002.spr) and the archer (GU013.spr).

It apperas that if a unit dies outside the battle view it just fades away, but if it dies within the battle view, the deat anim i played.

When the settler was killed without an escort they just faded away outside the battle view, both befor and after I modified the sprite. When there was an armed escort the death happend in the battleview and the death-anim was played.

[Martin Gühmann]

Originally posted by The Big Mc
Well I did the maths and it seams a ctp 2 tile takes up around 75% of a civ 3 tile funny hay. so if we remove 25% of a civ 3 units size we get it in ctp format however we need to find a conversion matrix to convert a hotspot into a ctp unit hotspot

Well that is true for cities and terrains, but not necessary true for units take the settler for example the default animation frames have a size of 30x55, and actual Civ3 is rather known for small unit graphics than for big unit graphics so you have them to size up instead of sizing them down. And Maybe every unit has its own size so there could be some that could be shrunken.

Originally posted by Martin the Dane
Added register .spr-extention with SpriteEdit option. If you do double-clicking a .spr-file will open it in SpriteEdit.

That's cool something that I would also like to see in TileEdit. Well I made it so that the TileEdit is openen when I double click on a tile file but only the program is opened and not the tile file I wished to open.

-Martin

[Martin the Dane]

Originally posted by Martin Gühmann
That's cool something that I would also like to see in TileEdit. Well I made it so that the TileEdit is openen when I double click on a tile file but only the program is opened and not the tile file I wished to open.

Well that's in the current not released version, I haven't gotten around to finishing the things I was updating, but it will be in the next release.

[The Big Mc]

you made any sense of the last block yet

[Martin the Dane]

Se my responce in the TileEdit thread

Martin the Dane

[The Big Mc]

no i have to click on a few mor lincks ahhhhhh

[The Big Mc]

Hi martin I had the idea of showing off my ideas for some new units all units shoew are some kind of mech



So here goes the first

1. shallow dread mech
shallow water mech holds up to 5 cruise missiles and fires smaller bombs
2. particle mech

this mech has to particle canons on it good for long ranged bombardment.

3. rapid rail canon mech

the only one with six legs the second set of legs allows this unit to fire when moving other wise the force feed back of the gatiling rail canon would push it backwards.

4. scout mech

light holo shield allow the mech to rapidly scout the area and avoid trouble

5. apc mech

also uses halo shield to allow troops to get into the thick of the action

6. gatling mech

two gatling canons allow the mech to fire up to 2000 rounds a min

7. the bull

twin fusion canons adore this beast both canons are independently target able and its light sturdy frame allows this unit to reach phenomenal speeds on the battle field

I had the idea that this concept art would help attract beta testers to sprite edit.

[The Big Mc]

I wrote a quick how to for converting a unit’s colour


Here goes

Converting a units colour

First of all locate the file you wish to change the colour of in martins sprite viewer.

Now export the unit into two images the shadow being one the main picture being another as tgas.

Then open the unit pictures in paint shop pro (not the shadows)

The computer may complain about there being too many pics so I would split the work load on a slower machine.

//note//

you can customise the menu to make the next process off clicking buttons.//


next

click on the first image then masks>load form alpha channel and load the alpha channel.

Now click colors> adjust > hue saturation and lightness

Were you will be able to select the colour you wish to change and the by spinning the well the colour you want the finished unit to be.

Now click ok

//note some times the alteration of colour will add some pure black to alter this run a make mask then repeat the last create a off black canvas copy it past it on to you image send to back merge the image then load the mask for the alpha channel. //


Now open a new image the same size as the other unit images now cover this canvas completely in pure black.

Now back to the first image now it should look like the finished unit now past the pure black as a new layer then send the pure black to the back combine the images and save.

Repeat the process on all you units if you are convert one colour to another psp should remember the colour on the hue saturation and lightness so click on that then yes.

Now when all units are done keep in psp then go file> batch conversion

Then convert all you files to a tiff then you can compile with the original ctp sprite maker.

[Martin the Dane]

Just a quick Q: Why do you use the mask when changing colors, is that necessarry? can't you just change the colors you want and leve the mask as it is? AFAK makespr.exe does not touch the pixels with a mask value 0 (fully transparent) so your background could be a logo, you name, or whatever as long as the mask is intact.

[Immortal Wombat]

Hmm, I just select the area which I want to change the colour of using the lasso, and go to colours -> colourise. then save. The alpha channels don't need adjusting, the shadows don't need splitting out. easy.