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4 pages? That's impressive!!! I can't wait to see the scans!

Thanks in advance and hurry up!

Either way, Britney has a point. This forum is meant for all kinds of general discussion. It does not have to be intelligent or thought-out in the end, it only has to be entertaining. And I'm sure the unentertaining threads will fall down to the next page in only a day or two with the current pace of people posting.

So, I think that basically we get rid of the problem more effectively if we just contribute to the entertaining posts instead of the unentertaining (by telling they're stupid etc.).

Finally, I'd like to iterate the fact that I'm not any smarter about the issue even though I might want to seem like it. I've been there to point the finger on many occasions. However, through experience, I believe that it really is better to just concentrate on the good instead of the bad and things will sort themselves out.

Violence brings more violence and joy brings more joy. Or something. Yeah, anyway, just thought I'd get back to the actual issue because it seemed like we were just taking it as a mere joke when I think Spears kind of had a point too.

Well, I think you could try changing the resolution blindfolded, using your keyboard as you can reach outside of the screen with it. What I mean is, when you're in the display settings dialog, just press the tab key twice to move the selection to the resolution slider and then just press the up arrow button and finally press enter.

I once almost got the same problem. However, I could barely select the higher resolution so I didn't have to start messing with the keyboard shortcuts. Tell me if the way is correct but you need to know how many times to press each button to reach the resolution slider or something like that.

Heh, to think of it, the whole thing is rediculous. I mean, you have to play with some keyboard shortcuts when you have a lot more important things to do. But then again, I don't know if this even works or is the problem!

I like the first one more. I first thought by the name that it'd be some kind of Might&Magic fantasy dragon game and was positively surprised that you're going for more of humoristic approach (I suppose). I like the idea a lot. I think you could be pretty creative with the plot in the same manner as with the dream idea, as children do have lots of imagination and might mix them with reality. Take Hobbes for an example, from Calvin and Hobbes.

But then again it's just my preference, I don't really have many logical arguments as to which is better. Well, the thing that really makes the difference is the atmosphere I would expect from the game. From the first idea I would expect a positive atmosphere, whereas I would expect a negative and oppressing atmosphere from the second one. In the end though, it could be either way.

I think the problem with Cubase is indeed the fact that it's really hard to get used to, but once you do... It's as fast as that huge an application can be.

Kind of like the same thing with Photoshop, except to a greater degree.

!!! :o

Those are amazing, man! I like the third and the last one best.

I don't know if there's much to criticize but there are some things that bother or just catch my attention a bit. One thing is the lack of detail at some places, like on the roof and the chairs on the right, in the second picture. It's good to have empty space in a crowded image like that but I don't know if it's just because of the little amoutn of colors but the texture on the roof is like it was a whole different style. Somehow it makes the image look a tad computer-generated and takes something out of the atmosphere. It can be seen in various degrees in all of the images. Perhaps you could make the game 16-bit or something? Unless the game speed would become an issue...

A bit of the computer-messed-it-up kind of thing can also be seen in the fifth image. It looks as if it lacked detail but I think it's actually just because it got blurred during the scanning or resizing.

So, basically what I'm saying is: you rock, the computer does not. Keep it up, man! That totally is commercial quality!

Cool!

I actually sorted that problem out with Google. It has this great feature for converting units. Just type "65kg to pounds" and the first thing it shows is the result. You can convert almost any unit you can think of.

I never get used to pounds, feets or even miles! I'm still trying to figure out Euros.

Why not try telling them that you can't work in such noise and ask them to leave. I'm pretty sure they'd understand. If not, just take a break and join the clappin' for a while with a pair of china splash cymbals on your hands.

Not that they're there anymore but perhaps for future reference.

Timosity, when I mentioned turning fat into muscle, I was just pointing out the fact that fat is stored energy. When you exercise, you burn the fat, releasing the energy to repair and strengthen the muscle cells that were burdened by the exercise.

I've read too many of those quotes by nutritional supplement endorsers that go like "while reducing my body fat, I actually gained lean muscle mass, only this nutritient has been able to provide that" and so on. Or something. Anyway, just trying to make myself look less of a fool. Definitely not assuming you didn't know better than I do, because I'm certain you do.

Anyway, that's a really good point about not expecting too significant results. I've personally noticed too high expectations and close studying of my body weight for example, slowing down the progress, which in my case is actually to gain weight. Nowadays I just do the work-outs, eat well and leave it at that. I'm bound to check my weight at some point anyway and I'll surely be positively surprised when I do. I think the scientific explanation for this would be the fact that when you put great expectations to yourself it causes you stress, which, when continued for a period of time, consumes you in a negative way. Taking away the benefits of healthy diet.

I agree with the fact that you shouldn't lose weight by eating less. Just eat healthily and above all regularly and refrain from eating fast food.

I think the best, and in the end, the only healthy way of losing weight, is through exercising. I'm not very educated on this but one thing that really consumes calories is weight training. I can't imagine jogging, for example, being as consuming, though I could be wrong. Basically you just turn your extra fat into muscle, not even losing the whole 20 kilos but looking fit at 80 or 85 kilos, for example.

The reason I recommend weight-training is that it makes you feel good afterwards and you'll see the concrete results fast, keeping your motivation high. It's just something I've discovered to work very well on myself. I actually tried running about 2 kilometers every day with my friend but somehow it just didn't really appeal to me. I didn't see anything happen to my muscles nor weight and it just made me feel totally exhausted afterwards. But this is not to say it's the same thing to everyone. See what fits you best, but in my opinion, you will have to exercise in some way to lose weight in healthy way.

Just make the decision and act on it today, don't postpone it another minute if it really isn't necessary. With anything that takes lots of self-discipline, one easily fools oneself into thinking it's not necessary. I should know, this is my third time I've started going to the gym.

The best of luck with losing your weight, no matter how you do it!

It's true, everyone does it their own way because everyone has their own ways to draw. However, there might be something to add - just to make your experimentation faster.

It's great if you can draw things by hand and then scan it in. However, you would have to be really accurate if you wanted the frames to be consistent (size and proportions of the character, for example). Of course I'm not saying it's a bad way to go around it, quite the contrary: it's the best. The thing is though, you'll need lots of practice to make it work. You should have some kind of transparency or perhaps a light under the paper (like the professionals have) to make the frames consistent. If it's what you want to do, it sure will get you where you want, but it's equally sure that it'll take time to get there.

When working with computer through all the stages, you get the advantages of the undo button, consistent proportions etc., through the use of multiple layers and quick previews of the animation - no need for scanning the frames in first.

The way I go about the issue, is using a drawing tablet. I get the advantages of both aforementioned ways. It's easy to draw using a pen and I don't have to scan the drawings - no need for the post-processing and fine tuning. The only disadvantages that I can think of are the fact that you would have to buy the tablet (prices vary from $100 and less to $500) and that you have to get used to it. It is a pencil, but when you have to look at the monitor to see the result of your pen-pushing, it is quite different!

Anyway, good luck in finding the way that fits you!

When you work with sprites or anything pixel-perfect, in the Edit -> Preferences -> General, turn the interpolation to 'nearest neighbor'. This minimizes the anti-aliasing in places where it can not be turned OFF locally. And don't forget to change it back to 'Bicubic' when you start working with anti-alias again.

JustG's suggestion on definite palette also works but might he hard if you haven't yet figured out completely what kind of colors you'll be using. I think.

Unbelievable mix of reality and cartoon-look! I can not believe the balance in the anatomy and proportions!

That is just fabulous, Xadhoom. I have been very impressed by your work so far, but this is just outstanding!
Every aspect seems to be totally top-notch, even the lighting.

May I ask what kind of a 3D course it is? Are you in a art school or is it just an individual course not related to
any school or something? I'm interested because I'd like to study something like that as well and you seem to
be doing stunning work on it. I mean, it CAN'T be a bad course.

Keep it up. This really is eyecandy!

That would be really cool! I used to just watch and never really attend those jams. So, I probably am not the best person to explain how they worked.

They're great fun, if there are enough people to join the jammin', I think it would be a great idea. Would be great to check out some of those masterpieces Helm cooks up once again.

Thanks, Dagooh! I'm really glad you found it helpful!

For the program... I nowadays basically only use Photoshop. It's just something I've got used to. Minimi is correct, it could've been done in MSPaint equally well but I find Photoshop faster to work with - even with pixels! By the way, I recommend working without the grid, just using single pixels. It's a lot faster and then you won't have the problem of making the character too big or have pixels that would be too small to work in low resolution. It's often good to first draw a really quick sketch of a generic room (in 320x200, for example), then draw a character standing in the room, then just cut it out and paste it as a new image. In Photoshop, when you have something in the clipboard, it'll make the new image the correct size, you won't have to modify it. It'll be easier to find the right size for the character this way. You know, I had to learn it the hard way as well!

And yes, I actually did use the original character. In fact, you can check it by scaling my version bigger and put the both versions on different layers and compare them. I basically just pushed a couple of pixels here and there, nothing big really. It essentially is the same as original. I'm sure I couldn't even have done it without the original! Believe me, the reference (the original version) IS good! The proportions, for example, are perfect.

About the compression artifacts - you're totally right! I don't know how I didn't realize it earlier. Perhaps because of its subtle nature. I mean, usually you can instantly tell if an image is a JPG. I recommend using GIF format for pixel graphics, as pixel graphics usually have less than 256 colors and colors of the pixels must stay unchanged. GIFs are also smaller in size.

Basically, I think the character would fit Maniac Mansion style backgrounds if you just used the colors in the same way in the backgrounds as with the characters. Maniac Mansion was limited to so few colors that they might seem weird with that character. However, the shapes and shading are great. So... What I'm saying is, you don't have to go for detailed Monkey Island look if it's not your cup of tea just yet - you can just use Maniac Mansion style with greater amount of colors (less saturated, more realistic). Well, it sounds easy, at least!

Anyway, I'm glad I could be of help. Keep us posted on your progress!

Looks really good! I instantly thought Maniac Mansion when I saw it!

I think you will have a problem with resolution though. Right now the resolution is way too big. The character wouldn't even fit well in a 640x480 resolution. You could make the character look the same (or even better!) in smaller resolution which would basically be three times smaller.

You can keep the way it is now but I think it would make it harder for you to work with the graphics as well as the game run slower.

Another thing that will surely make working with the graphics harder is that you're using lots of colors, even in places where there should be just a single flat color. Like the black shirt for example, there are many shades of black even though they serve no purpose, other than make it harder for you to change the color of the shirt as you'll have to select all the different shades of black before you can color it (if you're using a selection tool, that is). Having many colors also makes the game run slower.

One thing that is very different from the Lucasarts' style is the skin color. It's very dull. The character looks dead. Unless it's not supposed to look that way, check out what colors Lucasarts used or pick one yourself. I wouldn't recommend using the kind of red like in Maniac Mansion though unless you're really going for 100% copy of the style, because it looks a bit TOO alive! A good color reference in my opinion would be Day Of The Tentacle. It has fantastic colors, in my opinion. I think it would be good to go with the pixely shapes found in the old LEC games yet not limit your color palette to the 16 or something like that, that they had in the old games but use colors that please your eye a bit more.

Here's a modified version so you can see what I mean. The image is zoomed in 2x, but it's really 100x90 pixels (whereas yours is 500x300).



Anyway, I don't want to make any decisions for you even though I really sound like it.

Welcome back, dude. See you next year!

Just kidding!

Great to see you back. When will Lassi's Quest 2 be released? I just got to play it... The first one was too good to be true.

AWESOME!!! That is rockin'! I like the way he effortlessly reaches the other side. Very thought-provoking.

There's not really much to comment on. I mean, when image is artistic, there's nothing to criticize it when it works. Breaking the rules is alright as long as it adds to the impression.

Anyway, I think the only thing that caught my attention in a way was the color difference between the person and the background. There aren't many of the same colors in them so they look a bit detached from each other. But then again, it's a smart warm/cold contrast so... it's up to the viewer whether it looks detached or not.

The anatomy is great. I sense there's a bit of off-perspective on the ribs but it doesn't bother me at all. I don't know if the arm is pretty long or if it's just because you can't see the whole body, but then again, that doesn't bother me either. Just thought I'd point them out.

All I can say is that you've done really great work! The skin tones are spot on and the purple on the background works really well.

Keep it up, man!!!

Very impressive work, Minimi! Not only the result is good but the method will surely teach you many things about 3 dimensions. It has worked wonders for me.

To keep the black outlines untouched, use the magic wand tool to select the black color. Make sure you don't have the Continugous or Anti-aliased options checked. Also, keep the Tolerance in zero. Once you've selected outlines, just copy them and paste them on a new layer. Move the layer topmost and make it a multiply layer (in the layers window, click on the textbox that says 'normal' and you'll get a drop down list). The mutliply feature makes everything but shades of black invisible. Now it doesn't matter what you do on the layers that are beneath it, the black outlines will stay visible. You can even lock the layer if you want.

From there on, if you're working with textures, for example, use the magic wand tool with 'use all layers' option off and when picking the regions, use the topmost layer. This will let you choose the doors of the cabinet, for example, accurately and fast even you have the textures on the other layer(s).

But if removing only one color is the thing you need, just use the magic wand with tolerance 0 and anti-alias off, and pick the color and press delete. If you want to replace it with black, select black color as your foreground color and press alt+enter. It fills the selection with your foreground color.

I hope I'm not being too vague or complicated. If you need clarifying, I'll gladly do so. I hope this answers your question.

Synthetique, instead of referring to manual, it's often more helpful to explain how to actually do the process. Manuals are often boring and not user-friendly. They tend to just explain how the tools work, not how they can be applied... It might not solve the problem. They've made it so hard to even find the correct shortcuts!

I haven't got that but my brother does. I think it might be because of the spyware that comes with Kazaa, but I'm not completely sure.

You could try Ad-aware to check if you have any spyware. That would explaing why the popups harrass you even when you're not browsing the net.