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I'm looking forward to the one's I'm not waiting for, one's I have no idea that exist, but they're more exciting cause they come from nowhere, have no hype, and are from more modest people, and usually kick arse, but are also very rare, maybe there'll be some this year.

That's a given!

I bought a Cintiq 15X.

It's much better than my old tablet!  Plus I got the boss to pay for it.

Here's a list of methods:

- Lines, maybe hatched lines to show depth with solid colors
- Lines & colors with gradients of colors to show depth

It's easier to start with lines and solid colors.  Some say it's easier to start with MS Paint.  Most agree a tablet will help you draw unless you scan in your artwork.

If anyone needs help 'resetting' their trialware shareware product, just search for the following in your registry and delete it (be careful).  First uninstall the program, then:

- Search for the install folder name ie. High-Logic and delete the key.
- Search for the product name ie. Paint Shop Pro and delete the key(s).
- Search for the file extensions and delete the keys
- Search for other names (like company name)

This way you can continue to test the software before you are forced into making a software purchase (which is the whole point of shareware).

For Example: Please support Jasc Software by purchasing Paint Shop Pro.  You won't be dissappointed and this will help continue development.

Lovely style.

Eggie is right.  Your style will come through no matter what 'tool' you decide to go with to express your style.  So far your style in my opinion is, 1. Nice Airbrush, 2. Nice Lines 3. Nice Character

You can always improve gradient skills with Airbrushing, and you could clean up your lines a bit on the animation (I can see your eraser marks lol).  I used to practice airbrushing on anything I could find!  So there's plenty to do for now.  When you are ready for a new software program, dive in.  Then you can share files with other people and work off each others comments.

Yeah you'll want to try out 3D programs before you buy them.  You can get Simply 3D for $5 at Best Buy (in USA).  The trick is to export Wavefront OBJ files or at least DXF files.  Also Poser isn't free so you might find other programs more useful.

For instance, Flash is used for animation because you can set keyframes in an instant, and move according to a heirarchy so walking animations are easier.  In Flash draw a foot.  Make it an Object.  Draw a leg, make it an Object.  Attach leg to foot and make it an object.  Copy the result and flip it for two legs.  Also Flash has layers.

Plus Flash can be used for lots of other things so it's more 'worth it' if you want to start building a legitimate software library.  It's always great to be able to support the companies that make these great programs!

Excellent!  I'll print this out for reference.

Thank you

Perhaps... the blood, sweat and tears are obvious.  

You could model this character in 3D Studio or Cinema 4D XL and then import it into Poser and you could pose and animate your character EASY!!

Now how didn't he think of that? Maybe because he wants it to be 2D and cool? You know, that quote quite shows your attitude towards game making. The character jaz made is better than anything done in Poser.

Vel you can create any character (like a dog or a bird or a plane or a piece of cheese) in 3D Studio.  Then you import it into Poser and setup the IK and joints.  Then you can make a character that looks just like this one move just like he moves.  You can render it without shading if you want just the outline.  Would you like to see examples?  This PDF shows you step-by-step how to do it.
http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/makin_poser_characters_from_scratch.zip

It's not to 'take over' hand drawn art, it's there if he wants to skip the laborious animation cells that are required to make a smooth animation.  It gets faster but not as fast as 2D renders (let me know if you want me to make this character for you to show you what I mean.  We can do a hard walk like southwest to illustrate the speed to produce and likeness to the original)

You could model this character in 3D Studio or Cinema 4D XL and then import it into Poser and you could pose and animate your character EASY!! I like 3D Studio.  I like Cinema 4D XL.  I find Cinema 4D is a lot easier to use than 3D studio and just as powerful and then I import a wierd character like your bug and then I pose him and make him talk.  I have used I seen some software that matches the Poser LIPS to Audio.

It's great work with that walking animation tho I think I like it!

We'll play around with the grass.  Maybe 3D all the way.  If you are judging by the aspect ratio you will see, it might look more like carpet.  Reduce your monitor's horizontal <-> width about 10-20% and you'll see how the image looks in the game.  Now the grass blades are longer and thinner (less thick like carpet).

Thanks again

If you use a simple Light Meter and filters (infra-red is fun), you can get some interesting effects.  In real life your brain usually filters out the color.  It's only inside the house that you notice you have been filtering blue through your eyes (there's a red tint when I go inside after a cold night).

How does this one look?  I think I'm understanding now:

We want this to look like it does when you are actually there.  In real life, you would be able to see the detail on the moon.  In your photo it's washed out and yellow reflection from the sun.

We use filters on our cameras and can reproduce the filter here for your image.  This way you can see the white snow, the green grass or crops underneath, and the actual colors of the building.  Compare your image and this one to see the effect:




Here's with gamma correction:

You're right!  A nice moon reflection that comes straight down from the moon (on the water showing texture)... halo is tricky but understood.

Thank you.  Worked on it for 6 hours.  Started Saturday, finished Sunday.  Made with 30+ layers in PSP7.  3D ocean and gazebo created in Cinema 4D XL.  Anyone want the source file?  It's here for a short time:
http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/wttswamp640-r1.zip  (PSP7 works with PSP8 too)

(this is the resized image with layers.  The original 1280 pixel PSP file is 3.1MB by request)

To compare 3D and not-3D, the water is 3D but the grass is painted.  Started with a tiny 'tube' brush for the grass and increased the size of the brush closer to the foreground.  You can tell because the plane of grass is off a bit from the 'plane' of water.  Also the pebbles are painted.

Along with the grass the bush with red things is painted, the other trees are not.  The foreground trees are sillouettes (which probably need some work so they fit the design).  The image was created at 1280x760 and then resized to 640*380 for the game.

Thank you

Wow another reference to Kazaa!  We all love Kazaa!  Especially us noobs!

Any suggestions?  The aspect ratio is different for the game so it looks about 10% too wide.  Thanks
EDIT: Adjust your monitor so the moon is a perfect sphere to see the 'game dimensions'.

(The story behind this picture: The Colonel just bought the plantation.  The Colonel plans to build a fence that goes to the edge of the island, but for now this is how it looks.)

EDIT: (Also this was designed waiting for clouds in the sky and a fence.  On one side of the fence it is pristine and mowed grass, on the other side it is overgrown and menacing.  There will be an opening if you want to go where it's not safe.  Be careful of crocodiles.  So if it looks kind of boxed in, that's why -- even that background tree is bending away from the water.  The moon will change to match the clouds which are being worked over.  There should be a moon reflection down the water showing texture from the algae.  The final image might have a blueish or 5% darkness layer so it looks like nighttime.  Also the tree silhouettes in front are so you know where to walk -- on the path, on the grass, into the weeds, into the swamp, or back into the next screen closer to the gazebo.  Thanks for your feedback!)

EDIT: Based on your feedback, here's Image #2 to look at.  Lots of differences.

I couldn't find anything in the test for new users about Flame Wars.  Flame Wars aren't illegal if I'm reading this right.

DGMcPhee broke the rules with this one:13. You feel the need to reply to a thread, but you don't really have anything to contribute - what should you do?
Just reply with a smiley or 'zing'.
Reply saying "I don't really have anything to add but I thought I'd better post".
Don't reply at all.