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Programs for making Civ III graphics

Lord Drake

Paper Tiger
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Huayna> Oh.. i knew that, really. :P

nick> opps. O.o

thanks. :)

trying too, looking for programs that i can use that are free and won't take me a year to learn. >.<

when i look that stuff up i get dragged to civ IV, find stuff not related or get pulled back to this post. :/
 
Huayna> Oh.. i knew that, really. :P

nick> opps. O.o

thanks. :)

trying too, looking for programs that i can use that are free and won't take me a year to learn. >.<

when i look that stuff up i get dragged to civ IV, find stuff not related or get pulled back to this post. :/

I recomend GIMP. Free and fairly easy to use. Check out some tutorials here too if you haven't already. That's what I'm using to do minor edits to city/terrain etc graphics.
 
will gimp allow me to make unit models and animate them?
 
GIMP is only for static images. It has the advantage of being able to handle pcx files. (I have to admit I cannot make head nor tail of GIMP and have always used NeoPaint for such things.)

For unit-making, you would need Poser, or perhaps DAZ Studio, or alternative Bryce or some other modelling/animating program. Have a look through some of the tutorials to see what other people have used. As far as I can tell, Poser is far and away the best option for humanoid or animal-based units (and simple animations are not difficult to do in it, although complex ones can be very tricky). Unit-making can be a lot of fun but be aware that quite apart from the problem of getting hold of the right software, it can have a steep learning curve and it takes time and practice to get good results.
 
I followed a GIMP tutorial for making improvements which taught me pretty much all I needed to know for editing the static graphics. I had a go at using Bryce, but gave up. I think I'll try and master the static graphics before I even attempt unit making. Though I have recently started unsuccessfully playing around with Civ3FlicEdit and Flicster. Just wanted to correct an existing unit that is off center, but even that proved too difficult.

Just out of interest how long did it take you to learn to make units with poser Plotinus?
 
It didn't take a great deal of time to learn the nuts and bolts of it; it was mainly a matter of getting all the software together and then working my way through utahjazz' tutorial. My first units took a long time to make. Reaching the stage where I could remember all the stuff, and just sit down and make a unit from start to finish without needing to look things up and properly understanding what I was doing, took longer. And reaching the stage where my units were pretty good took longer still, as you can tell if you go through my units list sequentially. The fact is that the many flaws of Poser and the eccentricities of the Civ III flic format make unit-making a complex and often tedious business, quite apart from the artistic problems involved. It's this, rather than the artistic work involved, which is why I'm amazed at how many units Sandris makes; the thought of putting all those storyboards together, checking all those palettes, and (worst of all) making all those units_32.pcx chills me to the bone.

That said, simple units, especially those where you can use pre-existing animations (such as those uploaded elsewhere on this site), are not at all difficult to make provided you're diligent and follow the tutorials carefully. Anyone with Poser can knock out some simple swordsmen, spearmen, workers and so on using the templates that are available, and this is a good way to learn the unit-making process. The tricky stuff comes when you try to get more imaginative and put wraiths wielding flaming swords onto the backs of monstrous winged beasts.
 
It didn't take a great deal of time to learn the nuts and bolts of it; it was mainly a matter of getting all the software together and then working my way through utahjazz' tutorial. My first units took a long time to make. Reaching the stage where I could remember all the stuff, and just sit down and make a unit from start to finish without needing to look things up and properly understanding what I was doing, took longer. And reaching the stage where my units were pretty good took longer still, as you can tell if you go through my units list sequentially. The fact is that the many flaws of Poser and the eccentricities of the Civ III flic format make unit-making a complex and often tedious business, quite apart from the artistic problems involved. It's this, rather than the artistic work involved, which is why I'm amazed at how many units Sandris makes; the thought of putting all those storyboards together, checking all those palettes, and (worst of all) making all those units_32.pcx chills me to the bone.

That said, simple units, especially those where you can use pre-existing animations (such as those uploaded elsewhere on this site), are not at all difficult to make provided you're diligent and follow the tutorials carefully. Anyone with Poser can knock out some simple swordsmen, spearmen, workers and so on using the templates that are available, and this is a good way to learn the unit-making process. The tricky stuff comes when you try to get more imaginative and put wraiths wielding flaming swords onto the backs of monstrous winged beasts.

Thanks Plotinus. I have taken a look at utahjazz's tutorial briefly. I do aspire to master poser, one day. I'm glad to hear that it isn't too hard though, at least for non-Witch King units. By the way that unit is a work of art. It's creations such as that the keep Civ 3 alive for me; keeping my modding!
 
I looked up poser, and it's 250$!! O.o

anything else that'll work?
 
Remember you can get earlier versions of Poser for much less (they have been known to give them away). For unit-making, they are just as good.

Bryce is good for machinery and buildings but terrible for animating anything organic. A possible better solution is DAZ Studio, which is free and similar to Poser, although I don't know if anyone has successfully made units with it. There is also POV-Ray, which aaglo and Orthanc use, which is free but has a steep learning curve.
 
what versions of poser are likely for free?

i'll go look at bryce. :)
 
got blender, can barely stick some spheres and cylinders together for a snow man. >.<

i looked up bryce 5.0 but i keep getting routed to 6.1. :/
will check up on poser. thanks. :)
 
got blender, can barely stick some spheres and cylinders together for a snow man. >.<

i looked up bryce 5.0 but i keep getting routed to 6.1. :/
will check up on poser. thanks. :)

I managed to get Bryce free somehow, v5.5 I think it was. It was from their website, so it is possible.

Nick
 
I know. ;)
Spoiler :
TheWillowtreedraft1.jpg
 
I know. ;)
Spoiler :
TheWillowtreedraft1.jpg

Nice! Doesn't look like a willow tree to me though ;)

Here are a couple of tutorials for making units with Bryce, if you haven't seen them already.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=104183


http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=226059

I found them super confusing. I tried the first one and made the unit, but I messed up a few steps and it looked ********. Didn't attempt to animate it. Bryce is probably way better for static graphics as various people have said already. Maybe I'll give it a go again though. I wish poser was free :(

Nick
 
Nice! Doesn't look like a willow tree to me though ;)

Here are a couple of tutorials for making units with Bryce, if you haven't seen them already.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=104183


http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=226059

I found them super confusing. I tried the first one and made the unit, but I messed up a few steps and it looked ********. Didn't attempt to animate it. Bryce is probably way better for static graphics as various people have said already. Maybe I'll give it a go again though. I wish poser was free :(

Nick

Thanks. :) I know, didn't come out right even though i told it to do a willow. :(

no i hadn't seen 'em, thanks. :)

ho boy. >.< aye. though version 5 is supposed to be free. :/
 
We already have a a lot of unit makers though. You would have been far more usefull as a static pcx creator, using Bryce :)

You can never have enough unit makers!;)

But yes, more static pcx makers is nice as well.:)
 
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