[Andrés]

I think this is a great idea.
So far most mods are restricted to the standard set of pics. Some make very good use of it taking advantage of the pictures that are not used by standard techs. And in some cases, those pictures are quite appropriate and shouldn't be changed.
(Did you see the stargate facility and the trek-transporter component among those. I wonder how hard can it be to make the hard code changes to make a long range cargo transfer and maybe a long range boarding abilities for them?)

To answer Baron Munchausen's question:
Creators of most of the popular mods are not good artists and are unable to make the pics by themselves.
In the case of a shipset, an artist knows all pics needed. Note that until we came up with the neo-standard all shipsets were made with only the standard ship sizes.
Analysing mods to find which pics are needed, making the pictures and assigning each a new and different number (most wouldn't dare to change any of the original pics) and changing that big pics that include all minis and modding the data files to use the new pics and then submitting that to the author of the mod would be too much for an artist.

But you're right, there're a lot of artists out there making shipsets that should be able and willing to make new comps etc.
And the only thing that needs to be done is to coordinate their efforts with modders.

Making all pictures for all mods may be a lot. But something good is that unlike with a shipset, all comp pics don't need to share the same style. Different artists may be able to contribute even if with only 1 or 2 pics each.

The idea of making different looking Versions of the standard components is good, but that's another mod. Anyone willing to make it or incorpore it to his/her mod? I'm sure that if someone is willing to edit the data files and coordinate, artists will soon join and make the needed pics.


IMHO there's no point in creating a unique set of pictures that includes all extra pictures used by all mods. Even if some of the pictures can be shared between mods.


So IMHO the logical steps to add a new set of pics to a mod are these:

1- The modder or anyone interested starts by requestig the pictures; to do that Posts a list of all components, facilities, etc. that need new pics, including a description and maybe an idea of how it should look.
The modder can also request pictures for items not yet included in the mods.
I suggest using the mod's thread or a new thread, it can get confusing if pics needed by different mods were all posted here.

2- Then artists can pick one by one the pictures and when made post them there.
This can be made fast if many artists cooperate and are carefule enought to avoid making the same picture twice while leaving another unmade.
If two or more pictures should be alike, for example ship and fighter Versions of the same weapon, they should be made by the same artist to give it consistency.
Of course that you don't need to wait for all pics to proceed with steps 3 and 4.

3- The modder or one of the artists renames the pics assiging pic numbers for each comp/fac and updates the big picture/s with all minis. Remember that height of those pictures can be increased by 36 pixels to add extra rows in the bottom if needed.

4- The modder includes the new set of pictures in the mod, updates the data files as necessary and Posts the new Version of the mod!