themanuneed's WIP

[T-mun]

I'm reviving my own WIP thread just to show people that I'm holding on with these units.
The second Swordsman (the fantasy one) has been ready for a while (thanks to Vuldacon), I'll post it with the custom sounds as soon as I have them finished.
Stormrage has been asking me to turn this one into a pikeman, I'm animating it at the moment and will show previews some day

Right now I'd like to have your comments on these ones:

On the second view I've changed the sleeves' colors (no black stripes anymore, replaced with darker blue and light grey)
I'm not very happy with the smoke prop. For some reason the color has changed with the direction, and I'm not sure the little moving cloud looks good.
I've tried an animation that I had downloaded here (can't remember who posted it ) and used it as a base, but finally remade it from the first frame (which I had also modified to fit the figure).

Same animation (n°1) applied to the Hochland Handgunner (with modified smoke move):

I'm posting a static view so that you would notice the changes in his clothes.
I'll be back tomorrow, I'm going to bed right now I hope to see a lot of comments when I come back tomorrow !

If it can help, my questions are:
-how do the smoke look ?
-should it move or not ?
-should it be bigger ?
-what do you think of the animation ?
-should I add a recoil anim ?
-should the gunflash come earlier (frame #1 ?)
-how do the units look ?
-do I keep the sleeves as in preview #1 or as #2

Ok you can vote now

 

[Stormrage]

- smoke looks good
- smoke looks good
- smoke looks good
- animation looks good
- there already is a recoil anim?
- gunflash looks good
- the unit looks good
- keep the current look of the unit, its perfect

The taskmaster has spoken.

 

[T-mun]

Hmm... "recoil" is when the guy puts a new bullet in the gun, right ? If so, there ain't any anim of this...

 

[Stormrage]

Thats reload. Recoil is when he fires and the gun goes up

Reload is not necessary, IMO. Its a process taking about a minute with those old school guns.. so yeah.. The Reloading Handgunner could be a unit all by itself

 

[T-mun]

Oh, ok... so I don't have to reload, that's good news. I can go to bed now

 

[Bjornlo]

I would suggest some actual flame coming out the barrel as it fires. Also, the smoke would be better if it came further forward.

The unit being illuminated is, as noted by the others, a great looking touch. Makes the palette work later a bit more of chore, but I think it is worth it. A pair of good looking units there.

do not forget civ-colors. On a unit such as this one, one great option is to use two complementary civ colors instead of mix & match.

 

[Stormrage]

AFAIK the blue is civ-color for the first one, and the 2nd one doesn`t have any, its painted as it is supposed to be, in Hochland colors.

 

[Vuldacon]

themanuneed... Looks Very Good and the only thing I would change is the smoke. Have it stay more in the same place as it rises up and moves slowly. The smoke would move forward then slightly up and vanish slowly as it does this. The smoke should be more translucent, especially toward the edges. The smoke could be larger if more translucent. Use the "Smoke Shades" from the Game Palette.

I uploaded a smoke prop for Poser a while back that you can use here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=10048
It is all adjustable to get what you want. Read Me included.

 

[T-mun]

@Bjornlo: in fact there's a flame... maybe too down-scaled. Should the smoke go towards the unit or the other way ? The gunflash comes from MoscaTNT, it is very easy to use and adds a cool touch.
About civ-color, well, as Storm said. The second one doesn't have any. Anyway I always try to choose colors that would match with the color that the concerned Civ would have.

@Vuldacon: thank you for the Smoke Prop, I'll try it. I don't know how KB's props were supposed to be used, I always had white squares around as long as I kept the 9 props visible. So I had to turn 8 of them off...

EDIT: I'm learning new words:
"Recoil, in common everyday language, is considered the backward kick or force produced by a gun when it is fired. In more precise scientific terms, this force is equal to the time derivative of the backward momentum resulting when a gun is fired." (Wikipedia)

 

[Bjornlo]

The smoke is expelled from the barrel heading towards the enemy, but dispurses and goes in all directions. That would be too hard to get done with the palette limitations. So I would suggest it come out head forward (the direction of the barrel) expanding as it goes.

The secondary smoke from the cap/flint should probably be ignored.

 

[T-mun]

Ok I got it. Sounds logical. I hope the palette won't be too hard to do... anyway I can ask my good friend Greg, he'll probably have an idea about it ! I'll send you the storyboard, mate ! I'm pretty sure I'll mess it as soon as I'll try...

 

[Vuldacon]

themanuneed... you can dial the smoke images to the shape, size and positions you want.
In Poser you set the Background of the smoke images as transparent. The "Read Me" file explains how to use the props.

If you use the Smoke shades on the palette for the Smoke, the only extra colors you will need will be those that show the unit through the smoke in the directions where the Unit is behind the Smoke such as the South direction.
...Using the Attack Storyboard, change the Background Magenta color, all CIV Specific colors and all smoke and shadow shades to Black before reducing the 16 million colors to 160 colors. You leave the colors that are showing the Unit through the smoke and try to get the best look you can with only 160 colors.
Add those 160 colors to your "Smoke Essential Color Palette" that has all Smoke Shades and the Shadow shades and Civ Specific Colors already on it. Save the Palette and load it to your Original 16 million Color Storyboards using "Nearest Color Matching". Save the Storyboards with your new palette as .pcx format.

Get in touch with me and I will be happy to help you with any problems with using the Smoke prop or making the palette.

 

[T-mun]

Thank you Vulda, I will contact you as soon as I have my units animated

 

[utahjazz7]

I don't know how KB's props were supposed to be used, I always had white squares around as long as I kept the 9 props visible. So I had to turn 8 of them off...

It sounds like you would need to alter the transparency falloff. Set this to 0.00 and then the white squares around the cloud should disappear.

 

[T-mun]

I've tried it and rendered each time I changed the setting, still I had this square...

 

[Vuldacon]

themanuneed... Load the Poser File I uploaded and look at the settings. Also read the "Read Me" File.
IF any problems, contact me.

 

[T-mun]

I took a look at it... do you think I can import it in another Poser scene ? I mean, I already have my hangunner posed, can I just add the smoke ?

 

[Vuldacon]

Yes, you can add the smoke but you will have to position it. You will also want to adjust the smoke so it looks as you want. Remember that the smoke will be independant of the Rifle so it will not follow the Rifle barrel. I believe I stated how the prop is parented in the read me file. play around with it and you will get good results.

 

[T-mun]

Ok thanks Vulda. I'll send you an e-mail as soon as possible.