UNITS: Japanese Units Pack

UPDATED: 12/24/03

Well, finally, this unit pack is done. Personally, I think these are my finest units yet. And while I can take credit for their creation, I cannot take credit for their quality. I must thank Kinboat for that because it is his techniques I have used. Had I not used his techniques, these units would not look nearly as good as they do. I am but the hands to do the labor and an always willing student...

I would also like to thank Steph for his Storyboard Builder which has made unit creation exceptionally easier.




Samurai Musketeer

This unit is quasi-fictional. It is based in part on Japanese uniforms, but they never had organized gunpowder infantry until after the Westernization in the late 1800s. Note also that this is a peasant warrior, and so perhaps samurai is not the best title for it, but that's what I've chosen at least to submit it to everyone. What you do call it in your mods and scenarios is your business.



Samurai Cavalry

This unit is also largely fictional although the uniform is based on Samurai clothes. The armor for the horse also has some Japanese flavor, and before I get any comments, it IS the same armor used by Kindred for his Amazon unit. We got it at the same place.





Meiji Rifleman

This is the rifleman that would replace the samurai order at the beginning of the Meiji Era, so called because of the new emperor. These infantry fought against the last rebelling samurai who opposed Westernization. This uniform would prevail well into the 1900s.



Enjoy! If you have any problems, let me know.



EDIT: Also, here is the units_32 file for all of them. Forgot to upload it in the excitement...

units_32

Great Job! Feudal Japan scens, here we come!

THANK YOU!!!!!! ^O^

Very Nice Dom! Definitely your best work yet. If you don't mind I'd like to offer a few tips, as I would not be creating nice units if it weren't for tips from Kinboat and Utah. On the meiji rifleman, be careful of not having any part of your unit hit the right hand side of the frame. There has to be at least a one pixel space between your unit and the right hand side, otherwise you get a little "ghost" effect. Others can explain this better than I. Also, on your walk (run) animation. I had a problem with a little "hicup" at the end of the run too, I solved this by deleting the last frame before I put in on the storyboard. If the last frame and the first frame are exactly the same, you'll get this. For an example look at the default animation on my newest cave troll, you'll see he stops then starts again, I didn't want this to happen, but I was too lazy to redo it. On the other two, Very nice work with the smoke! You can see the "ghost" of the smoke when it goes to the right side. Also, your shadows seem pretty dark.

I hope you don't take all this as criticism, I only want to help like Kinboat and Utah did for me when I started. Again, Very nice work!

I wouldn't say this is your best work but the units are fantastic especially the Meiji Rifleman. Can you please post these units in action? I can't really imagine them civ scaled and fighting.

these are really great

Defiently your best work so far

Thanks Dom They're very good.

Well, I'M impressed, and delighted -- nice "stocking stuffer" .

All The Best,

Oz

Too cool. I suppose these might go well with the Sengoku scenario, though I haven't tried it yet. Kinduv like cranberry sauce with turkey.

impressive, gj

Great!

very usefull

Originally posted by Mobilize
I wouldn't say this is your best work but the units are fantastic especially the Meiji Rifleman. Can you please post these units in action? I can't really imagine them civ scaled and fighting.

Click to expand...

You should download flicster, unzip the units into a folder and just take a look at em.


Why am I giving all this advice in this thread, I should stop before people get mad at me.

Those look great

They look pretty good... I wonder if you've seen these Japanese clothes? http://poser-ism.vis.ne.jp/ I think they are designed to conform to the DAZ Victoria 3 figure (which has some morphs to turn a her into a him). I just found these the other day and I haven't even tried them out but I thought I'd point them out...

Actually, yes, I have the Victoria "her-to-him" pack already.... I saw something that is probably connected to these at Renderosity. Very cool.

I've gotten very much into Japanese culture lately, and I just saw the Last Samurai last night, so I'm really interested in doing more Japanese units.

Of course, as I've said though, I'm taking a short break to pursue my mod and to work on the Cut n Paste Pack.

I wouldn't say this is your best work but the units are fantastic especially the Meiji Rifleman.

Click to expand...

Well, I mean at least in terms of the quality of the animations. Personally, there is a certain fondness in my heart for my camels and elephants . But I've learned a lot since then, and I do plan on going back (maybe in the next few weeks) and redoing those units with the new stuff I've learned.

Kindred: I do take it as criticism, but only as constructive criticism, and I appreciate it. Thank you.

Very nice progress. You are getting much better.

Some constructive criticism...

Meiji Rifleman:
There are artifacts in the east views of both attacks.
The run (walk) animation is very stilted (the poor fellow seems to have a sore bum).
The modelling is very good.
The animation of the lunge (attack B) is somewhat awkward through the knee (but not so egregious - his femur just seems long and his stance strange, much like UtahJazz's were while he was working on improving his animations).
No muzzle flash or smoke discharge from the rifle.
Shadows step down severely and get rather dark.

Samurai Cavalry:
There is again the artifact in the east view of the attack.
The bottom of the horse (legs) are very dark, and the hooves almost seem like pixel blips.
The shadows are very dark - the unit as a whole is quite dark.
The horse (or the figure ) seems extra large, larger than the keshik or sipahi, by comparison.
The run is a little choppy at only ten frames.
Really nice model, and the animations are quite good.

Meiji Conscript Rifleman (you said call him what you want, and he looks like the earlier muzzle load peasant conscripts in "Last Samurai")
Same problem with the east view of the attack.
Same dark shadows (and a bit dark overall).
Good animations and models. The best of the three. But could use a bigger muzzle flash and a bit more recoil.
The run flc seems to be missing frames (he has a stilted limp).


Chin up! I used to be a cel animator, so I know how arduous it can be. You're improving by leaps and bounds. Might I suggest (if you haven't already) mimicking the vanilla civ unit animations to ingrain the movements into your skillset. Animation is art - you should be proud of yourself.

Sweet, very sweet.

Kindred: I knew about it, and I did such. I would have prefered seeing it before I would download because my internet is screwy and it wouldn't let me download it. I tried last night rather late and after tweeking around with my internet and such it finally worked.

I think the Meiji Rifleman needs some more color.. it's really.. white. great units though!