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How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9453] Thu, 12 August 2004 06:17 Go to next message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
Messages:538
Registered:December 2001
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Below is the reply I sent someone asking for help about creating face sti's. Might as well post it so some others might benefit from it. It might not be free of errors though.

Anyways, it's quite easy really, once you get the hang of it.
The difficulty lies in the amount of work and the amount of things to do before your character is ready.

1. decide which character you'll be working on.
Let's say you want to make a new recruitable character, and you want him to replace, say, Hamous (Postie in UC), which is character number 63.
Now,
- NON-recruitable characters use face images with a b in front, eg b63.sti,
- Mercenaries use face images without anything in front of them. eg 63.sti.
- Rectruitable characters, like Hamous, need all of them.

So, for the faces of character #63 you'd need: (check the ja2/data/faces folder with UC installed if you want an example)
/data/faces/63.sti (48x43 pixel image)
/data/faces/B63.sti (90x100 pixel image) (= the one you see when talking to someone)
/data/faces/33face/63.sti (15x14 pixel image)
/data/faces/33face/B63.sti (29x33 pixel image)
/data/faces/65face/63.sti (31x27 pixel image)
/data/faces/65face/B63.sti (58x65 pixel image)
/data/faces/bigfaces/63.sti (106x122 pixel image) (= the one in the (AIM) profile page with background picture, or the terrorists intel page)

To be honest, you might not need all of the sti's. The above ones are the ones Sirtech included in the game, but for instance terrorist #111 does fine with only the 90x100 and 106x122 image. So some of them might be obsolete.

2. create a face image
Do this in the graphic program of your liking. Tip: Make it 106x122 pixels or bigger, that way you only have to cut and scale it down for making all the other ones. Check some images in the ja2/data/faces folder (after installing UC) to see how the faces fit the images.
2a. the best results: when the face image is finished and the correct size, convert the image to 256 colors in your graphic program if it has the function. Export the color palette to import it later on in sti-edit.
2b.You can also forget the prevous (2b) step and just copy (CTRL+C) and paste (CTRL+V) your image into sti-edit, but when your image has a lot of different colors it might lose some quality.

3. Mouth and eye movements.
Some of the face sti's have moving mouths and blinking eyes in the game.
The most noticeable are the 90x100, the 48x43 and the 58x65. I think we didn't even bother to make the mouth and eye images for the other ones.
There are 8 pages in one sti-file like that: (the 106x122.sti is an exeption to that, it's a single-page sti)
- the full face image
- eyes: closed detail
- eyes: half closed detail
- eyes: angry frown detail
- eyes: pulling eyebrows up detail
- mouth: ee detail
- mouth: aa detail
-mouth: oo detail
In the multipage sti file (see 4.) they will be placed in this order after eachother.

Try to make the three eye details the same size, and do the same for the mouth details. Keeps you from the need to tweak their position with the x,y coordinates in sti-edit.

4. Importing into sti-edit
open sti-edit. Here you can do two things that have the same effect
4a. open a face image you want to overwrite, and paste your homemade face image from the graphic program onto the image in sti-edit. Press the red arrow pointing to the right to go to the next image in the sti-file and copy and paste your first eye detail over the present image. (they will replace it rather than paste literally OVER it). Do the same with the other 6 images.
4b. OR: create a new sti-file in sti-edit using the white page icon (neue data einstellen), and choose the second option (collection).
Here you can start with the standard palette (which will automatically be overwritten by the first image you paset into it) or load the
palette you exported in 2b for a better matching result. Click on "neue data einstellen" (read: create) and you get a nice black square empty sti collection. Now copy your face image from the graphic program and paste in in sti-edit. Then press the red arrow pointing to the right with GREEN background to CREATE the second page in the sti-file. Copy and paste your first eye image and continue doing this until you get 7 pages and thus 8 images. (the first image is on page 0 Wink

5. save your sti file in the appropriete folder.
Remember that there are several face sti files with the same name (63.sti or B63.sti)
so you might want to make a folder structure similar to the one described in 1.

6. Repeat 1. until 5.
create all 7 face sti's for your merc, and place them in the approriate folder. (See 1)

7. Mouth and eye movements
Now, you still have to get the eye and mouth movements in the correct spot.
The coordinates for those detailes are stored in two places:
- for the small images (48x43 I think) they are stored in the exe.
- for the 90x100 images they are stored in the prof.dat file.

7.a. Open the prof.dat file with ProEdit (in /ja2/data/binarydata/ ). In the bottom left you can enter the mouth and eye image coordinates.
These coordinates measure in pixels the distance from the top left corner of your face image to the top left corner of your eye or mouth image. You can look up these coordinates by checking the placement of the detailed images in your advanced graphic program or in paint by pasting the detailed image over the big one and move them to the right position (coordinates appear in bottom of window)
7b. Use ProEdit add-on(by Azrael) (in /ja2/data/binarydata/ or in the UC-Utils pack available for download) to open the exe you are using (ja2.exe
for regular game or Ja2-UC.exe if you are modding UC) and edit the coordinates for the 48x43 face eye and mouth images.
If for some reason your 4 eye detail images are not the same pixelsize, they will look distorted in the game, since they will all
be offsetted with the 1 set of coordinates you entered in ProEdit or the add-on. You can solve this by making the images the same size, or by tweaking their position using the x and y offsets in sti-edit. (if your first image is 20x38, and your second is 14x30, aligning to the centre of the other one, then you will have to adjust x and y to 3,4.

Voila. Piece of cake, no? :moosegrin:

The programs I mentioned are literally named like I did. Sti-creator IS NOT Sti-edit. Use Sti-Edit. It's windows based. No DOS knowledge needed. It does tend to crash from time to time, and sometimes pasting a new page into the sti file causes the other pages palette to go nuts (you'll see) so save often.


Good luck! Let me know where I am not clear. But first try it all out, when you fiddle a bit with sti-edit, it'll all become clearer. I promise.

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First Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9454] Tue, 17 August 2004 18:58 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
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Thanx for the extensive walk through. I wanted to wait till I had something up and running to respond triumphantly but it's been a few days since I've been using you're tips and I already have some questions.

You mention saving and exporting color palettes yet when I use STI EDIT it automatically gives me the option to import a color palette when I open a file via the multi page selection. Should I instead use the individual page or?

Also several of the smaller .stis (15x14 etc.) appear completely pixelated when I place a picture at that size. Is there a bare bones number of files I can import into the FACES file and still get a character to load without the Not Complete message written across his face?
I realise I probably also need the voice files and maybe something else but would like to expedite the process.

Thanx again Wodan.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9455] Tue, 17 August 2004 22:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
Messages:538
Registered:December 2001
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
1. You can import one either way.
Use the multi page selection when creating a sti file from scratch,
import it via the button under the palette when you start from an existing one and want to paste over new images. (I used to do that sometimes to have a check on how many images I needed to replace). Do note that when you import the palette into an existing sti file, the images in it will be totally screwed up. (which doesn't really mind if you are to paste your new ones over them, but still, it looks wrong).

2. Well, I don't know if I get the question completely, but as long as you have the first image in the sti file pasted in, you should get an idea of the character you're using. And make sure you have the 90x100 face image for the npc's,
and I think the 48x43 or 31x27 images).

I think you get the "not completed" image if you don't have 8 images in your sti file. Not sure though. You could of course just copy and paste a detail of the face 7 times, justto have something.

Sometimes, when you paste an image in the sti file, say, the 3rd image out of 7, and the color scheme (palette) is a bit different than the previous 3 images, sti-edit sometimes freaks out and screws up all the other images.
(which is why you should save often).
If you would redo the process, it might just work fine next time... :headbanger:

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First Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9456] Wed, 18 August 2004 04:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
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The 8 images you mention, are they 8 different versions of the same sized image (representing the different lip and eye movements) or 8 different sizes?

I only saw 7 different sizes mentioned in you're tutorial. The smaller ones don't even look like pictures when I view them in STI EDIT, just a collection of pixels.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9457] Wed, 18 August 2004 22:01 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
Messages:538
Registered:December 2001
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
I understand the terminology can cause some confusing.

Each character has a set of sti files in different sizes. (The set of 7 I mention, although not all characters need all 7 files)
Every sti file in that set has 8 different images in it.
Out of those 8, the first is fixed in size and determines the size of the sti, the 7 following images
are the eye and mouth details and shouldn't be bigger than respectively +/- the eye and the mouth region.(see below).

So, if you have an npc, it would use 3 bXX.sti's, meaning his face in 3 different sizes, with every face having 7 eye and mouth details.


Let's say, open ja2/data/faces/B165.sti
That is the 90x100 face of Sparks. (a guy you should only encounter in the Sci-fi version of UC,
which isn't released yet)

Anyways, the sti consists of 8 images:
0: 90x100 total face image
1: 46x43 eye detail
2: 46x43 eye detail
3: 46x43 eye detail
4: 46x43 eye detail
5: 47x36 mouth detail
6: 47x36 mouth detail
7: 47x36 mouth detail

You will see the same structure for all face images, with the exception of the 106x122 bigface image. (used in profile and AIM, MERC page)

Of course, for another pic, the sizes of mouth and eye details might be slightly different.
Now open Proedit and check the eye detail offset (1,2,3 and 4)
an mouth image offset (5, 6 and 7). They should be eye 23,31 and mouth: 40.67. If so, you have a working pic. Voila.

For smaller sti's, yes, the images might become tiny. This is after all a 640x480 res game you know.
But as I said before, i think the game only actually uses the moving eye and mouth images for a few sti sizes,
and I forgot which ones. 90x100 is one of them for sure, but maybe the smallest ones don't have moving mouths
(although the images/sti's are made to be so in the original game. Maybe the dev's never got to implementing it)


Hope this answers your question...

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First Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9458] Wed, 18 August 2004 22:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
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Yea, that clears up a lot of present and future questions. I'm taking a guess by saying the game probably only uses the 90x100,106x122 & 48x43.
I'm still unclear as to how to get all the images into the multipage setup in STI EDIT. Should I create different whole face frames or one whole face and 4 eye and 3 mouth cutouts?
Also, does that one 8 frame animation cover all the different sizes used when you see a merc talking or do I need seperate cutouts at different sizes for each sized animation?

I've got a Schmeisser and a Luger to 'fit' into the game but am still not able to get a face. When I finish the weapons mod I'm working on I'll send it to you before inflicting it on the general public.
Thanx Wodan.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9459] Mon, 23 August 2004 22:24 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
Messages:538
Registered:December 2001
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Quote:
Originally posted by Khor1255:
Should I create different whole face frames or one whole face and 4 eye and 3 mouth cutouts?
One face with 4 eye and 3 mouth cutouts.

Quote:

Also, does that one 8 frame animation cover all the different sizes used when you see a merc talking or do I need seperate cutouts at different sizes for each sized animation?
Nope, the one 8 frame animation is only for one size. All other sizes need adjusted cutouts.
For the 90x100 image, the whole face image includes a part of the chest and the whole head,
while the 48x43 face doesn't even picture a whole head, but just the face.
Really, you should just pick out a merc in the JA2 (UC) folder and use it as a reference to recreate all files you find on his character number.

Damn, you're a hard learner. :wb: )
Try and reread my previous post(s), they are in fact quite clear on the matter. And make sure you first try to make a complete face set and test in in-game. You'll know and learn fast enough what you are doing right/wrong.

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First Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9460] Tue, 24 August 2004 01:21 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
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Sorry about that.
Almost as soon as I posted that (my next time I looked at the animations) I realized what you were talking about. Seems pretty easy and I actually put a new face on Ira without the corresponding cutouts.
What I got (of course) was a face that every time it talked or blinked had Ira's eye section or mouth section bleed through. Ghastly buiseness that.
Why I'm even bringing that up is it showed me that the cutouts were really entire sections of the face approximately 1/4 of the animation. This was contrary to what I was working on (making the cutouts exactly the size of the mouth area or eye/eyebrow area) and really a revalation for me. I also accidentally stumbled upon how to find those sections in the Individual FACE file by hitting the arrows. I know that's probably a no brainer but not being familliar with STI Edit I really didn't know what those arrows were for.

I'm now working with modifying existing faces to make them look like they are opening their mouth, blinking eyes etc. I wanted to just sample real pictures of the chick I'm working on to get these expressions but finding the right photos isn't as easy as I though it would be.

I was wondering if you know where the helicopter drop (opening deployment scene) is in the vanilla Ja2 folder? I was looking in animations but can't seem to find it.
Anyway, thanx alot for answering even the stupid questions I throw at you. I have to agree that where computers are concerned I am more than a little slow. Be that as it may I've managed to crank out some pretty cool gun .stis (some with accompanying ammo) and if you'd like them drop me a line at Khor1966@yahoo.com. I changed isps this weekend and will probably change again very soon.
Thanx again Wodan.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9461] Tue, 24 August 2004 22:49 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
Messages:538
Registered:December 2001
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So, you're learning. Nice. Smile
IN a year or so you'll be explaining some new guy how to create faces.

About the drop off anim. I have no idea where it is, should check it.
In the vanilla ja2 you should check the slf libs, right? But for UC I think we replaced the sti by an empty file, so the mercs don't drop onto the plane, but rather just appear. Maybe you could look for any (animation) sti in the ja2 (UC) structure that has no images in it.

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First Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9462] Wed, 25 August 2004 00:46 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Batman is currently offline Batman

 
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FYI:

The Helicopter Drop Off Animations are located in the ANIMS.SLF file. There is one for each type of body type.

Example: Female Heli-Drop Off is

ANIMS\F_MERC\F_HELIDRP.STI

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Master Sergeant

Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9463] Wed, 25 August 2004 01:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
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Cool. Thanx!
I have an idea about converting the Helo drop animation into a parachuting one. I belive a lot of the frames just need some additions and of course a lot of subtraction. Maybe this haa already been tried with no success. If so maybe I should give up on this a while lest it interfear with progress in other areas.

Because a lot of the utilities I'm using don't read the UC.exe I'm modding from Ja2 1.03.exe. From this .exe most everything works (not very well but it works), with the exception of the Beta Editor (which works but crashes when I go to the Items tab and sometimes when I go to the Mercs tab) and the AIO editor.
The AIO editor works but will not allow me to change weights of weapons like it is supposed to (I use the Ja2 IE for this and that does work) nor will it assign new ammo types to their respective weapons in game (it allows me to change the name in the editor and assign the new basic ammo type to a weapon just won't accept new ammo types so in game the 5.45 I changed to 7.92x57 [Mauser ammo] appears as 5.45 when viewing the weapon.). It also will not allow me to change the number of clips I can put in a small inventory slot.

I know where all these things are in the respective editors but they won't accept changes. I save after every change and that doesn't help either.

Batman's Desktop editor promts me for a .txt file when I go to change names from there but I don't know which one it wants.
The ITEMSDESC.edt and BRAYDESC.edt are the ones I have been changing with the other editors and I wonder if Bataman's desktop will help to change at least the basic ammo type.

I know all this can be done because in UC there are several new ammo types and they function perfectly. It's something I must be overlooking.

Thanx again man.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9464] Wed, 25 August 2004 09:40 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
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Well, I thought I read you're walkthrough pretty good but I'm now having problems with the xy coordinates.
You said make sure all the cutouts are the same size. What I did was to take my full face picture and make two 'templates' from the eye section then the mouth section. Then I altered three mouths and four eyes to the desired expressions (really pretty easy using clone and Special Effect warp). When I placed them in Ira's face file (59) the eyes were too big and offset to the left and high, the mouth just off to the left. Then I did something really stupid and tried to fix it in proedit. It fixed it allright. Now the big image is screwy too.
I'm working first with the 48x43 image. I maybe should have matched the size of the stis from Ira's file? I just thought if I make them all the same size as one another it would work but it hasn't.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9465] Wed, 25 August 2004 22:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
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1. I really think that most editors support 1.06 and 1.07 versions of the exe. a pity you're not using one of those (UC is a hacked 1.07) since Sirtech didn't patch them for nothing. Wink

2. Weapons is Ramfall's field of expertise. I know close to nothing about that

3. You made the pics ok I think. And you do have to adjust them in ProEdit. The x,y offset is measured from the top left of the total face pic to the top left of the detailed pic.
! The coordinates in ProEdit only affect the 90x100 image. The 48x43 image coordinates are edited via the proedit add-on which you can find in the UC-utils pack.
And for every change you make in ProEdit, you have to start a new game for the changes to take effect.
If you can't get it sorted out, send me the sti, I'll be working on UC tonight anyway. I'll take a look at it.

EDIT: oh, and make sure the two eye and mouth templates are not too big. If they are, the animation freaks out too. Dunno how big they can be, nbut I once tried 1/2 of the total face image, and it was already too big. (tried animating Bruce the photographer to take a picture of you instead of blinking Smile )

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First Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9466] Thu, 26 August 2004 00:13 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
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I've been hammering away for about an hour trying to adjust them in Sti Edit. Still not there, it get's very close but just won't take. I'm wondering if I messed up the original templates the eyes seem too narrow or something (though they match pixel size exactly) and the mouth is always off set just slightly to the left when I get it as close as it will get.
I'm going to work with you're add on (if it accepts 1.03 version) then start from scratch if that doesn't work. My hat is really off to you dude, you must have some superhuman patience! I'll get it but not before I rip a few more heads off.

As for Ja2 v1.03, it is the only one I could get to work on the maximum ammount of utilities. My english 1.07.exe will not load on anything. It runs the game, but none of the utilities will read it.
I don't remember the specific problem with 1.06. Perhaps I'll give that one another try.

I was under the impression you modded UC from the 1.03.exe. Thought I read that somewhere. If I could get the other cracked exe's to work I certainly would be working from a newer version (I'm a little worried about 1.12 because of all the bugs and some features I'm not sure I could live with). We have tried to order the thing with no luck. Because of persistant spyware problems (after using both Spysweeper and Spybot) I don't purchase anything from the internet anymore so we're waiting for the stores to tell us when they can order it here.

If you know of a workable 1.07 I'd really like to get my hands on it.
Less than a month ago I downloaded the one you get through Lords of the Bytes again and it still will not work for almost all of the utilities.

Similarly, the UC.exe cannot be read by the AIO or a few other utilities I'm definately going to need. And because the Beta Editor only completely works from the UC exe, I find myself making maps there then importing them to vanilla Ja (screwy tilesets and all). At this rate I'll be a geezer before I get anything cohesive out.

It's fun creating for this system though. The possibilities are still in abundance.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9467] Thu, 26 August 2004 00:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ramfall is currently offline ramfall

 
Messages:405
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@Khor1255,
in another thread I answered you that I also use AIO editor - which isn't true! Sorry about that. I mixed up the names. I used Batmans desktop editor and the latest Wedit when I did the weapons and items for UC.

This might be the reason why you get the wrong weight. In Batmans editor you'll be able to edit all the stats I used. I think the utilities download have all the stuff you'll need. And I highly recommend that you read the Wedit readme. It will explain what each of the fields do. It's a lot of reading - but it's worth it in the end.

You won't open up a .exe when you use Wedit, instead you will use a file named MyWeapons.txt that you open in Batmans desktop. When you are done editing, you'll use one of the patchers (can't remember it's original name) that will add your changes to your .exe.
:ramfall:

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Master Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9468] Thu, 26 August 2004 01:01 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
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Edit: I just found the Burst Bug Patch (I'm thinking that's the patcher you're referring to) but it will not read my 1.03.exe. This is one of the only utilities that doesn't work with the 1.03.

Also, I don't have a Myweapons.txt file I can find anywhere in my vanilla Ja2 folder I'm modding from. Some utilities won't read the UC.exe so I've been using the 1.03 for everything except mapping.
What I do have is an Untitled.txt that I'm thinking corresponds to the Myweapons.txt.
Should I be working with the 1.07? And if so where can I get a version that works? The ones I've downloaded are supposed to be 'cracked' but don't work. Do I need to use that Unsafedisc utility? I had problems with that already so I really hope not.

I've been able to change the weight in Ja2IE. Now a Garand weighs 4.4 kg just like it's supposed to.

What I haven't been able to figure out is how to assign a new ammo type in any utility. In the description and Proedit my changed names come up, yet in the drop down list (the one you see in the AIO when assigning ammo type to a weapon) and more importantly in the inventory BIGITEM view of the weapon the original ammo type appears. I tried in Bataman's desktop but all I get is a prompt saying 'invalid integer' or something like that. I also of cource don't know how to make any changes in his Desktop take effect in the game but I think you are explaining that.

One other thing I haven't been able to change is the number of clips you can fit into a small space. I'm writing Mauser chargers on top of 5.45 ammo for a WW2 mod I'm doing but since the 5.45 clips are only two to a small space this is highly unrealistic when compared to the size of an 8mm stripper.

Well, thanx for the response and if you're interested in having some of my work you're more than welcome. I'd be curious to see what you think.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9469] Fri, 27 August 2004 01:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
Messages:1817
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I looked at something called ja2edit.ini in the Folder I have my vanilla Ja2 mod. It keeps referring to hex. I believe this means hex editing? If so, is that easy to follow for someone like me? Labor intensive is no problem but if it requires any special understanding I might have hit a roadblock.

To summarize the laundry list of questions I've asked:

Is the Ja2Untitled.txt file and Myweapons.txt the same? If so should I rename Ja2Untitled to Myweapons?

Where do I go to find a English ver 1.07.exe that works with the utilities I'll need for writing an entire mod?

Which of these utilities is most recommended by those of you who are 'in the know'?

Could having two or more versions .exes corrupt files or cause general havoc when loded in the same folder? I tried having the 1.03 and 1.07 and after working on something (can't remember exactly what) I kept getting fatal errors that forced me to uninstall and reinstall the entire Ja2 game from the beginning.

And, back on topic:
Could adding .stis that are the wrong size (not really too big but not matching or even being mathematically divisable to the existing .stis) cause a problem that even adjusting the xy coordinates manually not be able to solve? It seems so.

Thanx for the replies.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9470] Fri, 27 August 2004 05:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
Messages:538
Registered:December 2001
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
1. I think you have to extract the myweapons.txt from the exe using a similar patcher as the one you get it back into the exe with. That last one is not the burst bug patch but some batch file calles "patch ja2" or something.

Any official 1.07 should work with all the tools we used in the Uc-utils pack. Try batman's editor, it has an exstensive help section. Read it thoroughly.

Oh, and I'd stay away from hex-editing. It's just a guess, but I think it is waaay beyond your current capabilities. I'd focus on the more rookie-friendly stuff for now. Again, I could be wrong.

The first image in a sti file (the image on the first page, which is image "0", should be the exact size needed (see way above, or the original ja2 sti you'll be replacing). The rest doesn't matter as long as they are not too big.
Just send me the sti and I'll take a look.
(after the weeknd though, will be away)

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First Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9471] Sun, 29 August 2004 14:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
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Well, I'm almost out of the woods with creating the faces, but you be the judge. I sent you a zip file tonight with the face I've been working with and a few gun stis.
You already mentioned in you're very good tutorial about making sure the cutouts were the same size but I'd like to add that they must not only be the same size as one another but the same size as the stis you extract from the face animations.
Right?

Anyway thanx alot for all the help. This is simply awesome being able to put generated faces into the game.

Next step: voice files!

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9472] Mon, 30 August 2004 13:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Balrog is currently offline Balrog
Messages:4
Registered:August 2004
Quote:
7. Mouth and eye movements
Now, you still have to get the eye and mouth movements in the correct spot.
The coordinates for those detailes are stored in two places:
- for the small images (48x43 I think) they are stored in the exe.
- for the 90x100 images they are stored in the prof.dat file.

7.a. Open the prof.dat file with ProEdit (in /ja2/data/binarydata/ ). In the bottom left you can enter the mouth and eye image coordinates.
These coordinates measure in pixels the distance from the top left corner of your face image to the top left corner of your eye or mouth image. You can look up these coordinates by checking the placement of the detailed images in your advanced graphic program or in paint by pasting the detailed image over the big one and move them to the right position (coordinates appear in bottom of window)
Theese are the X Y mouth and eye settings i need for the PROEDIT and i dont know where to find/to look after them or to calculate them. Sad

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Civilian
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9473] Wed, 01 September 2004 17:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
Messages:538
Registered:December 2001
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Well. How did you make your faces? Did you manage to create mouth and eye cutouts?
If you used Photoshop, you make sure the eye or mouth detail is in the correct spot,
and use the "info" tab to track your mouse pointers coordinates. I am sure several graphical programs
have that feature somewhere.
If yours doesn't, you can do it via Windows Paint, as I explained in the other thread.
I'll do it again here:
- copy paste your main face pic into paint
- copy and paste say, the eye detail into paint
- the detail will have a selection border around it. Now move the selection area so it fits on the face
(it's a bit tricky) and read the coordinates in the bottom bar. !Since the bottom bar displays the mouse cursor
position, make sure to select that eye detail in the most top left corner. With this method, you might be a pixel off, so check it ingame
and either tweak it using Proedit or as Khor mentioned via the x,y buttons in sti-edit. (the last method allows you to tweak while the game is running)

For your own convenience, you want the eye details to be the same image size, and same goes for the mouth details. If they are not, you will have to tweak them all seperately
via the x,y offsets in sti-edit. And beleive me, you don't want to be bothered with that if you're making 50+ characters.

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First Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9474] Thu, 02 September 2004 10:38 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Balrog is currently offline Balrog
Messages:4
Registered:August 2004
Ah ok i see, tnx well i didnt rely created a new face i just used a existing face STI (IMP costum merc faces) to replace certain AIM mercs face pictures.

ok i will try that now with the paint shop program, i hope i understood it right now to do it. Smile

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Civilian
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9475] Thu, 02 September 2004 13:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
Messages:1817
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ
I got the new face sti to work! Awesome!
Thanx Wodan!

You may be happy to hear that the 48x43 pic now has 'two eyes'. I used a different picture that actually looks more like an animation than a real photo. Still very pretty but not as untamed looking as my original picture. I tried superimposing her other eye but it looked...well...superimposed.

Now that I'm working from the 1.07 exe I can use the Proedit addon and Proedit itself instead of the more labor intensive method of adjusting each in STI Edit.

I'm still planning on using the original picture for the 106x122 pic and I'll send you the lot when I finish hammering all the bugs out. Thanx again! This is a leap towards modding ability.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9476] Fri, 03 September 2004 01:01 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
Messages:538
Registered:December 2001
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
@Balrog: Oh, well, if you are shuffling around characters, you can just look up the coordinates.
You will need to adjust the one sfor the
90x100 image and the ones for the 48x43 image.

The IMP faces are #200-210, right?
90x100 coordinates: fire up Proedit and look up character 200-something. Note the coordinates and fill them in to the spot where you want them. (Say, Ira's).
48x43 coordinates: fire up the proedit addition and do the same. First look up the coordinates for the original character, and enter them into the fields of the character you want to replace.


@Khor. Nice. Finally. Wink

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First Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9477] Fri, 03 September 2004 14:01 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Balrog is currently offline Balrog
Messages:4
Registered:August 2004
Ok i see thanks again but somehow i cant find the 90x100 pics?!? Which ones are they? Where are they located? I have only the 48x43 ones, the 33face 15x14, the 64face 31x27 and the bigfaces 106x122 ones?!? But no other face pics. Surprised

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Civilian
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9478] Fri, 03 September 2004 15:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Khor1255 is currently offline Khor1255

 
Messages:1817
Registered:August 2003
Location: Pleasantville, NJ
They are in the same list as the 48x43s but are the ones with a b infront of their number.

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Sergeant Major
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9479] Fri, 03 September 2004 16:08 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Balrog is currently offline Balrog
Messages:4
Registered:August 2004
I see tnx but somehow it does only show b pics of NPC/RPCs and not of mercs/IMP costum mercs?! :bawling:

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Civilian
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9480] Fri, 03 September 2004 21:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
Messages:538
Registered:December 2001
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Are you looking into the original ja2.slf libraries? Or only in the folder tree after installing UC?
You should look into the original .slf files.
Use slf-explore for it. (If you don't know DOS, don't try to use unslf, since that is a dos utility and most of the people don't know how to work it.)

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First Sergeant
Re: How to create face sti's [the basic tutorial][message #9481] Wed, 01 December 2004 19:56 Go to previous message
Wodan is currently offline Wodan

 
Messages:538
Registered:December 2001
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
*bump*

@Kaerar: ok, well, maybe it's rather basic. But it's better than nothing, huh?

I didn't go into actually working the faces, since you can create faces by just having pictures of the right size and cutting and pasting of mouth and eye movements.
Dunno if this helps.

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First Sergeant
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