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Work in Progress / Model2Sprite - [AGK/DBP/GDK]

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Matty H
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Posted: 16th Sep 2011 18:20 Edited at: 17th Oct 2011 12:16
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Model-2-Sprite



Turn your 3D media into 2D sprite sheets in seconds!!!



BUY NOW!



Use it for your latest 2D game, or get 3D content into your menus/HUD quickly without having to load the 3D content or have the overhead of drawing 3D to screen when it is not needed!!!








Known issues, will be fixed on next update:
- Crashes when 'Total Frames' is set to 0.
- No link to forum in 'Help' file to direct people here where they can raise issues.
- Potential Issue
"This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect", the solution is to go to Microsoft and download and run the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package.

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Duffer
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Posted: 16th Sep 2011 21:36
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@ MattyH,

Sounds v tempting!

What sort of price?

How does it compare say with that SpriteMe?

Any Isometric-Style option? (to make easy isometric rpg stuff)

In terms of 3d and then 2d what can it import, how does it export? What formats?

a long time dabbler with DBC and DBPro with no actual talent but lots of enthusiasm...
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Matty H
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Posted: 17th Sep 2011 13:35 Edited at: 17th Sep 2011 13:37
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Hi Duffer, it will be around $20, not sure what that is in pounds, I think it might be around 12.99.

Can't comment on any other products as I don't have them.

You can place the camera from whatever angle you wish, you can also alter the FOV and distance to flatten the 3D out before you create the sprite.

It can import x and dbo, and export to bmp, jpg, tga, png, dds, ppm, dib, hdr, pfm.

It also reads fpe files so the animation data is already setup for FPSC models.

I will get a video up soon to show exactly how it works

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Duffer
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Posted: 17th Sep 2011 13:45 Edited at: 17th Sep 2011 15:46
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@ MattyH,

Price seems good.

A couple of ideas:-

- Might be useful to have it compatible with enhanced animations files?

- Also, perhaps an 'isometric button' to auto position in an isometric 3d view?

Quote: "An isometric view can be obtained by starting with the camera aligned parallel to the floor and aligned to the coordinate axes, it is first rotated downwards around the horizontal axes by about 35.264° as above, and then rotated ±45° around the vertical axis.

Another way in which isometric projection can be visualized is by considering a view within a cubical room starting in an upper corner and looking towards the opposite, lower corner. The x-axis extends diagonally down and right, the y-axis extends diagonally down and left, and the z-axis is straight up. Depth is also shown by height on the image. Lines drawn along the axes are at 120° to one another."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isometric_projection

Again - think that would make it v useful for RPG design etc.?

Look forward to the formal release.

a long time dabbler with DBC and DBPro with no actual talent but lots of enthusiasm...
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Quel
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Posted: 17th Sep 2011 15:50
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Why would someone who is capable of creating such characters need to have this utility to render them properly?

-In.Dev.X: A unique heavy story based shoot'em ~35%
-CoreFleet: An underground commander unit based RTS ~15%
-TailsVSEggman: An Sonic themed RTS under development for idea presentation to Sega ~15%
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Matty H
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Posted: 18th Sep 2011 16:17 Edited at: 18th Sep 2011 16:17
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@Duffer - I'm not sure how enhanced animations works, I may look into it in the future but I need to get this released at the moment.

I will look at the 'isometric button' idea, sounds simple enough.

@Quel - Not sure what you mean, the characters are 3D and this tool allows you to get a good looking sprite sheet in seconds and see the results in real time.

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Agent Dink
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Posted: 18th Sep 2011 21:00
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Is there antialiasing support?

http://lossofanonymity.wordpress.com
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Soviet176
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Posted: 18th Sep 2011 23:09 Edited at: 18th Sep 2011 23:10
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Umm someone already made something like this, which is on sale here http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=189201&b=5 and his price is much lower for the options his program has.

Not to be rude, but this kind of seems like you are copying his idea. Since his program has been mentioned for awhile now.


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Matty H
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Posted: 19th Sep 2011 00:23
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@Agent Dink - Yeah, I will put that in, thanks for reminding

@Soviet176 - I am aware of the other model-sprite converter, can't really comment its price. I just know what I need to charge to make it worthwhile, without over-pricing of course

I am also aware that the other WIP was up long before now, I hope people don't think I saw that and copied it as it's not true. I actually started this about 2 weeks before the other WIP went up, if he got the WIP up before I started then I would probably never have bothered starting this.

The only person who could verify this is Mike from TGC, I was emailing him about this from the start.

You could also check out my Dark Imposters WIP thread, I think about page 2 I mention how you might be able to make sprite sheets from models using that plugin. As it turns out, this version of Model2Sprite does not use Dark Imposters.

Hope that clears it up, I can understand why people might think I copied, but to be honest the only person I really don't want thinking that is Hockeykid.

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mr_d
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Posted: 20th Sep 2011 19:24
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please don't take this the wrong way, but although both this and Hockeykid's SpriteMe products look to be useful, the prices being asked for them are on the high side in my opinion. I know you have said that this is what you need it to be to make it worth your while, and I'm sure HK has the same reasoning, I'd just like to comment that there are other commercial products out there (for e.g. the best one to my knowledge would be Poser Debut) that will allow achieving the same end result as these tools can do (and at a much greater quality) for the amount you are asking...
This is especially true when you first release the product; it just doesn't seem to have enough features or functionality to justify the prices - as the product matures you can always reasonably increase your pricing to match.

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Matty H
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Posted: 20th Sep 2011 21:02 Edited at: 20th Sep 2011 21:04
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Hi mr_d,

The pricing mostly comes down to the size of the market, the bigger the market the cheaper you can price it. I would love to sell at half the price if I thought I could sell twice as many.

You must also remember that the vendor receives typically between 25% - 50% of that price.

I think it's a good price, I suppose it comes down to how you value your own time. If you want to make sprites from models then this tool provides a fast and cost effective method.

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Duffer
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Posted: 20th Sep 2011 21:21
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Quote: "I think it's a good price, I suppose it comes down to how you value your own time. If you want to make sprites from models then this tool provides a fast and cost effective method."


Speaking of which, release date?

a long time dabbler with DBC and DBPro with no actual talent but lots of enthusiasm...
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Cliff Mellangard 3DEGS
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Posted: 20th Sep 2011 23:37
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This tool would be awesome to use for temporary art during development.

Put in an 3d model an get an instant sprite sheet to test your code!

And then when the code works! put all that time on your final art
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Silvester
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Posted: 21st Sep 2011 09:09
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It's a great idea yes, but the sprite you show is far from up to par in terms of quality with those jagged edges. Might want to fix that before releasing it.
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Agent Dink
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Posted: 21st Sep 2011 17:15
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Quote: "Is there antialiasing support?"


Quote: "@Agent Dink - Yeah, I will put that in, thanks for reminding"


He's working on it Silvester...

http://lossofanonymity.wordpress.com
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Matty H
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2011 16:11
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Thanks for your comments everyone

Adding antialiasing has not turned out to be as simple as I thought. Images are taken from the backbuffer before antialiasing is applied. I have a way of taking the image from the front buffer but it means completely changing the way the sprite sheets are created, it's a little more complicated too(using raw directX) as the front buffer image is the whole desktop and I don't want to force the user to go full desktop with this app.

If anyone has any suggestions they would be welcomed.

A workaround is to create the sprite sheet bigger than you need and then size it down in photoshop/gimp. I will show the results you get using that method soon.

I will look to add antialiasing but it will be after release, obviously I can't promise 100% as there may be issues I don't know about yet. Although a full screen antialiasing option should be pretty easy to add at a minimum.

I am currently signing contracts etc so it should be released pretty soon, don't have a day/date yet though.

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Rich Dersheimer
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2011 21:45 Edited at: 22nd Sep 2011 21:46
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I know nothing about back buffers or front buffers, but here's a thought.

There's a camera command,

COLOR BACKDROP CamID,Back,ForeColorWipe

and using that ForeColorWipe, you can render your object in pure white on a back background. That would give you a mask. If you blurred that mask slightly, then used the blurred image as the alpha channel of the sprite image, you could possibly get an almost-anti-aliased effect.

I think one of the plugins (Image Kit 2) has commands to set an image's alpha channel.

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Matty H
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Posted: 23rd Sep 2011 00:01
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Hi Rich, thanks for the idea, I will look into that.

I wrote a couple of functions myself which blended the edges into the background, they worked well but only on the background colour it was blended to

You are correct that altering the alpha channel is probably the way to go. And the image kit is now open source so taking a look at that should help a little

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baxslash
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Posted: 27th Sep 2011 11:22
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With regards to this being a 'copied' idea, there are at least a few similar programs out there already and personally I've been making little utilities that make sprites for particular projects for years. There's nothing wrong with a little healthy competition

This looks really nice matty, I saw the youtube video and came looking for this thread to congratulate you on some nice work.

I'll probably still make my own utilities but this is a great option for people who don't know how to do that yet. Frankly if it did a little more I might buy it to save myself the effort in future:
1-Orthographic option (hockeykid ignored this suggestion from me which is vital for several game types including the 'top down' view games) This can be achieved easily using Cloggy's D3D plugin...
2-Nesting utility to combine multiple sets of animations at different sizes into one image (I'm working on one at the moment)
3-Sub-Image text file creation for use with AppGameKit?

Quote: "It's a great idea yes, but the sprite you show is far from up to par in terms of quality with those jagged edges. Might want to fix that before releasing it."

I've never seen a sprite sheet that didn't have 'jagged edges'... Anti-aliasing is not something normally used with sprites. It looks fine when used in a game. Here's one of my own I'm using in a game in AppGameKit that works and looks great...


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baxslash
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Posted: 27th Sep 2011 11:43 Edited at: 27th Sep 2011 11:44
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Sorry to double post but here's a GIF I just whipped up as a demo of what the results from this kind of image are like:


Personally I can't see those edges any more...

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Matty H
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Posted: 27th Sep 2011 18:10
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Hi backslash,

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

I will be looking to add orthographic option, someone has already mentioned something similar, I wanted to get it in before release but ran out of time.

Although you can already change the FOV and distance which gives good results for top-down etc.

Thanks for the 'jagged edge' example, it does look bad as a still image and without a background but as you demonstrate it looks fine when in use

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BatVink
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Posted: 27th Sep 2011 22:43
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@baxslash: that's a fake, I recognise it. It's a video of me trying to skydive in a windtunnel last weekend.

Matty H, another product to save people time, as you said yourself. I always say the same thing - put a monetary value on your time and see if it still seems expensive.

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baxslash
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Posted: 28th Sep 2011 10:48
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Quote: "baxslash: that's a fake, I recognise it. It's a video of me trying to skydive in a windtunnel last weekend."

Damn, I thought nobody would notice...

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Matty H
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Posted: 28th Sep 2011 18:18
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Model-2-Spite is now available to buy HERE.



If anyone has any issues then let me know here or email me and I will get them resolved as fast as possible.

There will be at least one update in the future with additional features, I will go into more detail at a later date.

Thanks.

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baxslash
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Posted: 28th Sep 2011 18:21
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Well done Matty!

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Hassan
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Posted: 28th Sep 2011 21:24
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looks great! good job


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Matty H
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2011 00:40
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@Batvink - Thanks for including this in the newsletter, great job on the whole thing, great front cover too.

Thanks too Hassan and baxslash.

I do have an icon on the final product, that pic in the top post is a little out of date

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Murder
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Posted: 14th Oct 2011 14:50 Edited at: 14th Oct 2011 14:50
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hello,

I purchased Model2Sprite but every time I try to run it I get an error "This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect". Has any one seen this problem or knows how to fix it? I am running windows XP home edition

Thanks

"You have to beat the man.....To be the man"
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Matty H
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Posted: 14th Oct 2011 16:02
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It could be the C++ runtime, this dll:
MSVCR80.DLL

Info from here:
Info

I did not build the installer so I will speak to TGC and try to get this sorted. In the mean time, I have attached the dll to this post, you could try placing it in the 'bin' folder and see if it works. Let me know if it works so I know that this was indeed the cause, thanks.

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Murder
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Posted: 15th Oct 2011 05:13
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Hi Matty,

Thanks for the prompt reply, I tried dropping that DLL into the bin folder but still get the same error,

is there any thing else off the top of your head that you think it might be?

Thanks again

"You have to beat the man.....To be the man"
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Murder
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Posted: 15th Oct 2011 06:56
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Hi Matty,

Ok so I got it working, for any one else who comes across this issue go to http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/confirmation.aspx?id=29 download and run the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package, then it should work like a charm

Happy gaming!

"You have to beat the man.....To be the man"
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Matty H
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Posted: 17th Oct 2011 12:12
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Glad you got it working.

I will add that potential issue and solution to the documentation when it gets an update.

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Murder
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Posted: 23rd Oct 2011 01:46
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Hi,

Is there any way to attach a weapon to a Model from fps?

example, I want to buy FPS model pack 42 and put a sword in the knights hand before I render out to sprite sheet

Thanks

"You have to beat the man.....To be the man"
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Matty H
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Posted: 23rd Oct 2011 03:23
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Not at the moment, but it might be possible in a future update, I have a few requests but hopefully I will be able to fit that feature in.

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tonycrew
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Posted: 28th Oct 2011 02:45
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Hi i bought this in the bundle and its great and fast, 1 problem i have is PNG exporting, they come out Blank...?

System
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FPS Creator Updated Latest + Loads of Addon Packs DBPro DarkAI,eXtends,Dark Physics, Dark Lights, 2DPluginKit
nVidia 240 1Gig, 8 Gig DDR3 Ram, Intel i5 CPU
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Matty H
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Posted: 31st Oct 2011 22:18
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Not sure what that could be, I doubt it's the model so it may be your system specs. I will see if there is anything I can do when I work on an update.

If anyone else has this issue then please let me know, with your system specs, that will help me pinpoint the issue, thanks.

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blueFire
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Posted: 4th Nov 2011 02:03
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Where can I get more animation (.fpe) files for this product?

Jason
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Matty H
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Posted: 4th Nov 2011 13:21
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The animation files are specific to the model, they only come with the FPSC models.

Although you can easily make your own, they are basically only a text file with the name of the animation, the start frame and the end frame. Open one up to see the format it has to be in.

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blueFire
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Posted: 5th Nov 2011 01:18
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Do all FPSC character models come with these animation files?

Jason
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Matty H
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Posted: 5th Nov 2011 12:24
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Quote: "Do all FPSC character models come with these animation files?"


As far as I know they do, I think a lot of them share the same animations so in theory you may only need one comprehensive fpe file for quite a few of the models.

Then some of the fpe files don't have all the animations listed for some reason, so it's a bit hit and miss I'm afraid

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blueFire
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Posted: 7th Nov 2011 00:19
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For some reason when I try to export the sprites in .png format I seem get a blank picture (one that has nothing in it). It works when I export it in some of the other formats (.bmp .jpg .tga etc...).

I have attached a sample .png file to show the end results.

Jason

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Matty H
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Posted: 7th Nov 2011 16:50
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You are the second person to say that, I put some time into this to be sure it supported png and it works for me. I will have to look into this when I get a chance.

If you could post some computer specifications that might help me find what the issue is.

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blueFire
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Posted: 8th Nov 2011 02:39
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WindowsXP service pack 3 (home edition).
What other info do you need and where can I find it on the computer?

Jason
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Matty H
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Posted: 9th Nov 2011 11:09
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Thanks bluefire, I will be putting a couple of days aside soon to update this, I will look at the issue then.

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blueFire
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Posted: 18th Nov 2011 02:37
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Many of the renders I am getting are too dark. I have tried turning on several lights, adjusting their values, etc... but I cannot seem to find a solution that works. I am attaching a very small part of a file that shows what I am talking about. Despite experimenting with many of the lights it is so dark I cannot make out any details of the sprite.

What light settings work best in order to get a clear picture of the sprite (with all the color)?

You might also consider adding a control to adjust brightness.

Jason

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Matty H
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Posted: 18th Nov 2011 16:22
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There is something wrong with that model, it does not get affected by light in the same way as most other models. I presume its normals are not set properly or something along those lines.

Try the other models in the same pack and you will see what I mean.

Lighting is mostly controlled using the default 'AMBIENT' light.

A workaround for that model may be to lighten up the texture in photoshop/gimp etc.

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blueFire
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Posted: 19th Nov 2011 03:41
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I have tried several other models in the same pack. Even though these models look like they have brighter colors in the .bmp files when I render them they are still very dark (sample attached). The sample I attached is of Goblin 1 that clearly is depicted as having a green head in his .bmp file.

I tried adjusting the ambient lighting but I could not get the image brighter using the ambient light. It seems that when the program is started ambient lighting has all three color values set to 255 by default. If I lower any of them the model (and the background) get darker.

Jason

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Matty H
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Posted: 21st Nov 2011 15:38 Edited at: 21st Nov 2011 15:39
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This model is also not affected by dynamic lighting, again, must be the normals or something.

The ambient lighting does work though. The default is 50, you should be able to put it up to 100 and get something that looks like this:



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Matty H
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Posted: 21st Nov 2011 15:45 Edited at: 21st Nov 2011 15:48
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Attached sprite sheet.

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blueFire
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Posted: 22nd Nov 2011 01:42
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After some further testing I am able to increase the brightness with the Range/Power adjustment. I was not aware I could use that control with the ambient light to increase brightness.

Jason
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