Drawing unit for Dummy part1

Christophe33 · Post by **Christophe33** » March 13th, 2004, 7:54 am

There might not be a part 2, at least by me since I belongs to the Dummy category. After much questions here is the bassic I gathered:
-The unit shouldd be save in PNG format in RGBA color (A is for Alpha), so normal RGB plus alpha mask for the backbround. Transparency can work as a substitute for alpha mask. The number of color is in millions even though we use 256 or less for the drawing itself. The setting for PNG file is "not interlaced/none" and "adaptative" or "automatic" filters.
The size of the drawing area is 70x70 pixels (see picture) but the usable area is mostly the inner 50x50 pixels. In the example placed the elfish fighter inside the mask for the hexagone (in black) to show how it will look like. I also display the aproximate position of the HP bar as it appear in the game. It might be important if you plan a long unit since part will end up under the HP bar.
Any corrections are welcome.

telex4 · Post by **telex4** » March 13th, 2004, 10:57 am

You might mention that artists shouldn't necessarily fill the area available, but should decide the size of the unit in the image by looking at other units and thinking about how large he/she wants their unit to look in relation to others.

Post by **turin** » March 13th, 2004, 3:18 pm

the hp bar...there are certain units with the hp bar over them. for example, the wraith, when looking left, has the hp bar exactly where his sword should be.
can i try to fix this?

Christophe33 · Post by **Christophe33** » March 13th, 2004, 6:21 pm

turin wrote:the hp bar...there are certain units with the hp bar over them. for example, the wraith, when looking left, has the hp bar exactly where his sword should be.
can i try to fix this?

My young ogre endedto have the left arm covered by the HP bar. I just moved it a few pixel more to the right. You could do the same with the wraith if it doesn't move it out of the central area. Since some units are shown with mirror orientation during the game it is sometime difficcult to predict what will happen: you might end up covering something else when reversed. The size of units are clearly not proportional. Midsize units (elf/human/orc...) are too big when compared to riders or troll or ogre. But it iis OK for the purpose of the game. Otherwise the majority of units would appear too small during the game. Yes i might incuding an example of troll and of a rider to show how they fit (mostly) in the mask.P_lus maybe a flying unit.

Post by **Dave** » March 14th, 2004, 1:21 am

I'd like to add that the unit must be within the mask -- it doesn't need to be within the 50x50 rectangular area.

David

Post by **turin** » March 15th, 2004, 10:09 pm

i edited your image a bit. i wanted to make it obvious that the hp bar can be in two different places, so i copied it and placed it where it could also go.

Anything that is under either of the bars will be obscured 50% of the time.

Post by **fmunoz** » March 15th, 2004, 10:20 pm

New images have the shadow drawn at 60% visibility (alpha areound 150-153) with the same old colour as before (you could use black or almost black too.
Same alpha for cinetic lines while the unit attacks.