I’m using dropbox - this is not filesharing service per se but it allows direct linking.
Regarding format - bmp, png and targa are all lossless formats, all of them support transparency\alpha channel so they can be used in VCMI as it or converted into each other without any issues.
Problems with BMP are: 1) alpha channel - some editors completely ignore it (for example MS Paint) so saved image won’t have alpha anymore. 2) No compression - bmps are HUGE.
For example your “ExpertScholarshipHighRes.bmp”:
16.8 MB in bmp format
6.4 MB in targa (2.5 times smaller)
3.3 MB in png (5 times smaller)
This may be small difference right now but when you’ll get 1 000 of such images size will become a notable issue
Does that mean that vcmi will work with .PNG or you just want to make the transfer easier (sorry for a million questions)
BTW I kinda revisited the scholarship (again) starting to use HDRI lightning and things are looking good. After that I will try to make a decent replacement for the background and after that I pick balistic’s as next Icon.
wow that was fast I am working pretty slow and seldom.
of course. Just its not gonna be done today. And btw if autocad can have HDRI generated lightning I definitely recomend you try it. I know its a software oriented for engineers and architects but if it has support for that and final gather it makes anything look good.
Here is a link where you can find images like that hdrmill.com/Freebies.htm
Thanks, that would be great!
I hoped to finish it today, however doing textures takes quite a long time, so when finished, I will post it here.
I just googled for HDRI, however, I think that AutoCad does not allow this, but I am not sure -> if there is anyone experienced with this, it would be great. As far as I now, there is only metal ray.
I’m sure you all know this already but remember that exchanging 3d models between applications is very easy, by exporting them as .obj. I’m presuming AutoCAD has support for exporting as .obj, if not you can surely get a plugin for that. All 3d applications I know of (Maya, Softimage, Max, Lightwave, Houdini and probably also Blender) support .obj. It preserves all info including uv’s and texture info (at least I believe it does).
When it comes to 3d file interchange, rigging is the really complicated part. Animation can be difficult if it’s anything other than pure FK (forward kinematics) rotation (like what motion capture data is comprised of). But pure rigid 3d models have always been the easiest part of 3d to share between applications. Hope some of this was helpful.
So true did the first model for like 3 hours ( ~2hours spent on skull) and said to myself I am done. After that I got feedback and spent 10-12 hours struggling back and forth between photoshop and softimage.
All right PNG it is :).
And just to get the ‘official’ format for uploading images:
Large image .png image with a transparent background for resizing
a 44x44 Icon with transparency .png
a 58x64 Icon with transparency .png
82x93 Icon with transparency .png
extras like models, scenes and any bonus images
Correct ? You can change the format for the images from there on
There is a tiny problem with that, and its shadows. The first one I uploaded with background didn’t have any so they kinda looked like they floated, after that I added shadows which grounded the icons. But on the other side I tried making a replacement background texture and managed to make two which were close but not close enough in my opinion. Anyway I’d rather just make the renders with transparency right now and deal with that further on plus I could add the shadow faster if I do them all at once (plus it would look more consistent)
If anyone is interested, I tried using sourceforge.net as a repository for scene files and it was not a problem at all. I registered a test project called VCMI_newIcons, uploaded a sample .obj scene (I just downloaded one online) with its .mtl (material info) file as well. Here’s the link to the files in this project: sourceforge.net/projects/vcminewicons/files/
Obviously, this is just one way of sharing the files we’ll work on, but since I believe .obj is an easy file format since it’s interchangeable AND in ascii, I just presume using subversioning for it would be ideal. Why? It keeps track of all previous versions (they’re all available) and there will be only one file per scene, as opposed to one for each version. In addition, since it supports SVN, Mercurial, Git etc., setting it up locally is easy. I believe you Ivan and Tow would agree with me on this?
So a long story short, using subversioning doesn’t require actual code, only a text-based (ascii) file format. Yay.
Nice but I won’t be home today so I will check it out tomorrow I guess it works with softimage scenes as well. Hopefully I will understand how to get this thing working without problems
Softimage scenes work for me, as long as you make sure to save them as ascii, not binary format. I have Maya, Softimage and Max at home, which are all Autodesk software. They pretty much work (or are supposed to) together well.
What’s wrong with creating shadows without any background? Background-independent icons should be more easy to use. Replacement texture may be useful for GUI replacement later on so it won’t be wasted.
All you need is to install TortoiseSVN (in case of Windows) and copy-paste URL. I think that can be qualified as “easy”
SVN works with binaries as well (for example images). Only difference is that you won’t have any diffs for them (list of changed lines) which aren’t used by artists anyway AFAIK.
Having ability to use a Diff is always good.
I suggest using ASCII scene files, because then SVN would work better, and since SVN handler have to upload only changes and not whole file, it should be faster too. Also if it would happen two artist would do changes on same file, there exist a chance that the changes could be automatically merged.
On another side binary files may have lesser size themselves. Still I think using SVN without versioning stuff is something like a waste.
To Ivan: Remember I’m talking about ascii 3d software scene files, for models, materials, perhaps animation and even rigging. Not bitmap graphics in any shape or form. This is purely for sharing 3d scene files between the artists working on assets for vcmi. The bitmap graphic files are created upon rendering, which happens last. Most likely post work is required after rendering (i.e. photoshop etc), so this is when I’d recommend using another sharing service/location rather than SVN for bitmaps. However, probably most artists here will do the post work after rendering themselves (I know I will).
dl.dropbox.com/u/22372764/vcmi/vcmi-icons.png
Any images will work - indexed or RGB, with transparency or without it. Actual replacement done via small text file so you can add any new icons yourself.
Regarding icon - a bit different background texture is quite notable. Removing it is probably easiest way to fix this. Also, icon looks a bit too bright compared to interface.
OutSane, are you still working on replacing secondary skill?
I hope you are, because I was really impressed how the first one came out. It looks really good.
I have started redrawing the artifacts, but in 2D. Have a look here if you’re interested.
Hey Ed, I check VCMI forums from time to time. And although I am not really working on the secondary icons I did complete another icon, the one for ballistics and here it is.
Wow. That’s amazing level of detail.
You should probably move camera a bit to fit whole ballista on icon - looks a bit weird in-game.
Check attachments: screenshot + package that can be installed on 0.89 (unpack in Sprites directory). Images were downscaled to 200px. secskills.zip (217 KB)
ups… that does look weird
But I don’t think the problem should be solved by making a more broad view.
It will change the focus area from the actual ballistic to the mobile platform its mounted on and that will definitely lose a lot of the old feel.
The original icons have a subtle highlight (its 1 pixel in width) around them that kinda makes them pop out and separate them from the background. I am gonna try to make something similar but I don’t have the photoshop skills to make a good imitation.
maybe a simple thin frame (bronze for basic, silver for advanced and gold for expert).
what do you think?
