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 Geek2Nurse    |
Hey, graphics gurus: Is it possible to make a sprite cast just a bit of transparent shadow, to darken whatever it's sitting on top of a little bit without completely obstructing it? I tried a partially transparent cast shadow (using PhotoShop) but the transparent part went away when I converted it to .c16. I'm thinking an every-other-pixel-transparent thing would work. (if anyone wants to walk me through how to accomplish that in PhotoShop CS4 I would not be at all unhappy about not having to figure it out myself.)  --- Optimist: the glass is half full. Pessimist: the glass is half empty. Engineer: the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. |
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 Patient Pirate ylukyun Manager |
It might be possible to use alpha transparency on part of an object. I'll see if I can find a tutorial for the every-other-pixel thing. It's easiest just to do it in paint. |
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 Prodigal Sock Ghosthande |
Semi-transparency is rather irritating to work with, but it is possible. It just isn't something that's handled by the sprites--the engine is responsible for it. Basic semi-transparency can be achieved with the ALPH command. If you want some parts to be 100% solid and some parts to be semi-transparent, you have to literally make them separate parts, as in parts of a compound agent. Then you can apply ALPH to one of the parts. That's how I gave the holo-wings from Gaius's breed pack their semitransparent wings: the wings are a separate part from the body. Using separate parts makes animating the agent a pain, because it gets tricky trying to animate two parts simultaneously. But C3/DS doesn't come with any other options.  |
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 Sanely Insane RisenAngel Manager |
Also note that the Alph command is DS-only. If you want to make agents that work with both C3 and DS, then your only option is the every-other-pixel method. Risen Angel's Creatures Blog |
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 Moe |
For cheap transparency though, the dithering effect "every-other-pixel" transparency is the safest way to go. And in my opinion it looks pretty sweet. lol |
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 Liam |
I'm not sure I'd bother, personally. ALPH is pretty resource-intensive, and it won't worry players. - Liam / K'aeloree Spellhold Studios, a Baldur's Gate II, Neverwinter Nights and Oblivion Modding Community |
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Patient Pirate ylukyun Manager |
I tend to agree with Liam on this. I couldn't find any tutorials for the every-other-pixel effect, but I can make a demo video if you're interested. |
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Geek2Nurse |
Thanks, guys. Nah, ylukyun, don't go to all that trouble; you've helped me a ton recently already. I'll either figure it out or decide it isn't worth it. Or bug my brother the graphic artist for a tutorial. --- Optimist: the glass is half full. Pessimist: the glass is half empty. Engineer: the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. |
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Moe |
This 512x512 sprite overlay should be perfect for most simple transparency needs. The implementation is simple: You crack open a photo editing program like Photoshop, PaintShopPro, or Gimp, and open this file. Then, you simply place it on top of whatever you want transparent--preferably on a new layer if you know how to do that. This effectively adds little black pixels all over the sprite below it, which, inside of the Creatures's engine, become transparent. To make a shadow, which is already dark, just make your shadow shape slightly greater in color intensity than perfect RGB black. Then, overlay this sprite. Erase or select and delete the parts you don't need, but be careful not to use an eraser or selection tool that has any kind of soft edge or anti-aliasing, as this will make uneven transparency and give you blotchy outlines. Hope this helps.  Like others have said though, most people won't notice shadows anyway, but this is good for all kinds of transparency. |
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Geek2Nurse |
I know most people won't notice, but *I* do, and eventually it will bug me enough that I'll want to do something about it. I'll give the overlay a try, thank you Moe!!! --- Optimist: the glass is half full. Pessimist: the glass is half empty. Engineer: the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. |
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