The Bears Pit: v1.13 Modding, Customising, Editing » Q&A about portrait .sti files; portraits

Messages:314
Registered:December 2017
Location: here

Resumed work on a Wiz8 mod, JA2 faces and also voices are basically at rest,
will continue with import of Wiz8 stuff to JA2 after mod is released,
so http://www.mediafire.com/file/3qtkver5vy18wy1/JA2_portrait_yassir.7z/file

is just a break filler for you, and a distraction from complex scripting and boring creation of "snow" footstep sounds etc for me;)

As always incl the .sti versions which require zero adjustments in .xml files,
for the most eagerly desired day when the portraits stupid double dependancy on .xml entry and offsets in sti is removed,
and eye/mouth offset are only determined by .sti entries, making all portraits fully interchangeable!

2nd the revamped portrait of Spooky on which i accidentially stumbled,
made times ago as the one in dunno what mod was ugly and I unaware that better versions already exist in other mods,
but this is ofc the best Spooky portrait of them all :D
http://www.mediafire.com/file/8b8i95n5t812dpv/spooky_portrait_48x43_%2526_90x100.7z/file
as filename suggests only the 48x43 and 90x100 vesion, will add .sti's with camo and the rpc sizes on request.

Note these files have not been tested in game, as usual,
but since nobody complained about the previous soups, also brewn after the same recipe, this should also work flawless in game.
Or have such devastating effects on users that they cant even post a message here anymore.

[Updated on: Sun, 23 September 2018 16:54]

For Jamal[message #355339 is a reply to message #355047]

Sun, 14 October 2018 17:48

Messages:314
Registered:December 2017
Location: here

Due to recent incident, a Deidranna replacement.

Since the new villain is male, Elliots "queen" salutations were replaced with "highness" or "majesty" in his related audio files and .edt entries.
In the RIS report, Enrico was transformed into Enrica and the references to his gender adjusted,
while the remaining entities in game like e.g. Jake, Maddog etc are still speaking of Queen Deidranna,
her soundfiles also remain untouched, just imagine he is castrated.

It would also have been funny to use the portrait for Elliot, but honestly said i was to lazy for all the injuries.

WARNING to users in saudi arabia or any allied country/region, perhaps also if an affiliated person is nearby
Picture may trigger negative consequences, so do not risk harm by expanding the spoiler, or even downloading the archive.
Preview:

dld link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/57k7jbgqfeyye95/deidranna_mbs.7z/file

Muammar[message #355519 is a reply to message #355339]

Tue, 30 October 2018 03:14

Messages:314
Registered:December 2017
Location: here

Revamped full potrait set of Muammar:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/u1nyoaf728vrpui/Muammar_JA2_faces.7z/file

Preview, click pic to enlarge:

[Updated on: Tue, 30 October 2018 03:15]

Re: Muammar[message #355526 is a reply to message #355519]

Tue, 30 October 2018 08:58

sevenfm

Messages:1786
Registered:December 2012
Location: Soviet Russia

Muammar looks great, except for the camo part.
Sahara background looks best for me, though valley should also fit well for his character as in RR mod he lives in Caucasus Mountains.

Re: Muammar[message #355529 is a reply to message #355526]

Tue, 30 October 2018 12:37

Messages:314
Registered:December 2017
Location: here

sevenfm wrote on Tue, 30 October 2018 08:58

..., except for the camo part.
...

Thank you very much for constructive criticism, it helps much more to improve than silence or praise, so dont hold back.

Can you specify what makes them bad, e.g. high/low opacity or color of camo layer, bad transitions, whatever your think?
Perhaps also check the Yassir preview 4 posts above and tell me which of his camo variations look better, if any, or what makes others look bad for you.

I am also curious how other camo portraits were made, but found no recipe posted here about creating them.

Re: Muammar[message #355530 is a reply to message #355529]

Tue, 30 October 2018 12:48

sevenfm

Messages:1786
Registered:December 2012
Location: Soviet Russia

I can't say what's wrong exactly, but it just feels wrong, compare with 1.13 portraits:

Maybe other people (like Hawkeye or anv) could explain better.

I mean, camo should look like it's painted over face here and there, not that a merc suddenly became a Shrek with a green skin :-)

[Updated on: Tue, 30 October 2018 22:54]

Re: Muammar[message #355540 is a reply to message #355530]

Wed, 31 October 2018 01:12

Hawkeye

Messages:1879
Registered:October 2005
Location: Australia

Hard to fully tell at that scale. But the camo colour is very flat. I'd be inclined to try and use the camo colours using a multiply function than just regular opacity. This will work better at least for the darker tones, which will be good for Wood and Urban, but not so much with Desert. I'd also turn down the colours saturation or brightness so it's a more earthy tone than that sort of bright green.

Re: Muammar[message #355565 is a reply to message #355540]

Thu, 01 November 2018 20:39

Messages:314
Registered:December 2017
Location: here

Thanks for feedback @sevenfm & @Hawkeye, added some camo variations to the set:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/vgxdzl6ggbji3ig/Muammar_JA2_faces_02.7z/file

Preview, again click pic to enlarge:

".. compare with other 1.13 portraits .."
Yes I see the need to highly adjust style of new stuff if its designed to be shown side by side with existing stuff,
but otoh (& not really serious;) its no my fault that decades ago a JA2 dev decided to give Shadow insufficient camo,
pulling all later camo_creators to follow her/him on that obviously wrong path ;)

Partial reason for Muammar even more colorful than previous camo portraits:
Unlike others, this portrait was done on an old Frankenpad with cad certified true color uxga monitor,
whose "weak" colors have become even weaker over ~ 9y @~16/24
Rest is based on my bad/weird taste, workflow and last not least lazyness(<-only 1 option for each camo type)

Not sure if i understannd "... the camo colour is very flat" correct,
guess it refers to low color & bright/dark variations in camo layer? (thats to limit colors in palette -> less bleeding)
and no clue how to ".. use(ing) a multiply function",
just tried to adjust so far, more feedback is appreciated.

How I create the camo portraits:
any suggestions on not_too_time_consuming improvements are highly appreciated!

Workflow is clone the source pic to 8 in 4x2 layout, create specific eye or mouth movements in related sections,
add some aid lines to conveniently cut out frames 1-7,
and create camo layer patterns in 4x2 (see upper left in spoiler pic, same pattern with white backround in the upper right).
Now use whatever methods the program offers to select all required parts in the 8 pics (see lower section of pic)
paste a camo layer into the selection, use small fuzzy brush to erase the borders of the camo layer and whatever appears necessary,
if results are not nice perhaps create different versions with changes in pattern, color, opacity.

[Updated on: Thu, 01 November 2018 20:40]

Re: Muammar[message #355573 is a reply to message #355565]

Thu, 01 November 2018 22:33

ZedJA2

Messages:154
Registered:January 2018

@ townltu

Difficult to explain really about flat. I'd say that in the original portraits it looks as if there are shadows on the faces, and on yours it does not. I also don't know the graphics lingo or methods.

I think I'd best put it this way. In the older pictures with camo it is as if the pixels with camo were simply all shifted the same amount of the value of a green layer. So if the faces already had a variety of shadowing and color pre-camo, the camo is just a layer of tint-shifting all the pixels towards green.

Now, if the original non-camo has no tint variety, like say no birthmarks or no shadows on the facing, or no dirt, well then to make it seem more interesting, 3D, and life-like, just add some, and then just add either the green shift of pixels on top as like an offset value, or just include some customized artistic variety to make the face seem more 3D or in real lighting.

By the way, I don't remember these original portraits always looking this good. They were modified some time in the last 4-6 years in v1.13. They look way more glossy than the original JA2 ones, that's my take.

[Updated on: Thu, 01 November 2018 22:34]