CoD discussion

[Sud]

It seems that both programs are having problems with alpha channels with user .BLPs when they export? I'm getting alpha issues with other skin .BLPs too. They aren't behaving like the sorc skin. This is going to make it an incredible pain to shrink these files in size, because I assume I'm going to have to manually re-add the alpha channel to each?

Edit: looks like there's issues in the fixed version, doesn't display correctly in the viewer. Why exactly are these custom BLPs not exporting their alpha information right?

 

[SD_Ryoko]

W3IE is what I saw when I first open. I assume all teal should be alpha out.

Inside Ulead is what I see (um, in ulead) you can see the selection areas I have created.

LOL I messed up, I selected the teal and forgot to invert it.

Things NOT SELECTED are alphad. Heres a new. And look, with no resize its 70kb smaller.

 

[SD_Ryoko]

Oh and the mesh is a bitch to select alphas.

Just thought I'd add that. LOL

 

[Sud]

I was able to select it by color, which selected everything.

But I was not able to layer it - ULEAD kept saying that it couldn't support objects.

What I did was select the teal by color, then made it part of a layer, but I guess it isn't going to work like that.

I'm going to have to do this with a bunch of skins this way too gah

 

[SD_Ryoko]

Did you see I messed up and reuploaded? I had the alphas backwards.

No no not by layers!

Just SELECT it. Then save it TGA. Anything 'not' selected will be alphad *

I was able to select it by color, which selected everything.

But I was not able to layer it - ULEAD kept saying that it couldn't support objects.

>>>What I did was select the teal by color
Good.

>>>then made it part of a layer
Bad.

>>>I guess it isn't going to work like that.
Nope.

Select the teal. Then Selection -> Invert. Now teals not selected, everything else is. Teal is now alphad.

>>>I'm going to have to do this with a bunch...
Ulead can resize and preserve a selection area. May lose acuracy.

Gimme some if you want me to experiment.

(* Assuming the model was designed to do alphas. )

 

[SD_Ryoko]

More comments

The sound was funny, but now very particularly annoying. Also a little corny on some sounds (lightning bolt?)

How bout a global cool thunder effect for the bolt, eh?

Anywho, these should all be 3D sounds played in a fade-out radious around the caster.

Hes not on MY side of the map, why do I have to hear it. Etc.

 

[Sud]

OH ok I see, the selection actually instructs it to do the alphaing eh.

That'll mean then that ULEAD is really the only graphics package you can do skinning with, unless you know exactly how to transfer specific stuff into an alpha channel. Oi vey.

 

[SD_Ryoko]

Other programs can do it, but they handle it very differntly, actually involving alpha tools.

Ulead the most simple. Select what you want, don't select what you don't want.

Doesn't get much easier than that. Again, did you DL the new skin? In the post with 2 images (0 views.)

 

[Sud]

I actually did it myself

New skin for the skeleton is now 77kb and works perfectly - shrank it from 256x256 down to 128x128

Thanks, I should be able to save a LOT of kb using this technique along with the blackout technique.

Hopefully in 30 days I hope ULEAD doesn't spaz out at me heh

 

[SD_Ryoko]

Oh you did resize it? I was afraid to because of that detailed mesh and face. My save at 80% blp (that means, 80% the color cast) was 107kb, but still 256x256.

NOTE, warcraft can't even display many things on that detail level (like the face) heh heh.

So you could acheive even more at 128x128, 80%.

Your choice I guess.

Just dont convert the same one over and over, it starts to get damaged. Work with an original and experiment.

(80%, then 80% again, then 80% again, etc)

Blackout technique? Same as a teal-out techniqe really... Just a different value for the color

...what was the name of the trail file you downloaded for ulead?

Was it....the XL?

 

[Sud]

Most of the important ultimates that use sounds have them set to global.

This is because of the threat they pose in the game.

Tel'Arin - Towers are going down if you don't get there and defend, massive nuking in group vs group
4 Horsemen - Towers and group vs group threat
Stinky Steven - well global farts are just hilarious (plus its good for warning you that you might get steven slammed on from out of nowhere)
Armada - Tower threat

One of the things that I'm working toward is to make people aware of things going on around them. Sounds do that much better than any visual representation because when people are doing something like fighting a hero, they get tunnel vision (ie. Sargon gets so busy trying to destroy a tower, he doesn't notice I'm fighting an enemy hero not 3 seconds away from him). For very important events, like an ultimate like the above, sounds break people's tunnel vision and make them question what's going on and where, and when they see the legion of skeletons coming, they can go "oh shit I'd better get there".

Fun Fact: Tel'Arin's sound set consists of bad japanese voice actors from the D&D Shadow over Mystara arcade game (in which Tel'Arin is featured)

You mean trial file? I got PhotoImpact 10 TBYB (upi10_ustbyb.exe was installer name)

I'm going to experiement with the skeleton a bit because the 128x128 does damage the mesh quite hard, and the borders that you see are actually lined with the tealy color, which is a bit hard on the eyes. Will see if quality reductions are a better idea in this case

 

[Sud]

Aha, simply reducing it in quality yields a 73kb file, and it's MUCH better too.

128x128 at 100% quality looks fairly bad, loses a lot of the mesh, and a teal color can be seen on the outline

256x256 at 60% quality looks about as good as the original, and almost same size as the 128x128 one too.

 

[SD_Ryoko]

Yep yep! Reduce does colors mostly.

You've got mail.

 

[PB_and_J]

Doesnt anti ulti summon 5 horseman?

 

[Cres]

It summons 4, even though its a 5 pointed star... strange isnt it.
On a side note, how do you use magerape? i have never seen it used in a game b4

 

[Sud]

Very nice, I managed to reduce his Cleric model by over 100kb with absolutely no visible detail loss (and no resolution loss).

Magerape's a ward that you can put down at a pretty decent distance. It hits repeatedly very quickly and each hit does feedback. It works great vs mages, as you would obviously glean from the name. Not so hot vs the big dumb ogre, but he has some mana. It only targets heroes, so it'll start firing at the first one it chooses, so if that hero is out of mana you'll want to tell it to attack something else.

I like to use it to backstab people. Hide in the fog of war, wait for an opportunity, then detonate your victim and set the magerape in such a manner that it covers his entire escape route. Nasty bit of business there.

 

[Cres]

anyone wanna play? im bored

 

[Sud]

Maybe, I'm reducing models atm.

200kb off Stinky Steven

 

[Sud]

hmm, the WE doesn't like that brand of MP3 you put together (despite the fact works fine in any other player).

WE require a certain configuration out of its MP3s?

 

[SD_Ryoko]

Hmm I made 64kps stereo.

My MP3 in my map are 48kps, stereo, 44k sampling

So maybe WE does care... didn't know