This unit is a replacement for Mechanized Infantry. The "real world" unit, which you can read about here (http://www.army-technology.com/projects/dardo/index.html), is being produced for the Italian Army. In CivIII terms, it's for the Romans. Well, like always, let me know if anything is missing from the .zip file. Enjoy. :D

Download (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/Dardo.zip). New PediaIcons (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/DardoIcons.zip).

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/Dardo.gif

That was fast!

Great work :goodjob:

Very nice, thanks:goodjob:

Well done, excellent addition to the unit section.

Awsome unit. I can't wait to throw it in my mod.

Man, that was indeed fast :) Good job!

What is your next unit? ;)

Originally posted by BeBro
Man, that was indeed fast :) Good job!

What is your next unit? ;)

Well, it was fast because I developed a technique using Adobe Photoshop. Let's see . . . my fidget animation--six frames--took me four minutes to complete the storyboard.

As for my next unit . . . I'm not sure. I was thinking about one of these. The Turkish Cobra (http://www.army-technology.com/projects/cobra/index.html) for the Ottomans. The Italian Ariete (http://www.army-technology.com/projects/ariete/index.html) MBT for the Romans. The South African Olifant (http://www.army-technology.com/projects/olifant/index.html#olifant6) MBT for the Zulu. I think I'm leaning toward the Cobra because it would be another Mech. Infantry unit, and we have some tanks already.

Personally, I'd like to see you do the Challenger 2 for the English ;)

Originally posted by zulu9812
Personally, I'd like to see you do the Challenger 2 for the English ;)

English? Eww. ;) No, Just kidding; I love all people of the British Isles--pretty girls I understand. ;) I might make one in the future, but I want to make sure that no one else is making one, since there have been so many requests for that tank. (When I say no one else, I'm speaking of Boulboulgadol because his tanks are awesome. Although, I haven't seen him around here lately. I sent him a message, asking what his plans are.)

Here are new PediaIcons. I had transparency issues with the originals, but didn't notice until now.

New PediaIcons (http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/DardoIcons.zip).

nice missile fire animation.

Whats the adobe technique that speeds things up?

looks cool, but seems a bit shiny.

Originally posted by Kal-el
looks cool, but seems a bit shiny.

Just that one corner in the southwest view is really shiny. I don't know why, but the light is just very strong there. Oh well.

Originally posted by Neomega
nice missile fire animation.

Whats the adobe technique that speeds things up?

Oh it's nothing special--just a technique I developed. I start by using your tutorial on Rhinoceros and importing the eight directional frame renderings for each step of the animation using Paintshop Pro. When I render though, I change the render properties so that all of the renderings are at 125x125-pixels. I make sure that the windows do not overlap, preserving the 125x125-pixel size. Then I apply palette and save in Paintshop Pro. For instance in the Fidget folder I would have Fidget2.pcx, Fidget3.pcx, Fidget4.pcx, etc. for as many different frames as I have.

I then create a base.flc--there's no use in the game. It's just one frame long and is the beginning frame of all my animations and the end frame of most. From the base.flc file I export storyboards for whatever animations I want to make: Run, Attack, Default, etc. Each storyboard will then have the first frame of each direction filled, but the rest of the squares will be magenta--it's important that the rest of the frames be purely magenta.

Then in Photoshop 6.0 I open one of the storyboards (UnitFidget) and one of the files I saved earlier with the animation frames (Fidget2).

1. In the storyboard, zoom out to where you can see the whole image, but can see all the lines making up the animation squares--usually 33%. Press "W" for the magic wand. Set the tolerance for one. Click in the square where the "SW frame 2" will go. The magic wand will select the 125x125-pixel blank magenta square.

2. Then click in the file containing the animation renderings (Fidget2). Still using the magic wand, click in the magenta around the SW view.

3. Press "M" to bring up the selection tool. Hold "shift" while dragging a box around the SW unit. Now you will have a 125x125-pixel selection.

4. Press "CTRL C" to copy.

5. Click on the Storyboard and press "CTRL V" to copy. The 125x125-pixel unit selection will paste into the 125x125-pixel magenta square you selected earlier. You don't even have to move it.

6. Press "W" to bring up the magic wand, and click on the blank space where the "S frame 2" will go.

7. Repeat for all eight directions and then open the file with the next frame of the animation (Fidget3). Then the next animations (Fidget4) . . .

It's still copy and paste, but it's a lot faster than what I was doing before. Hot-keys, baby! I copy-and-pasted all the animations for my Cobra unit in about 20 minutes. That's pretty quick . . . at least I think it is. Plus, I'm a lot more familiar with Photoshop than Paintshop Pro, so I can manuveur a lot easier. This is a clearly as I can describe it in words--hopefully this will help someone.

Why don't you use CIV3_SBB?

Have you released it?

A beta version, but it's only in a thread of the general C&C forum yet.

Originally posted by Steph
Why don't you use CIV3_SBB?

Because this is easier for me than naming and saving every frame of every animation. Plus, I can organize my files anyway I want, rather than how your program recongizes them. Don't get me wrong, your program sounds great; it's just not for me. ;)

You say you cahnge the render properties.....
when you render do you get rid of the gray borders somehow?
or does photoshop do that?

Originally posted by Neomega
You say you cahnge the render properties.....
when you render do you get rid of the gray borders somehow?
or does photoshop do that?

I'm assuming that you mean the gray window frame. If I'm correct in assuming this, here's what happens. The magic wand--with the tolerance set to one--will basically only select the magenta square. Here's a picture. The picture correlates to step 2: 2. Then click in the file containing the animation renderings (Fidget2). Still using the magic wand, click in the magenta around the SW view.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads3/magicwand.jpg

thanks, I'll have to try photoshop, because one of the most arduous tasks is lining up the units as I cut and paste to make them not "shake around".

Originally posted by Neomega
thanks, I'll have to try photoshop, because one of the most arduous tasks is lining up the units as I cut and paste to make them not "shake around".

Yes, it is. That's why I always keep all the frames the same size, 125X125 pixels for example. Then as long as I don't accidentally change my viewpoint in Rhino and render everything at 125X125 pixels, my unit is always in the same spot. :D My system works . . . for me anyway.

If I remember correctly, PSP 6.0 had a magic wand, but for some reason they took it out of PSP 7.

nope, it's in PSP7 too

Yup, thanx zulu, there it is... and to think all this time.....

well I'm gonna add your technique to the tutoriasl if you dont mind..... I think it will work with PSP 7.0 just as well....

Originally posted by Neomega
Yup, thanx zulu, there it is... and to think all this time.....

well I'm gonna add your technique to the tutoriasl if you dont mind..... I think it will work with PSP 7.0 just as well....

I'm not sure that it does work. First, the programs won't have the same hot-keys. Second, I'm not sure that PaintShop Pro will let you "paste into a selection." I believe that you can "paste as a selection," but in that case, you still would need to move the selection around.

I played with it a little bit last night, and it appears that with some experimenting it can be done the same way.

If it cant, the magic wand can still prove useful, by creating a blank spot which would fill perfectly and in the exact position by the missing unit.

Originally posted by Neomega
I played with it a little bit last night, and it appears that with some experimenting it can be done the same way.

If it cant, the magic wand can still prove useful, by creating a blank spot which would fill perfectly and in the exact position by the missing unit.

Well, good luck! If PaintShop Pro doesn't work out, I know that Photoshop does. ;)

Thanks for your help! Every step followed the same in PSP 7.0, except instead of using ctrl+v in step 5, use Ctrl+shift+L, and it will pop it into the rectangle selected by the magic wand!

My unit creation speed has been accelerated immensly because of this!

New question:

How do you edit the window sizes to 125x125 in rhino, I cnan't seem to fing the option.

Is it =>document properties => Rhino Render => Custom?

Originally posted by Neomega
New question:

How do you edit the window sizes to 125x125 in rhino, I cnan't seem to fing the option.

Is it =>document properties => Rhino Render => Custom?

I believe that you have it. ;)

I access it at =>Render =>Properties

That will open up a window with some options. One of them is Resolution. The default selection appears to be "Viewport resolution." Just below that lies the second option: "Custom:," which is what we want. Set that up to whatever you want. Normally I use 125X125, but my Challenger was done at 150X150.

excellent, thankyou.

One word: Nice.

Great unit Utah Jazz.