Franken-Pack

[Zhukov]

No submissions yet? Nobody has any leftover parts for the Franken-Pack?

What are you expecting?

[Maeglin Dubh]

Oh, wow.... I missed my one-year anniversary on the forums..... I'll have to make sure I remember my one-year moderator anniversary.

I know finished, well-crafted units aren't drawn that way. This is more for dabblers and concept spriters. It would work sort of like this.......

Code: Select all

Across the top here, would be all sorts of melee weapons,
Divided by damage type. Impact, Blade, Pierce, what have you.

Down the Left                                  Over here would be
side would be                                  clothing, robes, armor,
heads, helms,                                  full bodies, that 
hoods, horns,                                  sort of thing 
etc...

And down here would be all the ranged weapons. Arranged like the melee.

And you assemble the pieces in the middle.

Pieces like that.

[Eleazar]

i could submit my layered .PSD unit files, but i'm not eager to take them apart, myself.

[Zhukov]

Okay, so you want unit pieces. Can't you get unit graphics from mainline/IE/EoM/etc and slice them up yourself? You don't have to be Neorice to do that.

I thought that was what you had in mind. In fact I really can't think of any other way you're going to get this stuff. Where are you expecting it all to come from?

[Maeglin Dubh]

Okay, so you want unit pieces. Can't you get unit graphics from mainline/IE/EoM/etc and slice them up yourself? You don't have to be Neorice to do that.

I thought that was what you had in mind. In fact I really can't think of any other way you're going to get this stuff. Where are you expecting it all to come from?

No, you may not have to b e Neorice, but you can't really be Maeglin, either. All I have to work with is Paint (I've tried GIMP in the past) and I can't get pieces cleanly enough.

Not only that, but I'm going into finals week. I can put together the pieces, if I get some free time, but I can't delve into a new graphics program and try to figure out how to cleanly slice graphics from the background.

[Jetrel]

Okay, so you want unit pieces. Can't you get unit graphics from mainline/IE/EoM/etc and slice them up yourself? You don't have to be Neorice to do that.

I thought that was what you had in mind. In fact I really can't think of any other way you're going to get this stuff. Where are you expecting it all to come from?

No, you may not have to be Neorice, but you can't really be Maeglin, either.

Have some faith in yourself. Keep in mind that I was worse than you are now, at one point.


I'll level with you on this fact - you will have to do this yourself. This is easy enough that anyone can do it; there is no excuse outside of gross disability (blindness, etc) to be incapable. The chief reason that none of us artists are willing to do it is that it is a very time-consuming, tedious job, for what we consider to be no real gain, even for you.

This is because it is not any easier to chop a piece off of an existing unit, than it is to take that piece off a "franken-pack". If you disagree, then you are wrong; it might seem more difficult, but the actual mechanics of doing it are utterly identical. It's like doing a 4-foot high running jump - it might seem more difficult with a 2.5ft tall hurdle in front of you, than with nothing in the way, but it actually isn't.

Your mind is obstructing its own potential; because you think something is hard, it is actually becoming hard. A lot of art actually has to do with this; with breaking through barriers of intimidation, barriers of "things you can't do." To progress, I have to lie to myself - to tell myself that I actually can do something I can't. I then work up the nerve to try it. And I fail, embarrassingly. I do it again, and fail. And again. And again. And suddenly, maybe a week later (for something simple, or maybe a few years later for something really complex), it's not a lie anymore - I can actually do what I couldn't do beforehand.

And so can you.

All I have to work with is Paint (I've tried GIMP in the past) and I can't get pieces cleanly enough.

You're right - you can't - Paint has very awful selection tools.

Try the program "Paint.NET". It's free, and should have a very similar interface, albeit with vastly improved tools. It's in the list below.

This list has grown - mac or pc, you have a lot more options than just paint or Gimp - and I say that referring only to free programs (note that some outside of that category in the list, like GraphicsGale, actually have free versions) :
http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/Art_Programs

Not only that, but I'm going into finals week. I can put together the pieces, if I get some free time, but I can't delve into a new graphics program and try to figure out how to cleanly slice graphics from the background.

There's no huge rush on this, or anything - try taking one unit; say, the elven fighter, and chopping him into component parts.

Just one unit. In fact, just stick to chopping off his head, and his shield and sword. You have to start somewhere, and this should be easy enough.

It takes a while to cleanly select something - I might spend some 30 seconds to a minute selecting the arm of a unit (distinct from everything around it) - and I have practice. Making a selection can be an ugly, tedious process. Don't be surprised if the first time takes five minutes.

Usually, a precise selection like that is made with multiple iterations of the "Rectangular Marquee" tool; holding down shift (in photoshop) to add the new rectangle to what's already selected, and holding down option (in photoshop) to subtract the new rectangle from what I already have selected.

Generally, I'll put arms, or props in their own layers, because I need to shift them around to get the balance of a unit right.

[Maeglin Dubh]

*admonish, advise*

It shall be done as you say.

But not likely before Christmas.

[JW]

Here's a quick (10-15 minute) addition to the pack. Some pixels were duplicated to get a better look at the arm - torso, torso&hip - hip&legs differences. On the Lieutenant some pixels won't be found (left arm) because there was essentially nothing there, so I just isolated the shield.

Hope this helps.

[Maeglin Dubh]

Thanks, JW. Those are good examples.

I need to get a new graphics program... I'll look over that list after my psych exam. I tried to open those files in Paint to put them in palette form as my example, and they open as gibberish. Paint doesn't have layers....

[JW]

lol, to be honest, I don't really know how to use layers either. I just used the lasso tool in gimp to select the areas I then copied and pasted away from the unit, then going back to delete the original pixels on the core, leaving some of the inbetween pixels. (or deleting more in the case of the lieutenant).

If you want, I can do more. I just did 3 as an example of how easy it could be (if using a non-mspaint app I suppose). Shall I continue on humans only, or would you like drakes, orcs, even monsters et al included?

[Maeglin Dubh]

If you want to do this, do humans first, and I'll get something that works and assemble a Human Palette for the Franken-Pack system, then when I have time I'll work on the Elves, so right there we have two of the main factions from HttT. At first, I want to assemble the palettes by race, then later maybe by type, or by faction. Depends.

[JW]

If you want to do this, do humans first, and I'll get something that works and assemble a Human Palette for the Franken-Pack system, then when I have time I'll work on the Elves, so right there we have two of the main factions from HttT. At first, I want to assemble the palettes by race, then later maybe by type, or by faction. Depends.

Well, here's another 3.

[Maeglin Dubh]

Excellent. Once I put together the palette, the litmus test begins: can the pieces be assembled to resemble a decent Frankenstein?

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion!

[JW]

Here's all of them together so far:

[JW]

Experimentation: