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Alpha Images
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Ich-Henker
Flamethrower


Joined: 06 Aug 2015
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2018 11:42 am    Post subject:  Alpha Images Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Hey, all questions regarding alpha images

1. What settings are best used when importing an image file into SHP-Builder.
[I had a hard time exporting the well known shield.shp alpha light to change it an re-import it. The SHP itself is labeled as a tiberium sun animation but no matter the settings i could not re-import it and have it look the same, something always was off like random black dots or figures across the artpiece.
2. When outputting only use one compression (this i know)
3. Do you know any resources or are willing to share some of your alpha images?
4. Any other experience that is helpful?

Thank you very much

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Lin Kuei Ominae
Seth


Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2018 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

1. create your own JASC palette with colors from 0,0,0 to 255,255,255. Then manually select this palette to view an alpha image.
There is not a single Alpha palette file in the game which you can use/extract, since there is none by default. The index is the color, so there is no palette necessary for the game.

For import you can't select JASC palettes in SHP Builder, so you have to open an SHP first, then select the JASC pal, then copy paste your image into SHP Builder.

The latest Image Shaper can also handle JASC palettes, so you can use this for SHP import when you want to import multiple frames.

2. Usually Alpha images are only a single frame. I think Ares adds support to have animated Alpha images.

3. It's a grey scale image. Not hard to do with any image editing tool where you just use a gradient from black to white.
Color 127,127,127 is neutral. Below gives a darkening effect ingame, higher a brightening effect.

4. Alpha images are centered different than buildings or units ingame. Can't remember exactly how, but i think i had to move it 6 or 12 pixel up/down to match it with the building again (in TS, which has 48x24 big tiles).

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4StarGeneral
General


Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Location: Limbo

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2018 1:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I believe it's +15 for RA2 and +12 for TS.

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cxtian39
Commander


Joined: 11 Feb 2016

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2018 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I overlap 2 anims with opposite color like 126&128, ..., 0&254 to see if they can cancel out but the result is that they cannot.

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Ich-Henker
Flamethrower


Joined: 06 Aug 2015
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 11:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I thank you all very much for contributing!
Does anyone has some already constructed Alpha Images he or she would like to share?

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Lin Kuei Ominae
Seth


Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 4:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

cxtian39 wrote:
I overlap 2 anims with opposite color like 126&128, ..., 0&254 to see if they can cancel out but the result is that they cannot.

for some flickering light effect it can be done close enough though, with the negative flickering alphalight canceling out the constant building alphalight.


Ich-Henker wrote:
I thank you all very much for contributing!
Does anyone has some already constructed Alpha Images he or she would like to share?

Pretty sure the answer is no, since they have to match the object that is using them.
Too big or too small compared to the light post looks ugly.
As mentioned above, drawing a gradient is a child's play. In Gimp this is a 1 min job to get it matching a light post with a certain size.

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SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection:  Nod buildings

Public SHPs
X-Mech Calendar (28 Mechs for GDI and Nod)
5 GDI, 5 Nod, 1 Mutant, 1 Scrin unit, 1 GDI building

Tools
Image Shaper______TMP Shop______C&C Executable Modifier

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kenosis
Commander


Joined: 19 Aug 2009
Location: Moscow State University

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread


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cxtian39
Commander


Joined: 11 Feb 2016

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2018 7:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Lin Kuei Ominae wrote:
cxtian39 wrote:
I overlap 2 anims with opposite color like 126&128, ..., 0&254 to see if they can cancel out but the result is that they cannot.

for some flickering light effect it can be done close enough though, with the negative flickering alphalight canceling out the constant building alphalight.

What I want is a shield can only block attack once: A unit comes out of factory with AE with positive shield anim, when it is hit, it is given an AE with the negative shield anim, but the result is that they can not neutralize each other COMPLETELY.
I think it's because there is not such opposite color, with 127 colors before #127, and 128 colors after, it's always (1/127-1/128)*100% off

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