17-12-2004 23:26									#301
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Well, I really want to learn how to do this! Here's my first attempts: the Chinese and Afghan flags that Patine posted.

Please tell me what you think.

Attachment: china1890afghan1992.gif
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	18-12-2004 00:04									#302
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Well Valmont I'd say you did a pretty damn good job. I love how you rendered out the curve in the dragon's back on the flag, I know its challenging to do when your restricted to using such a small number of pixels to create your artwork.

The advice I'm going to give you relates to shading small and narrow bars of colour, I'll use the upper green bar in the Afghan flag you rendered out as well as the upper green bar in the African Union flag I created. Basically, when rendering narrow bars of colour you have to create a wider range of shade between light and dark colours, this is something I only picked up on in the last few months myself from studying Fairline's new ToT units.

The end result may appear insignificant up close, but when the flag is observed at actual size it will appear to have more definition and dimension. Please, don't take that little tibet of advice as a critique because you really did a great job on those flags.

Attachment: lesson in contrast.bmp
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	18-12-2004 00:31									#303
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quote: Originally posted by Sarsstock The end result may appear insignificant up close, but when the flag is observed at actual size it will appear to have more definition and dimension. Please, don't take that little tibet of advice as a critique because you really did a great job on those flags.

Not at all, that's exactly the kind of feedback I want! I want to get better. Thank you for the tip.

	18-12-2004 02:06									#304
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Good point, I've also noticed this 'gleam' trick while i was working on my own units. Working up close you don't notice the effect. Amazing what a few shades can do.

Excellent rendition of that chinese flag Valmont. The green dragon really stands out.

	18-12-2004 08:12									#305
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The flags look great, valmont! The Chinese one is certainly better than mine (though I've tried a few others lately, though mostly alterations, such as turning a modern Japanese flag to a WW2 one, or a modern US flag to a Revolutionary one; I'll post those shortly to see what you and Sarsstock think). My big question here of Sarsstock is, though, will you include dependencies in your North America collection (like Bermuda or Puerto Rico) or just independent nations (and the same for Oceania)?

	18-12-2004 08:50									#306
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When you choose shades, can you use the Brightness/Contrast adjuster in PSP? If so, how much difference do you use between each shade?

	18-12-2004 11:03									#307
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You could use brightness/contrast adjuster in Photoshop, but that could lead to compatibility issues with the Civ II pallet. Though I do use Photoshop, I typically just eyeball the colours.

To answer Patine's question, I'm not quite sure. I'll probally resort to the "Whatever the heck I feel like" approach when I sit down to make up the continent. As it is a small contient (nation count wise) maybe I will.

	19-12-2004 12:38									#308
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Hey, could someone please try this old Siamese flag for me? I gave it a try, but it looked abyssmal. If Chris is busy, could one of you other guys please try it (some of your work is quite exceptional)? Thanks!

Attachment: siam.bmp
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	20-12-2004 09:31									#309
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How's this?

I couldn't decide between the two versions. They are almost identical; the only differences are two pink pixels.

Attachment: oldsiam.gif
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	20-12-2004 10:34									#310
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Valmont you did a great job there, good work!! The only comment I have is your use of grey tones for shaded white area's. Its good that you reconized the need to use them within the elephant graphic, but I found a lone time ago that beige makes for a much better representation of shaded white.

	20-12-2004 11:23									#311
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Sarsstock thanks for your kind words of encouragement. I have revised the graphic using the beige tone you suggest. Indeed it looks better, the shades blend better and the illusion of the elephant's head is more convincing.

I am learning a lot from you!

Attachment: siam18551916.gif
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	20-12-2004 13:12									#312
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Thanks a lot, valmont! It's perfect! I've been unable lately to post my altered flags so you all can see, as the bitmaps are too big. I'm using mspaint, and I can't seem to get rid of that big white square palette that blocks up so much when you click 'New' on the file menu. I'll try superimposing them over a copy of some other flags I downloaded from here lately.

	20-12-2004 13:24									#313
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Here's my altered flags set. I used valmont's china/afghanistan palette to cut down on wasted space (sorry valmont, but I needed a two flag, small one). The first is Chris' modern Japan flag turned to a World War II Japan flag. The second is Chris' modern US flag converted to a Revolutionary one. This may not be flags from scratch, but it's a start. What do you all think?

Attachment: altered flags 3.bmp
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	20-12-2004 17:21									#314
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Here's something I just did, actually. It's the South Vietnam flag I've been bugging you for a few times, Chris. Tell me what you think, and maybe a few pointers, if you could, please. Thanks!

Attachment: svn flag attempt.gif
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	21-12-2004 01:27									#315
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Well Patine, the major tip I can offer for your South Vietnamese flag is try to add the darker shades of yellows and reds on the graphics outer edge. Basically, try to use the plain colour flags I supplied a while back as a reference.

In case you lost them, I'm attatching the plain graphics that I've used to make all the flags in my collection. Hopefully they will help you get the more three dimensional look.

Attachment: blank flag references.gif
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	21-12-2004 04:27									#316
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@Sarsstock: That will be mighty useful I'm sure! Thanks

@Patine: I think your Japan WW2 flag is gorgeous!

	21-12-2004 05:16									#317
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@Patine:

Amazing work - But you could crop that image some!

	21-12-2004 09:41									#318
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Thanks, all! And that palette of blank flags will certainly be useful; thanks, Chris (and for the pointers as well). But, Curt, how could I crop that image, especially that big white square; do tell.

	21-12-2004 11:26									#319
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Patine, here is that Tito-era Yugoslavian flag you requested a while back.

Attachment: tito-era yugoslavia.gif
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	21-12-2004 22:07									#320
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Thanks a lot, Chris! I greatly appreciate it!

	23-12-2004 22:42									#321
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Here is the second to last flagset of the world... North America. With another eight days before the new year I think I will reach my goal I set way back of creating all the flags of the world before 2004 is up.

Attachment: north american flagset.gif
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	29-12-2004 23:32									#322
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Ok, I´d need to following ones ... medieval, of course

(1) Lübeck

(2) Stettin

(3) Danzig

(4) Teutonic Order

(5) Denmark

(6) Sweden

(7) vanilla standart/flag

(8) Poland

Thank you mate

	30-12-2004 00:03									#323
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No problem Steph!! I already have four of the eight you requested ready. I'm also still hoping to meet my own goal of finishing the last of the continental flagsets, Oceania before the New Year.

	30-12-2004 00:11									#324
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It's gonna be close. You've only got about 48 hours left!

	30-12-2004 00:19									#325
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Well I'm going by Eastern Standard Time (EST) so I have a little bit more than 48 hours still.

	30-12-2004 11:16									#326
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Just to be clear, what would everybody define as a nation in Oceania? I mean, the question I'm pondering is whether to include the small island nations such as the Solomon Islands or Vanuatu?

	30-12-2004 12:58									#327
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I think you should include every independent and self-governing state in the Pacific, down to and including the two you mentioned and even Nauru (which is fully independent, actually) and the Federation of Micronesia (which handles all of its own affairs except its coast guard nowadays). But that's just my opinion. It's ultimately up to you.

	30-12-2004 22:37									#328
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Here is the final flagset... Oceania. I had a bit of a hard time figuring out what qualified as a country or a territory and what deserved to be represented as its own flag and shield as I have previously rendered out the flags and shields for territories as opposed to only soveirgn independant states.

If anybody thinks I have errored attrociously by not representing a nation and or territory's flag and shield feel free to let me know and I will try to fix the problem.

Attachment: oceania flagset.gif
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	30-12-2004 23:18									#329
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Top-class work!

This man is a graphics machine I tells thee!

	30-12-2004 23:45									#330
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I used to make flags for strategic command, but civ2 flags
are too small for me to exercise my flag skillz