(http://i.imgur.com/GBRCB.png)
Ship sizes (thanks to Valkyrial) , There is also an extended list on page 8 by Thule.
Spoiler
Arkship ~ 1750 - 2500 pix
Titan ~ 750 - 1750 pix
Dreadnought ~ 650 - 750 pix
Mothership/Supercarrier ~ 550 - 650 pix
Battleship/Battlecruiser ~ 350 - 550 pix
Superheavy Cruiser/Heavy Cruiser ~ 300 - 350 pix
Superheavy Destroyer/Cruiser ~ 225 - 300 pix
Heavy Destroyer/Destroyer ~ 175 - 225 pix
Heavy Frigate/Heavy Gunship ~ 125 - 175 pix
Frigate/Gunship/Heavy Corvette ~ 75 - 125 pix
Corvette ~ 50 - 75 pix
Heavy Fighter/Bomber ~ 35 - 50 pix
Fighter/Interceptor ~ 20 - 35 pix
Heavy Drone/Drone ~ 5 - 20 pix
Xenoargh's guide to speed painting
Spoiler
http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=6360.0
TheHappyFace Ferrus guide
Spoiler
first my guide to drawing ferrus ships
(http://i.imgur.com/Wm7y8.png)
step 1: i start in a document where all other sprites from the faction are to take parts of them and to make sure the style says the same.
i also put the independed carrier in it because soldier wanted it had the same design.
step 2: making the basic design, mainly important so the ship doesnt seem "out of balance"
step 3: putting in some extra's mainly to fill the giant gaps in the ship so it doesnt look like some simple shapes.
step 4: setting the places for the mounts and engines if not allready done and placing some extra stuff in where needed.
step 5: giving everything a simple colour, also make sure lower and sloping spots are darker.
step 6(important step!): changing it from just a simple colour to one with shades and giving the outlines a different colour, something that resembles the colours nearby. in this step things will look rather fuzzy and too smooth.
step 7: placing stripes and other large details on the ship , in this style its mainly placing stripes and making parts look like plating.
step 8: adding extra details,in this case that were mainly adding some pipes and an extra mount.
step 9(most important of all!!!!!) uploading it and showing it to others to gain comments!
step 6 a little more detailed
(http://i.imgur.com/ND6GC.png)
Sproginators guide when using BF
Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/weYSn.png)
1) Now startup BF ShipMaker, you will see something like this
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o613/KlonTom/Untitled-1.jpg)
2) Go to Tools->Group arrange. This will pop up screen like this
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o613/KlonTom/Untitled-2.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/weYSn.png)
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o613/KlonTom/Untitled-4.jpg)
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o613/KlonTom/Untitled-5.jpg)
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o613/KlonTom/Untitled-6.jpg)
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o613/KlonTom/Untitled-7.jpg)
Go to Tools->Save sprites ini. This will save our current sprite config. I recommend you to to use different sprite configs for different ships\ships series to not discontinue its "style".
6) Now we want to a screenshot of our ship. But this pesky grid is no good for us, so go to tools->Change Background, and use earlier created bitmap where White bears In White Antarctica field in White snowfall chase Pale white Antarctica scientists in all White. Or just just fill some random bmp with white colour. Now its perfectly fine for us and we can screenshot it. Press F11. Press F9 and drag over your ship, to choose what needed to be screenshoted.
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o613/KlonTom/Untitled-8.jpg)
Also you can use this Change Background feature to load some ships picture to background and use it as silhouette for creating your ship.
7) Now go to \Battleships Forever\SMScreenshots\ where your screenshot is saved, and open it for example in Adobe Photoshop.
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o613/KlonTom/Untitled-9.jpg)
First of all rotate whole image 90* CCW and after use "magic wand" tool to select whole white trash pixels, that we dont need. Inverse selection, so only our precious ship was selected and copy it.
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o613/KlonTom/Untitled-11.jpg)
Create new file, which will be sized right for our copied ship, insert our ship and than delete "background" layer. Now you are free to edit as you want, ambient occlusion, radial blue, all this jazz. You want it you do it, i dont. Now save it as PNG. We got our basic sprite of ship.
(http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o613/KlonTom/Untitled-10.jpg)
But Starfarer is counting every pixel for designate how big ship is, and we have to change our ships image size accordingly to size of ship in game. I will use table of sizes from
Fight For Universe: Sector Xplo http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=2091.0 (http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=2091.0) topic:
1 pixel = 1 meter.
* Fighter, approximate long axis is 10~15 meters.
* Bomber, approximate long axis is 20~30 meters.
* Gunship, approximate long axis is 35~50 meters.
* Corvette, approximate long axis is 55~90 meters.
* Frigate, approximate long axis is 100~160 meters.
* Destroyer, approximate long axis is 180~230 meters.
* Cruiser, approximate long axis is 240~340 meters.
* Battlecruiser, approximate long axis is 360~540 meters.
* Battleship, approximate long axis is 560~960 meters.
* Dreadnought, approximate long axis is 1,080~1,860 meters.
* Mothership, approximate long axis is 2,200~5,200 meters.
* Titan, approximate long axis is 8,000~16,000 meters.
* Flagship, approximate long axis is 86,000~126,000 meters.
* Arkship, approximate long axis is 2,240,000~8,860,000 meters.
So with help of your graphical redactor tools, resize your ships images height to an needed size, and voila we have our handmade ship sprite!
If you don't have photoshop, DON'T PANIC! Paint.net is a great piece of free software that allows you to easily and effectively edit your own sprites with some of the features photoshop has
Kriieiters guide to draw fleshy looking infestations on sprites
Spoiler
Note that this is all done in PS and I'm not sure if GIMP has access to anything like Plastic Wrap (but you can always do the highlighting that it does by hand).
Step 1: I just use the magic selection tool to get rid of all the blue background. Next I duplicate the layer and set the top one to "Darken" as its mode. Here, I turn off the visibility on the top layer so I can see what I'm doing with the coloring of the base layer. Then we go to Hue/Saturation and colorize the base layer.
(http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/8732/necotut1.png)
Step 2: Here I go into the filters and play around with the Plastic Wrap feature until I get some highlights I like.
(http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/5225/necotut2.png)
Step 3: Next I go to Filters>Render>Lighting Effects and play around with those settings until I get some good dark highlights. I like to put the texture on "Blue" as it seems to drag out the best highlights on the color I use for the base.
(http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/7641/necotut3.png)
And we end up with it like this, and that's it for the base part. Next we move onto the top layer.
(http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/4814/necotut35.png)
Step 4: First we enable vision on the top layer so we can see what we're doing to it. After that, we go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast and I adjust it so that it's a bit lighter (this is so it only highlights our next color in a few areas) and add a bit more contrast.
(http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/843/necotut4.png)
Step 5: And once again we go to Hue/Saturation and choose our color. You can adjust the brightness to decide how much of the color we want to show through onto the base layer, and the saturation for how dark it will be. And we're almost finished!
(http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/113/necotut5.png)
Step 6: In this step we start by merging our first two layers together, and then duplicating the single layer that results. After that we take the bottom layer and scale it up a bit so that it sticks out from under the top layer a bit.
(http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/8400/necotut6.png)
Step 7: Now we add a very small Gaussian Blur (any type will really do here) ,and we're pretty much done!
(http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3752/necotut7.png)
And here's an example of a finished ship that I used these techniques on.
(http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1883/postnecroship.png)
A few other things I do: I usually bring up the ship first, and do all these steps while the bio-part is sitting atop the ship. I grab one that I think will fit nicely on the ship and get it into its relative final position before I start.
After I get a couple pieces on I usually take the eraser tool and blend them together at the "seams" where they intersect to make it flow better. I tend to save the last step (the blur) until I have every piece laid onto the ship, and then make a copy of the entire biomass and blur it all at once. After that I go in and clean up any edges I don't like, add more blur layers (if I feel the one wasn't enough), and add darker highlights where I deem necessary.
Erick Doe's depth guide
Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/oevZf.png)
Medonca's guides for spriting
Spoiler
STEP 1, OUTLINE:
(http://www.zen102301.zen.co.uk/starfarer/KRAKENOUTLINE.png)
STEP 2, COLOUR:
(http://www.zen102301.zen.co.uk/starfarer/KRAKENCOLOUR.png)
STEP 3, TEXTURE:
(http://www.zen102301.zen.co.uk/starfarer/KRAKENTEXTURE.png)
STEP 4, ALL TOGETHER:
(http://www.zen102301.zen.co.uk/starfarer/KRAKEN123.png)
Basic process is to have the outline on the background layer, have the colour on a multiply layer above the outline, and have the texture on an 'overlay' layer on the topmost. All the textures are selected from various contiguous areas from David's original art (and some of my stuff as well).
This is as per the Paint.net terminology.
From there I would work on an extra detail layer, add some specular highlights by hand (maybe a low opacity layer, drawing with white) and some shadows to 'finish it off', but you can get to this stage fairly quickly. Also, once the layers have all been flattened and you are happy with the sprite generally, you might want to do some touching up on a pixel by pixel basis.
examples
Spoiler
CONCEPT
(http://www.zen102301.zen.co.uk/images/boxer_destroyer.PNG)
DRAW
(http://www.zen102301.zen.co.uk/images/boxer_full_size.png)
Warstalker's Guide for drawing sprites from scratch
Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/4krgr.png)
psiyon's guide for changing 3D models into 2D sprites
Spoiler
This tutorial is for those of you who want to get your 3D models into Starfarer (Or any other 2D game). The software I use is 3ds Max for rendering, and Photoshop for post-processing the completed renders. You can render your ships out in other software, like Blender, and you can also use other image editing programs besides Photoshop. This tutorial is focused on these two pieces of software, however, the concepts would apply to any other program.
Part one (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0WVhI7BgKs
Render scene file: http://www.mediafire.com/?e0qx48x48pck7kf
(Alex, any chance of a forum update so we can embed youtube videos into posts? It would make things a bit more convenient.)
Part 2:
I tried a video version of this, but in the end, it would have just wound up being way too long and drawn out. A text and picture version will work better and allow you to work at your own pace, instead of pausing every five seconds to see what I'm doing.
I'll be using a different render than the one I used in the video, because I made that one when doing the ill-fated video version.
(Here's how it turned out, if you're curious:
(http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/7310/telanitan.png)
)
Let's begin.
First, start by making a new document, and copying both the render and its Ambient Occlusion pass into it, each as a separate layer.
Because the ship we're making is symmetrical in shape, we're going to make sure it's symmetrical in every other aspect as well. Select half of the ship, from right down the middle.
(http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/6210/71514226.jpg)
Copy and paste that halved segment of the ship. It should now appear on a new layer. Go back to your base layer, and select the other half of the ship. Delete it. Now, you'll be left with two halves of the same ship, each on a different layer. Select one of the layers, and transform them horizontally. (Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal). Align the two halves so they fit together.
(http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/9254/97550120.jpg)
Finally, merge the two layers into one.
Then, repeat those steps for the ambient occlusion pass. Make sure that it fits over the base layer nicely before merging. Once done, set the AO layer mode to Multiply.
(http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/7613/45546855.jpg)
Now that we're set up, we can start doing the editing that matters. Duplicate the base layer, and then go to filter>sharpen>sharpen. The filter might be a little powerful, so adjust the new layer's opacity as needed.
(http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/3356/94276291.jpg)
Duplicate the base layer again, and move it underneath the Sharpen Layer. Go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast. In this case, I'm actually going to decrease the contrast, however, in most cases, you'll find that increasing it will look better. It all depends on what render settings you used, as well as the model's texture. Make sure the contrast layer's opacity is left at 100%, as it will soon become our base layer.
(http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/3921/46606810.jpg)
Next, I'll duplicate the base layer one last time, and move the new layer above the Sharpen layer. On our new layer, we'll go to filter>filter gallery, and then under brush strokes, choose the Accented Edges filter. Set all properties to the lowest they go.
(http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/4359/97253932.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/b61D7.png)
(http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3003/26592272n.jpg)
As you can see in the picture, the right side looks more uniform than the other side. While it might not necessarily look better, it provides a good foundation for our next step: detailing.
Create a new layer, and set its mode to multiply. At this point, we stop preparing the ship for making it look good--here, we actually make it look like a sprite. Set the brush width to 1px (still using the pencil tool), and select shades of grey--usually a shade right in the middle of black and white works well for this. It depends on how much you want your ship to "pop". If your detailing is too dark, the ship will look silly, and if it's too light, then it will also look silly. Experiment to see what works best.
When it comes to detailing, I find that outlining distinct parts of the ship is a good place to begin.
(http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/2471/87658256.jpg)
Again, you only need to work on one half of the ship, we can duplicate and flip it later.
The next step is to add smaller details--like hull plating, little dots and squares, etc.
(http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/2589/19562140.jpg)
Finally, if you're satisfied with the result, we duplicate both the paint-over and detail layer. Flip the copies horizontally, and align them properly.
(http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/5891/16676723.jpg)
The last step is adding lights, if you want them. Create a new layer, and set its mode to linear dodge. Move it above the ambient occlusion layer. Choose a color that you want your lights to be, and add them wherever you want.
When you're done, duplicate that layer, set its mode to normal, and put it underneath the light layer. Go to filter>blur>Gaussian blur, and set the radius to about 0.5. Hit OK.
(http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/6021/64622142.png)
Do any last-minute touch-ups you need, and then you're done! Export it as a .png file with a transparent background.
(http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2311/scug.png)
I hope you found this tutorial helpful. And, an offer: if anyone wants their model rendered off by me, don't hesitate to ask. As long as I don't get swamped with requests (which I doubt will happen) I'd be happy to render a ship here and there. I won't, however, do all the post work. That's your job :P
Avans way of colouring sprite
Spoiler
Sure, I actually saved my file in a manner that would allow me to step-by-step show progress, and explain what I was doing in each layer.
Its very layer intensive, but I made that frigate in about half an hour. I'm using paint.net, which is free, and I actually don't recall using any of my plugins (well, none that were vital, you could still use the stock versions of them.) so that simplifies things.
I am using a tablet for this however; it /vastly/ simplifies the artistic process I find.
First I make a basic outline using a low-alpha pencil tool:
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step1.png)
Next I use a 50% tolerance 'wand selection', and select the regions that are 'not part of the ship'. I copy this blank area. I then take a solid 'base color' I want to use for the ship, and then create a layer under my line-art and use the paint bucket to dump it all in. I then paste the 'not part of the ship' area I copied onto this layer, and then hit delete on that selected region, which leaves only the region under the ship colored:
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step2.png)
Next, I then take a low-alpha pencil tool again and begin painting on the top layer by layer: (each layer is a different color) - Note that I put all the drawn color layers /on top/ of the line art; this allows me to 'soften' it as I go, removing the hard black lines that I initially had.
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step3.png)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step4.png)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step5.png)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step6.png)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step7.png)
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step8.png)
I then collapse and mirror these layers to then cover the whole ship.
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step9.png)
However, I felt that the lines were still to harsh, so I then duplicated my still transparent color layer to get this:
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step10.png)
Now, I take that upper layer, and mess around with that layer's alpha, its saturation and its lightness (and maybe even hue if you wanted to. This may have... hideous results though, but minor changes in the slider can often produce nice effects) until I achieve an effect that I like:
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step11.png)
The final step is to add on all the hardpoint and turret slots (the only kitbashing required), like this:
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3061400/starfarer/Tutorial/Amanita_Turorial_Step12.png)
TheHappyFace's light and shadow guide
Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/usfrl.png)
send in your tips and tricks for all other spriters to see
Spoiler
- While making a concept make sure you think in 3D this will in the end make your ships more appealing and interresting.
- if you draw out the base of your sprite and figure out the places of the engines try to make it look balanced. I mean it should look like it would actually look like it will go forwards when the engines are online.
psiyon's weapon modding guide (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA-Qpk8FNnM)
usefull links:
Spoiler
Psiyon's free stuff
http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=347.0
spiral arms free stuff
http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=1131.0
Here's the sprites I use if you want those.
http://www.mediafire.com/?0yi628u196284vu
Note that this is all done in PS and I'm not sure if GIMP has access to anything like Plastic Wrap (but you can always do the highlighting that it does by hand).
Spoiler
Step 1: I just use the magic selection tool to get rid of all the blue background. Next I duplicate the layer and set the top one to "Darken" as its mode. Here, I turn off the visibility on the top layer so I can see what I'm doing with the coloring of the base layer. Then we go to Hue/Saturation and colorize the base layer.
(http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/8732/necotut1.png)
Step 2: Here I go into the filters and play around with the Plastic Wrap feature until I get some highlights I like.
(http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/5225/necotut2.png)
Step 3: Next I go to Filters>Render>Lighting Effects and play around with those settings until I get some good dark highlights. I like to put the texture on "Blue" as it seems to drag out the best highlights on the color I use for the base.
(http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/7641/necotut3.png)
And we end up with it like this, and that's it for the base part. Next we move onto the top layer.
(http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/4814/necotut35.png)
Step 4: First we enable vision on the top layer so we can see what we're doing to it. After that, we go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast and I adjust it so that it's a bit lighter (this is so it only highlights our next color in a few areas) and add a bit more contrast.
(http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/843/necotut4.png)
Step 5: And once again we go to Hue/Saturation and choose our color. You can adjust the brightness to decide how much of the color we want to show through onto the base layer, and the saturation for how dark it will be. And we're almost finished!
(http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/113/necotut5.png)
Step 6: In this step we start by merging our first two layers together, and then duplicating the single layer that results. After that we take the bottom layer and scale it up a bit so that it sticks out from under the top layer a bit.
(http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/8400/necotut6.png)
Step 7: Now we add a very small Gaussian Blur (any type will really do here) ,and we're pretty much done!
(http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/3752/necotut7.png)
And here's an example of a finished ship that I used these techniques on.
(http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1883/postnecroship.png)
A few other things I do: I usually bring up the ship first, and do all these steps while the bio-part is sitting atop the ship. I grab one that I think will fit nicely on the ship and get it into its relative final position before I start.
After I get a couple pieces on I usually take the eraser tool and blend them together at the "seams" where they intersect to make it flow better. I tend to save the last step (the blur) until I have every piece laid onto the ship, and then make a copy of the entire biomass and blur it all at once. After that I go in and clean up any edges I don't like, add more blur layers (if I feel the one wasn't enough), and add darker highlights where I deem necessary.
It's not much for kitbashing, but here goes nothing:
Spoiler
Kitbashing:
Find the sprite(s) that most fit the look of your ship. This can be from across all classes of ship, High-Tech, Low-Tech, or Midline. You can even kitbash a few different colored ships together if need be.
To start off, find the base sprite, a ship that most resembles the ship you want to make. Chop off the unneeded parts with any image editor (Paint.NET, GIMP, Photoshop, etc.). I suggest that you paste the new parts on top a new layer before chopping old ones off in case too much is taken off. Once you get that done, color in the unwanted transparent pieces and chop off bits that are sticking out.
Remember, the color changer is your friend! It can change a high-tech ship to look midline or even low tech with the right amount of colors added.
Spoiler
(http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/medikohl/starfarer/xxx.png)
your kitbashing is amazing and the vid is really helpfull. ;D
ill add everything when i finally figure out how i am going to place it into my post without exceeding the maximum amount....
for now i'll place it here
Psiyon's guide for transforming 3D models into 2D sprites
Spoiler
This tutorial is for those of you who want to get your 3D models into Starfarer (Or any other 2D game). The software I use is 3ds Max for rendering, and Photoshop for post-processing the completed renders. You can render your ships out in other software, like Blender, and you can also use other image editing programs besides Photoshop. This tutorial is focused on these two pieces of software, however, the concepts would apply to any other program.
Part one (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0WVhI7BgKs
Render scene file: http://www.mediafire.com/?e0qx48x48pck7kf
(Alex, any chance of a forum update so we can embed youtube videos into posts? It would make things a bit more convenient.)
Part 2:
I tried a video version of this, but in the end, it would have just wound up being way too long and drawn out. A text and picture version will work better and allow you to work at your own pace, instead of pausing every five seconds to see what I'm doing.
I'll be using a different render than the one I used in the video, because I made that one when doing the ill-fated video version.
(Here's how it turned out, if you're curious:
(http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/7310/telanitan.png)
)
Let's begin.
First, start by making a new document, and copying both the render and its Ambient Occlusion pass into it, each as a separate layer.
Because the ship we're making is symmetrical in shape, we're going to make sure it's symmetrical in every other aspect as well. Select half of the ship, from right down the middle.
(http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/6210/71514226.jpg)
Copy and paste that halved segment of the ship. It should now appear on a new layer. Go back to your base layer, and select the other half of the ship. Delete it. Now, you'll be left with two halves of the same ship, each on a different layer. Select one of the layers, and transform them horizontally. (Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal). Align the two halves so they fit together.
(http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/9254/97550120.jpg)
Finally, merge the two layers into one.
Then, repeat those steps for the ambient occlusion pass. Make sure that it fits over the base layer nicely before merging. Once done, set the AO layer mode to Multiply.
(http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/7613/45546855.jpg)
Now that we're set up, we can start doing the editing that matters. Duplicate the base layer, and then go to filter>sharpen>sharpen. The filter might be a little powerful, so adjust the new layer's opacity as needed.
(http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/3356/94276291.jpg)
Duplicate the base layer again, and move it underneath the Sharpen Layer. Go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast. In this case, I'm actually going to decrease the contrast, however, in most cases, you'll find that increasing it will look better. It all depends on what render settings you used, as well as the model's texture. Make sure the contrast layer's opacity is left at 100%, as it will soon become our base layer.
(http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/3921/46606810.jpg)
Next, I'll duplicate the base layer one last time, and move the new layer above the Sharpen layer. On our new layer, we'll go to filter>filter gallery, and then under brush strokes, choose the Accented Edges filter. Set all properties to the lowest they go.
(http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/4359/97253932.jpg)
Click OK. Set the layer mode of this new layer to Soft Light, and drop the opacity into the 15%-40% range. This layer helps make the sprite a bit darker, and also helps add a little detail into the render.
(http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/653/38023933.jpg)
Now, disable the visibility on your base layer. We won't be needing it anymore, and its presence will only make the edges of our sprite sharper and uglier.
This is where the fun begins. Create a new blank layer, and name it Paint-Over. We're now going to try to smooth out any rough parts on our sprite.
The general idea with this step is to find grainy and blended areas of color, and make them more uniform, like a sprite usually is. In other words, we want harder and sharper color transitions, instead of smooth gradients and turbulence.
With the eyedropper tool (hotkey I), find a problem area. Sample one of the colors in that area, and begin to paint it over. Make sure you're using the pencil tool for this (Click and hold over the brush tool to see other brush options). Also make note that you only need to do it to one side of the ship (if it's symmetrical). In the end, you can just duplicate your paint over layer (and the others to come), and it'll save you 50% of the work.
(http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3003/26592272n.jpg)
As you can see in the picture, the right side looks more uniform than the other side. While it might not necessarily look better, it provides a good foundation for our next step: detailing.
Create a new layer, and set its mode to multiply. At this point, we stop preparing the ship for making it look good--here, we actually make it look like a sprite. Set the brush width to 1px (still using the pencil tool), and select shades of grey--usually a shade right in the middle of black and white works well for this. It depends on how much you want your ship to "pop". If your detailing is too dark, the ship will look silly, and if it's too light, then it will also look silly. Experiment to see what works best.
When it comes to detailing, I find that outlining distinct parts of the ship is a good place to begin.
(http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/2471/87658256.jpg)
Again, you only need to work on one half of the ship, we can duplicate and flip it later.
The next step is to add smaller details--like hull plating, little dots and squares, etc.
(http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/2589/19562140.jpg)
Finally, if you're satisfied with the result, we duplicate both the paint-over and detail layer. Flip the copies horizontally, and align them properly.
(http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/5891/16676723.jpg)
The last step is adding lights, if you want them. Create a new layer, and set its mode to linear dodge. Move it above the ambient occlusion layer. Choose a color that you want your lights to be, and add them wherever you want.
When you're done, duplicate that layer, set its mode to normal, and put it underneath the light layer. Go to filter>blur>Gaussian blur, and set the radius to about 0.5. Hit OK.
(http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/6021/64622142.png)
Do any last-minute touch-ups you need, and then you're done! Export it as a .png file with a transparent background.
(http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2311/scug.png)
I hope you found this tutorial helpful. And, an offer: if anyone wants their model rendered off by me, don't hesitate to ask. As long as I don't get swamped with requests (which I doubt will happen) I'd be happy to render a ship here and there. I won't, however, do all the post work. That's your job :P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr3O4yPxZg
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(http://i.imgur.com/FgYMn.png)
i think its time to use this thread for one of the reasons i made it.
Spoiler
(http://i.imgur.com/GPWXB.png)
i am asking all of you wo see this to give me some comments about them.
i love compliments but this time i am not asking for those i want some serious comments.
negative reactions on my sprites so that i can improve them
and wo knows some other spriters might learn from it too.
the style from these ships resembles that of the movie treasure planet.
they have a rennaisance look ,but they're sails (or whatever its called in english) cath sunlight instead of wind.
ps. i invite any and all spriters to place they're sprites here to receive comments (not only compliments)
ow but please dont start placing all your sprites here just a few so its easier to comment and
this thread doesnt get overloaded ;)
I like the overall design; it feels light and high-tech and fits Starfarer's art style fairly well :)
Looking over the sprite, I'm also happy to see that, unlike a lot of stuff, this isn't a mess of anti-aliased jaggies at the edges and doesn't have any almost-invisible fuzz around it, but has clean hard edges. Overall, I think it's a great first public sprite and I look forward to seeing more :)
I've done a quick edit to show, rather than just tell, what I thought could be improved a little:
(http://www.wolfegames.com/TA_Section/grey_death.png)
Critique:
Spoiler
1. Outside edges need stronger contrast, so that it has a nice, clean line against backgrounds and the shape stays distinct.
2. Keep the lighting consistent; there were a few areas where I felt like panel lines and other things were ambiguously lit and corrected them.
3. Add some final detailing to make it feel a bit less mirrored. And on metallic objects, don't forget to throw in some color; metal is very rarely anything like pure gray, especially if it's been heated or exposed to various abuse. I kept it really subtle here, in keeping with the stainless-steel styling, but gave it some faint hints of grease stains, etc.
4. Add some little edge greebles at the end to give it a few unique, non-mirrored touches.
Thanks for all the tips and tricks, not to mention the encouragement to continue.
I took on your advise and here is my edited result, a bit of rust is all this really needed.
(http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/7890/starfarertest2.png)
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(http://distressedhomesolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/approved.jpg)
\/ \/ \/
Behold! And help.
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(http://i.imgur.com/oJkQ0qN.png)
1. Wings I'm pretty much 100% OK with, but if you can see any problems or such do tell.
2. Those engine blocks suck. The three rectangles by the wings feel devoid of real... engineness. Plus the middle rectangles are meant to be stacked with a block of a different colour sandwiched between them (this will be where a phase glow will appear too).
I've put it on a black background due to the excessive white colours