How to Edit Icons - Page 2

Rosollia · #11 February 3rd, 2013, 08:16 AM

Understood.

Regarding the use of Paint.NET for editing Steel Panthers graphics always disable the antialiasing (edge smoothing) feature when painting or you will get problems with the palette. Also the Resampling option "nearest neighbour" should be used when resizing images.

One problem I had when making diagonal graphics for the TERrain graphics was that by default Paint.NET's "Rotate / Zoom" feature always applied edge smoothing and there was no way to disable it. Then I found the "dpy" plugin pack and specificaly the plugin "Rotate/Zoom+" that solved this problem. It is an important plugin for anyone using Paint.NET to edit the TERrain files in my oppinion.
http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php...643-dpys-pack/

After installing the plugin you can find "Rotate/Zoom+" under the "Effects/Distort" menu in Paint.NET.

Cross · #12 February 4th, 2013, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosollia

Quote:

In the game map, alternate lines of pixels appear slightly larger or smaller than their neighbours. Which is perhaps why icons look 'crisper' in MOBhack.

I've found it's most noticable when editing fine details like one pixel 'caliber' gun barrels, or with small icons like infantry.

That sounds like a hardware issue most likely due to upscaling done by LCD monitors that are not running in their native resolution.

Hey Rosollia,

But I see the same issue in other people's screenshots.
Like this screenshot you posted:

The infantry in your above screenshot are not as 'crisp' or as proportioned as they are in Mobhack.

Here's a screenshot from my PC's MOBhack:

Here's a closer comparison:

My 1920x1080 LCD doesn't have a problem rendering/upscaling the image in MOBhack, why would it only have problem within the game?

regards,
Cross

Rosollia · #13 February 4th, 2013, 11:55 AM

They both look crisp on my 22" LCD monitor running at 1680x1050 resolution.

The difference is that the graphics in my screenshot have the added black bordering around them.
It might be that your display or even the graphics card has trouble when contrasted by that black border?
The colors might be "bleeding" into those black pixels from the surrounding light ones creating a fussy effect.

Idealy you should see a perfectly sharp infantry graphic with a 1 pixel wide border around it.

Cross · #14 February 4th, 2013, 01:45 PM

I compared 'apples and apples':

You and Don are right, there is no 'actual distortion' at the Zoom 4 level. The larger/smaller 'pixels' I saw must have been at zoom 5, or zoom 3. You can see it most clearly in zoom 5 above.

My graphics card and monitor display the icons exactly as you see above. There is no shadow bleed. Unless I'm only supposed to have a one pixel shadow? I have a 2 pixel shadow to the south, and a 1 pixel shadow to the west. As you can see above.

To my eyes -

- the shadow must be what changes the perceived shape, detail and crispness of the icons. Just as framing the same art with different coloured or sized borders changes what you 'see'.

I'm not suggesting we should do away with the game added shadow. Only that when making icons it's a good idea to load them into the game during the design process, as they will 'appear' differently on the map.

Cross

Rosollia · #15 February 4th, 2013, 05:24 PM

Going back to what you wrote in post #12:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cross

My 1920x1080 LCD doesn't have a problem rendering/upscaling the image in MOBhack, why would it only have problem within the game?

Is your game also running in 1920x1080 resolution? Reason I ask this is because LCD screens only have one fixed (native) resolution. In your case I assume it is 1920x1080. If any other resolution is used then there will be emulation/upscaling and the image quality will suffer.

I run the game in a 800x600 resolution and the image quality is alot poorer than it was on my old CRT monitor that was actualy capable to run in a real 800x600 resolution. One can get used to it though.

Cross · #16 February 4th, 2013, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosollia

Going back to what you wrote in post #12:

Is your game also running in 1920x1080 resolution?

I run the game in 1920x1080. But anyway, there's no problem with my graphics card or monitor, see post 14.

cheers,
Cross

troopie · #17 February 5th, 2013, 01:24 AM

How do you, can you, change the names of icons. Will you please explain how?

Baie Dankie,

troopie

Rosollia · #18 February 6th, 2013, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troopie

How do you, can you, change the names of icons. Will you please explain how?

Baie Dankie,

troopie

What names???

troopie · #19 February 6th, 2013, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosollia

Quote:

Originally Posted by troopie

How do you, can you, change the names of icons. Will you please explain how?

Baie Dankie,

troopie

What names???

What I meant was renumbering them from one game to another. Taking say WinSPMBT .shps and putting them in an slot in WinSPWW2 or vice versa. Simply renaming copying and pasting the .shps can cause problems

troopie

DRG · #20 February 6th, 2013, 07:19 PM

....that's because the postion of the Icons in each game is different and that postion is hard coded.

If, however, you found a shp file from one game and found an unused series in the Icon files that matched hull/turret, hull/hull or hull/invisible turrets combination then you could assign the whole file into the new game.