19-09-2003 15:34									#61
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quote: Originally posted by The Big Mc Martin the ctp sprit maker did not work something to do with needing tiffs instead of tga

You didn't convert them first?

quote: Originally posted by The Big Mc Plus I noticed on some ctp units that when I extract them there is pure black on them (I can’t think of a ctp example of the top of my head)

There should only be pure black on the background and/or shadows, as makespr.exe changes pure black to very dark blue. (R:0 G:0 B:8)

quote: Originally posted by The Big Mc Also what kind of alpha channel support you offering

I'll only support 32 bit .tga where the alpha is saved in the high 8 bytes (format ARGB) this is the default for uncompressed 32 bit .tga and the same version as I'm using when exporting.

	19-09-2003 16:22									#62
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I exported a spr file open the first frame in paint shop pro and to test put a mask on the top the same kind I use for CTP unit creation and it took some of the image away and before you ask it was a white background

So when we load tga into sprit edit we will have to have a alpha channel?

	19-09-2003 16:31									#63
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I copied the image with the holes left form the mask on to a new image consisting of dark blue with the same make up as the one in sprit edit saved it quit then reloaded the image and to my surprise the image did the same thing with the alpha channel.

So it is ever the tga file or paint shop pro

	19-09-2003 16:38									#64
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You are going to love me i found a fix

Just double the blue from 8 to 16 and the image is ok

	19-09-2003 16:51									#65
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quote: Originally posted by The Big Mc I exported a spr file open the first frame in paint shop pro and to test put a mask on the top the same kind I use for CTP unit creation and it took some of the image away and before you ask it was a white background

What happens is that PSP combines the alpha chanel with the pixels, therby making parts of the image translucent, with a non-black background this looks as if some of the image is removed.

To se the effect, open the image, promote the background to a layer, add a new layer and place it behind the original, paint this new layer in some color or pattern, apply the mask to the origial layer, and se the the blak borders change to almost the new background

About importing into SpriteTool: I'll allow both alpha-chanel and a mask image.

	19-09-2003 16:59									#66
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quote: Originally posted by The Big Mc You are going to love me i found a fix Just double the blue from 8 to 16 and the image is ok

I'm not sure I understand what you are talking about.

Do you load the alpha chanel or do you create a mask from the image?

	19-09-2003 17:18									#67
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i created a new mask on the original image i get of your sprite edit program

but I noticed if I move this image with the mask enabled so i only move the none black pixels on to a back ground of blue(0,0,16) so the black is replaced by the blue that when I save it re open the file and make a new alpha channel the mask do not select any pixels

	19-09-2003 17:41									#68
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quote: Originally posted by The Big Mc i created a new mask on the original image i get of your sprite edit program but I noticed if I move this image with the mask enabled so i only move the none black pixels on to a back ground of blue(0,0,16) so the black is replaced by the blue that when I save it re open the file and make a new alpha channel the mask do not select any pixels

Ah! that's one of the quircks of PSP, you can't trust that mask function of theirs. Have had all sort of strange things happening when creating masks. The only thing that seems to work for me is on/off masks (any non-zero values)

So what I do when creating complex masks, is to create a number of different on/off masks in different layers and then merge them. This way I get to make smoth transitions. (I use this when manipulating photos)

Unfortunately the sprites are so small that doing it this way is not particularely easy, but still doable.

	19-09-2003 17:56									#69
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i used a non-zero mask

	19-09-2003 19:27									#70
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Hmm. have you tried playing with the tollerance value for the fill tool, this might affect the way PSP treats near-black values. (just a thought)

	19-09-2003 23:02									#71
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your right it is psp

maybe you could add a psp friendly option i know if you double the blue value in the black colour that replaces pure black you get it working correct in paint shop so all you would do is convert black from any colour value at 0 to 16( in red, blue and green) to a colour version of 16 this would eradicate any problems with sprite edit and psp before the person exports to paint shop may be more code but it will save you hours of people reporting bugs

	20-09-2003 00:18									#72
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Well you sure have a point there, I'll se what I can do. As it is now I don't change the color values, I just export them as they are in the sprite file. (and convert them from 15 to 32 bit)

	20-09-2003 18:20									#73
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I don’t know if you have altered this but on some options to save the images you don’t have a file extension so you go to save and you have to type the name and then .bmp on the end this may upset some people

	20-09-2003 23:48									#74
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Oops! that's supposed to be automatic. No save-dialogs support more than one file-format yet.

	29-09-2003 16:56									#75
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Ok here comes a new version of SpriteEdit.

Changes from Build 6 to 7

1. Added edit capability for all non-graphical elements of the SpriteFile.
2. Added save SpriteFile. For compatability reasoons the sprites are saved in version 1.3, so they are compatible with both Civ:CTP and CTP2.
3. Made a lot of minor changes to the ini-file structure, so now default values for options are not saved in the ini-file.
4. Images can now be saved as Windows-Bitmaps as well as tga.
5. The save dialog now adds the selected extention if the file name does not include an extention.
6. Fixed a lot of minor things in loading and manipulating SpriteFiles.

	29-09-2003 18:47									#76
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Another one great

I just got my new pc so it may take a few days for me to test it but will let you know how it goes

	01-10-2003 01:38									#77
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looking good

but I had problems with a test spr file i altered the death animation by deleted some cells of a ctp unit spr file when i cam to run the spr file it worked perfect but then lost the death animation preferring just to fade a way

I have found something interesting any way and have made a theory called the common origin theory

i know you want to know i have some civ terrain so I loaded up a patch of grassland and found a distinct pattern in the size difference form ctp2 to civ 3

a civ 3 tile is 32 * 16 bigger sounds odd to me what are the odds that that would happen the common origin theory can explain this as both ctp and civ 3 are both sequels in there own way to civ2. now here comes the interesting bit if I can figure out the civ3 hotspot I can generate a program or series of instructions that could convert a civ 3 graphic to ctp in less then five minuets

	01-10-2003 03:57									#78
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quote: Originally posted by The Big Mc but I had problems with a test spr file i altered the death animation by deleted some cells of a ctp unit spr file when i cam to run the spr file it worked perfect but then lost the death animation preferring just to fade a way

What unit did you modify? Was it a non-combat unit? I tried adding and deleting frames from an archer and that seems to work just fine (except changing the playbacktime does nothing).

quote: Originally posted by The Big Mc a civ 3 tile is 32 * 16 bigger sounds odd to me what are the odds that that would happen the common origin theory can explain this as both ctp and civ 3 are both sequels in there own way to civ2. now here comes the interesting bit if I can figure out the civ3 hotspot I can generate a program or series of instructions that could convert a civ 3 graphic to ctp in less then five minuets

Are you saying that the size of a Civ3 tile is 126 * 64?
And what do you need the hotspots for?

	01-10-2003 12:38									#79
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Forgot an item on my changes from build 6 to 7 list:

• Added register .spr-extention with SpriteEdit option. If you do double-clicking a .spr-file will open it in SpriteEdit.
  

	01-10-2003 13:46									#80
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Well I did the maths and it seams a ctp 2 tile takes up around 75% of a civ 3 tile funny hay. so if we remove 25% of a civ 3 units size we get it in ctp format however we need to find a conversion matrix to convert a hotspot into a ctp unit hotspot

The unit I moded was a ctp2 unit of a werewolf created by activsion

	01-10-2003 16:10									#81
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Where did the unit die?

I tried looking at the death anim of two units the settler (GU002.spr) and the archer (GU013.spr).

It apperas that if a unit dies outside the battle view it just fades away, but if it dies within the battle view, the deat anim i played.

When the settler was killed without an escort they just faded away outside the battle view, both befor and after I modified the sprite. When there was an armed escort the death happend in the battleview and the death-anim was played.

	01-10-2003 18:02									#82
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quote: Originally posted by The Big Mc Well I did the maths and it seams a ctp 2 tile takes up around 75% of a civ 3 tile funny hay. so if we remove 25% of a civ 3 units size we get it in ctp format however we need to find a conversion matrix to convert a hotspot into a ctp unit hotspot

Well that is true for cities and terrains, but not necessary true for units take the settler for example the default animation frames have a size of 30x55, and actual Civ3 is rather known for small unit graphics than for big unit graphics so you have them to size up instead of sizing them down. And Maybe every unit has its own size so there could be some that could be shrunken.

quote: Originally posted by Martin the Dane Added register .spr-extention with SpriteEdit option. If you do double-clicking a .spr-file will open it in SpriteEdit.

That's cool something that I would also like to see in TileEdit. Well I made it so that the TileEdit is openen when I double click on a tile file but only the program is opened and not the tile file I wished to open.

-Martin

	01-10-2003 18:12									#83
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quote: Originally posted by Martin Gühmann That's cool something that I would also like to see in TileEdit. Well I made it so that the TileEdit is openen when I double click on a tile file but only the program is opened and not the tile file I wished to open.

Well that's in the current not released version, I haven't gotten around to finishing the things I was updating, but it will be in the next release.

	02-10-2003 21:19									#84
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you made any sense of the last block yet

	02-10-2003 22:27									#85
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Se my responce in the TileEdit thread

Martin the Dane

	02-10-2003 23:37									#86
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no i have to click on a few mor lincks ahhhhhh

	16-10-2003 21:28									#87
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Hi martin I had the idea of showing off my ideas for some new units all units shoew are some kind of mech



So here goes the first

1. shallow dread mech
shallow water mech holds up to 5 cruise missiles and fires smaller bombs
2. particle mech

this mech has to particle canons on it good for long ranged bombardment.

3. rapid rail canon mech

the only one with six legs the second set of legs allows this unit to fire when moving other wise the force feed back of the gatiling rail canon would push it backwards.

4. scout mech

light holo shield allow the mech to rapidly scout the area and avoid trouble

5. apc mech

also uses halo shield to allow troops to get into the thick of the action

6. gatling mech

two gatling canons allow the mech to fire up to 2000 rounds a min

7. the bull

twin fusion canons adore this beast both canons are independently target able and its light sturdy frame allows this unit to reach phenomenal speeds on the battle field

I had the idea that this concept art would help attract beta testers to sprite edit.

	25-10-2003 01:19									#88
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I wrote a quick how to for converting a unit’s colour


Here goes

Converting a units colour

First of all locate the file you wish to change the colour of in martins sprite viewer.

Now export the unit into two images the shadow being one the main picture being another as tgas.

Then open the unit pictures in paint shop pro (not the shadows)

The computer may complain about there being too many pics so I would split the work load on a slower machine.

//note//

you can customise the menu to make the next process off clicking buttons.//


next

click on the first image then masks>load form alpha channel and load the alpha channel.

Now click colors> adjust > hue saturation and lightness

Were you will be able to select the colour you wish to change and the by spinning the well the colour you want the finished unit to be.

Now click ok

//note some times the alteration of colour will add some pure black to alter this run a make mask then repeat the last create a off black canvas copy it past it on to you image send to back merge the image then load the mask for the alpha channel. //


Now open a new image the same size as the other unit images now cover this canvas completely in pure black.

Now back to the first image now it should look like the finished unit now past the pure black as a new layer then send the pure black to the back combine the images and save.

Repeat the process on all you units if you are convert one colour to another psp should remember the colour on the hue saturation and lightness so click on that then yes.

Now when all units are done keep in psp then go file> batch conversion

Then convert all you files to a tiff then you can compile with the original ctp sprite maker.

	25-10-2003 03:29									#89
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Just a quick Q: Why do you use the mask when changing colors, is that necessarry? can't you just change the colors you want and leve the mask as it is? AFAK makespr.exe does not touch the pixels with a mask value 0 (fully transparent) so your background could be a logo, you name, or whatever as long as the mask is intact.

	25-10-2003 04:58									#90
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Hmm, I just select the area which I want to change the colour of using the lasso, and go to colours -> colourise. then save. The alpha channels don't need adjusting, the shadows don't need splitting out. easy.