[Gandalf Parker]

Quite abit can be done with the paint program that comes with the computer. For WinXP people that would be MSPaint.

I would recommend getting IrfanView which is a free viewer. It is willing to do a thumbnail view of the huge sprite library that Kristoffer has nicely provided us. It also allows you to save one of the images as a BMP so you can work it in MSPaint, and will convert your done BMP back to a TGA so the game can use it.

With MSPaint you have many of the tools you would need. Lets take the ratman thing. If you picked up one of the Ctis lizardmen for example then you could make a standing-up ratman thing by:

A)Choose the magnifying tool and set it to the max (8x) so you can see all the color dots (called pixels) that make the image

B) use the pencil tool that is already selected and set to black. Left click the mouse around his nose to shorten it abit.

C) use the freeform tool (like a dotted star) to draw a circle around his upper torso. Clicking on the colored boxes at the bottom of the tool thing helps since it makes it ignore the background. Now you can move his upper body down abit to make him shorter.

D) get the pencil tool and then go to the color pallete. Right click a brown and then left click a different brown. Now go to the image and left click on all of one of the green colors, and right click on another of the green colors.

Now you have a shorter unit with a shorter face that is brown instead of green. Ratman. Of course you can continue to touch him up. Dont bother getting too picky with individual dots. The detail that you are looking at disappears when you see it in the game. Use the magnifying glass to switch back to 1x mode once in awhile to see what it will look like in the game.

Of course this is very basic just for people who want to try it to see if they can do it. Once you find something that the paint program on your machine cant do, come and ask. We can often recommend you toward something fancier. Often free also. But no need to start with a fancy program until you know you want to do it and need something the program you have isnt doing. Jumping into the fancy guru stuff too soon can just blow you off the subject.