How to create palette for units

[aaglo]

One day I'll have to try that two-layer storyboard building... I really do

 

[Vuldacon]

It works Great aaglo and with some "tweaking" concerning Anti-aliasing and background color with some new added procedures, it can produce very good results.

 

[Plotinus]

Lights and Anti-Aliasing cause the light magenta "smoke" shades around units. There are several ways to remedy this but I will need to talk to you because too much to type. lol. IF you look closely, you will see this same thing on most units other than The Original CIV Game Units. Most of us are ok with a little if it does not seriously detract from the unit and blends in ok.

I've often noticed this on my own units, and it doesn't bother me, to be honest. I hope it doesn't bother other people either!

Too Funny Steph ...but perhaps you should open a Web page and accept "Pay Pal" for Contributions... then let the unit Makers know the Link to your Web Page. You would probably make some extra cash. I would contribute and I am certain I am not the only one who would

It could be worth trying!

 

[Vuldacon]

Plotinus, Yes, most of us have the translucent light pixels surrounding our units but they tend to blend in ok enough so most of us are not willing to go through several more long procedures when making units to omit them. Generally they are Not a problem at all and as for Anti-Aliasing, I prefer to use it.

 

[aaglo]

I thought that the background/foreground image system could also be used to produce some kind of special effects to some unit animations... like sort of "static flicker" for some possible holographic or modern stealth units

 

[Vuldacon]

I thought that the background/foreground image system could also be used to produce some kind of special effects to some unit animations... like sort of "static flicker" for some possible holographic or modern stealth units

...it certainly could...just don't color all the way to the Frame edges because the results would be to see a square illuminated on the map around what ever unit image...much like Kinboat's "Balrog" unit during the attack flames.

 

[Logitech]

I often see this question: how to get a palette once you get a true color storyboard from SBB, or when converting units?
Here is my method when converting units:
- Open the true color storyboard in Paint Shop Pro.
- Change the color depth to X colours, and select 160 colours (or 96 if you are making an army). You get a bitmap that contains 160 colours, with few visual loss. The best is usually to use the death animation, as it often has the most colours, but this could vary from unit to unot.
- In Paint Shop Proi, Edit the palette, make a screenshot of the palette edition tool, save as bitmap.
- Open PEdit, select your new bitmap (it shows all the colour needed to create the storyboard). Open an empty palette (like the one provided by Kinboat, with the civ colours already in place). And now just click on the bitmap of the palette to set all the needed colours into the actual palette in PEdit.
- Save the palette
- In Paint Shop Pro, load the palette in your storyboard
- Done

And how would someone with GIMP (me, for example) adapt this to fit the programs I use (Bryce,SBB,PEdit,GIMP,FLICster)??? I keep asking this question, but I never get a straight anwser. I really want to start making units on a mass scale, but I can because the palettes keep tripping me up! If some one can tell me what I need to do, (Like downloading another program (free)) I would really be happy!

 

[Micaelus]

I more or less use the method layed out by Steph above but using the GIMP rather than PSP. Before reducing color depth to 160, get rid of the background magenta and the civ-color blue by going to Colors > Hue-Saturation and set the Lightness and Saturation values for Magenta and Blue to -100 (the lowest). Then proceed as Steph has instructed, taking the screenshot and using PEdit.

I posted this method in Spacer One's GIMP palette indexing tutorial thread, http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=241250
Let me know if you'd like a more detailed explanation than can be found in that thread.

 

[Logitech]

I have followed your instuctions, and I guess my computer hates me , but when I import an .Act (Pals still don't work for me), GIMP shows only the first half or fourth of the palette. I'm getting angre with this whole unit making process now, so if anyone has anything that will help me in any way, I will be very happy!

 

[Micaelus]

Do you want to send the .ACT or .PAL to me so I can see if I can get it to work on my machine? I don't know if that kind of troubleshooting will be at all helpful... Do you have the most recent version of GIMP? I know I'm asking the obvious, but that seems very strange. The other option would be you could send me the palette and a storyboard, I could apply it to one and then send it back to you. From there, you could then have GIMP use the palette from that pcx while it is open...

 

[Logitech]

Okay. I'll be away from my computer for two weeks starting tomorow, so I'll see what I can send you then.

 

[Micaelus]

The other possibility is that you have the "Remove unused colors from the palette" checked. Make sure it is NOT checked when you import the custom palette.

 

[Logitech]

It's not checked; this is before that. anyway, here's what I'm working on, the palette, and GIMP.

note: The third pic is outdated, but the effect remains.