Desert Elves

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Federalist marshal
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Re: Desert Elves

Post by Federalist marshal »

xtifr wrote:Regarding the ranged attacks: the behavior of the bow is so unrealistic as to be positively surreal. As someone else pointed out (too lazy to go back and find the comment), when a bow is drawn (pulled), the region of greatest curvature is towards the ends. The current art has it bending in the middle, almost as if it were hinged. But this is only the first and most minor problem.

When a bow bends, the top comes down and the bottom goes up. With the current art, particularly for the Desert Archer ranged frames, the height of the bow is unchanged when it curves. Which means that it's magically extending--a sort of "telescoping" bow. On top of that, the bowstring magically becomes much longer as well--much, much longer. Bowstrings do not stretch--at least not if they're working properly. :) What this means is that the distance from the drawing hand to the tip of the bow should be exactly half the length of the bowstring when undrawn.

Basically, when a bow is drawn, it goes from a "bow-like" shape to an almost horseshoe-like shape. And the shorter the bow (and the desert archers' bows are really short), the more curved and horseshoe-like the bow will become when drawn.

Think about it: if a bow were the length of your arm, it would have to bend over completely double and flat when you drew it all the way back. Which is why the minimum possible theoretical length for a bow is slightly longer than the length of your arm. And the shorter the bow, the closer it will come to that extreme of doubling over.
Is that for the sharpshooter only? I don't think it was that bad a problem unless the bow were that long; I'll fix it when I have the time...

---

I'll post my modifications to the hunter as soon as I have the time to refine it.
Max
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Re: Desert Elves

Post by Max »

there's not a single bow animation (mainline elves and desert elves) that's physically correct. but the question is - does it matter? will it look more realistic in action? (quite often exaggerated animations look better).
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xtifr
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Re: Desert Elves

Post by xtifr »

Max2008 wrote:(quite often exaggerated animations look better).
That's a valid point. The sharpshooter is probably acceptable, then, but the archer has so much distortion that I suspect it'll look bad if left as-is. It's going to look like the bow grows towards his forehead.
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Max
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Re: Desert Elves

Post by Max »

i think you're right, the second frame looks a bit odd. here's a comparision:
ImageImage
ImageImageImage

would be nicer if the bow wouldn't come so close to the body.

(how can i attach files, place them inline and avoid them showing up twice?)
Attachments
archer+female-attack3.png
archer+female-attack3.png (1.65 KiB) Viewed 6158 times
archer+female-attack2.png
archer+female-attack2.png (1.62 KiB) Viewed 6149 times
archer+female-attack1.png
archer+female-attack1.png (1.57 KiB) Viewed 6148 times
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Federalist marshal
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Re: Desert Elves

Post by Federalist marshal »

I based the archer's ranged frames based on the current wood elves, so I don't really think it would matter that much. :| Considering the amount of time I've had available recently, I don't think I can really afford to consider it more than a minor quibble unless Jetryl would agree with you guys.
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Federalist marshal
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Re: Desert Elves

Post by Federalist marshal »

Here's a refined hunter base sprite and a melee frame:
Attachments
DesertHunter-attack.png
DesertHunter-attack.png (2.78 KiB) Viewed 5664 times
DesertHunter.png
DesertHunter.png (2.76 KiB) Viewed 5660 times
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woodmouse
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Re: Desert Elves

Post by woodmouse »

The attack line goes over his face... I think it would be better if it wouldn't?
Check out my sprites!
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Longbow
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Re: Desert Elves

Post by Longbow »

Mist, have u got cfg, png folders and faction cfg that I could use in my era?
My campaign, Elvish Legacy
My inventively named Era
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Urs
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Re: Desert Elves

Post by Urs »

IIRC, we're doing away with two-frame attacks with motion blurs/swishes.
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Espreon
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Re: Desert Elves

Post by Espreon »

There are a few flaws with the Sharpshooter sprite.

Some parts which are intended to be TC'd are not TC'd.

To see this game just take a 1.5x release of Wesnoth and install this.

Then go to Multiplayer, go to Local Game, then set the era to Quenoth Sandbox and see the Sharpshooter when it is under side 2's control.
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