Working with unit graphics

[MindBrain]

No new messages in my inbox. Are you sure you are doing it right? I'll send you one to at least see if you can receive it fine.

Ok well hours later the message still sits in the outbox now..
EDIT: Oh I forgot to hit send now, and I even read you saying to hit send, I can be pretty slow sometimes ehehehehe....
Edit 2: I still see the message in the outbox, not sure how the messaging program works, I figured there is a time delay to prevent server overload uhhhh

The files are much larger now, and could be optimized, some are up to 100k partly I think because of the noise I added. Uhh also each file ends in "copy" it was the best i could do with batch processing, photoshop will only save bitmaps as copies apparently.

If you get the tagset to work, let me know, and ill try some other techniques and try to get the file size down

[Pyro]

The message stays in the Outbox until the person you sent it to reads the message. Once that person reads it, it gets moved to your Sent box.

As for that link... it asks for a login and password. So I can't download it. Why don't you just upload it to a free hosting site like rapidshare.com or megaupload.com?

I think the reason Photoshop saves the files with "copy" at the end is because you saved it in the same location as the original files. Either that or because the batch process you used saved the file that way and therefore it does the same.

[MindBrain]

The message stays in the Outbox until the person you sent it to reads the message. Once that person reads it, it gets moved to your Sent box.

As for that link... it asks for a login and password. So I can't download it. Why don't you just upload it to a free hosting site like rapidshare.com or megaupload.com?

I think the reason Photoshop saves the files with "copy" at the end is because you saved it in the same location as the original files. Either that or because the batch process you used saved the file that way and therefore it does the same.

Ah sorry about that. Here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/?o35jrm589al3mzp

Edit: oh and the problem with saving as a copy had to do having an alpha channel (used to save a selection) after deleting it the file is 16kb less, but I guess it's still to large (around 76kb for 1 sprite)

So does having "copy" at the end of the file name mess up the importing of the graphic? Let me know plz if the tagset works

[Pyro]

Having "copy" at the end won't cause issues as long as the order is the same then the name won't matter. If you were to rename the 200th image (for example) to have a name that would make it out of order and end up after the 50th image (for example) that would cause issues.

I can't use these bitmaps you made. You need to have them all use the same color table instead of each having their own. You also need to force the first two colors in the color table to something specific. The warrior collection for example uses blue and pink for the first two colors. The first is used for the background which is made transparent in the game. It has to be one solid color, not just random blue pixels or not all of them will be transparent in the game. The second color is used by the collection internally to separate each bitmap. So just make sure the parts you want the actual unit to use are not the first two colors.

If it makes it easier to create a color table, I made this plate... which is all the bitmaps combined into one bitmap.

[MindBrain]

Having "copy" at the end won't cause issues as long as the order is the same then the name won't matter. If you were to rename the 200th image (for example) to have a name that would make it out of order and end up after the 50th image (for example) that would cause issues.

I can't use these bitmaps you made. You need to have them all use the same color table instead of each having their own. You also need to force the first two colors in the color table to something specific. The warrior collection for example uses blue and pink for the first two colors. The first is used for the background which is made transparent in the game. It has to be one solid color, not just random blue pixels or not all of them will be transparent in the game. The second color is used by the collection internally to separate each bitmap. So just make sure the parts you want the actual unit to use are not the first two colors.

If it makes it easier to create a color table, I made this plate... which is all the bitmaps combined into one bitmap.

Ok I'll check that out tomorrow, thanks for taking the time

[Road]

3 colors actually. Background, splitter and dot. <Edit, Wrong information for Oak>

Yes, be sure that the background color (usually blue) does not blend. You can make a batch in PS to save each bitmap with the same table the original came with.

[Pyro]

3 colors actually. Background, splitter and dot.

Amber and I guess Tahoe would require the first 3 colors to be unique. Oak, however, only needs the first 2 colors which means you have an extra color to use for your collection.

[Road]

NICE! No one really ever uses that 3rd one anyways, good to know!

[MindBrain]

Ok I redid the units and the color tables should be ok, I even shaved about 3.5mb off the zipped file ehehehe. Could you try it out Pyro, here's the link: http://www.mediafire.com/?vqqgkma6ftsk61n

[Pyro]

Oak didn't seem to like that the images were marked "Compress (RLE)". So I ran a batch to undo that so Oak can accept the images. Keep in mind, I didn't do a perfect job, just a more or less test tagset so you get the idea. Here is the tagset. This shows a screenshot of a modified Gonen's Bridge with extra warriors for a total of 12. Some of the warriors use the default collection and some use the collection based on your modified images. See if you can tell which are which.

[Graydon]

I can tell, I won't spoil it for others yet though. If you ask me, both versions look like balls compared to the work I've done to him.

[MindBrain]

Oak didn't seem to like that the images were marked "Compress (RLE)". So I ran a batch to undo that so Oak can accept the images. Keep in mind, I didn't do a perfect job, just a more or less test tagset so you get the idea. Here is the tagset. This shows a screenshot of a modified Gonen's Bridge with extra warriors for a total of 12. Some of the warriors use the default collection and some use the collection based on your modified images. See if you can tell which are which.

Ah ok I checked it out, don't think I made an improvement, maybe some other techniques could be used but would probably be best to wait for some real higher res units or those other 1.8 feature graphics. Thanks for taking the time Pyro, I learned some stuff about working with the graphics.

[MindBrain]

Heyyy I tried it again, these units should be way less jaggy, and I took off "compress rle" could you slap it together, here's the link: http://www.mediafire.com/?x07p4ix2v4slmat

[Pyro]

Image with normal collection and modified collection. Here is the tagset you wanted.

Still not much of a difference.

[MindBrain]

Image with normal collection and modified collection. Here is the tagset you wanted.

Still not much of a difference.

Hey there I got 1 more revision, just looking to see how the edges come out, think I got them a bit smoother. http://www.mediafire.com/?ct919vlb4z4csgu