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How should I make my sprites more "Realistic"?
http://45.55.195.193/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28287		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  ryry1237 [ Sun Dec 25, 2011 8:53 am ]
Post subject:  How should I make my sprites more "Realistic"?
So this is my first gun mod ever (which means it took me hours to get everything to work right), but after reading dozens of guides, wikis and tutorials, I'm nearly finished with the first fully functional weapon that I can actually call my own work.

Only problem is that I'm still not very good with spriting and no matter what I do, I just can't help feel that my gun/cannon looks a bit off.

Original 16 Bit (the copy I made before realizing that CC only works in 256 color)
Image

First 256 palette copy
Image

Revised Version (current version)
Image

In-Game look
Image

Comparison to other weapons
Image

It's based off of the mass driver in Descent 3 but with a few tweaks to make it look more like a shoulder held weapon.
I've tried to make it blend in by using colors from the Ronin arsenal, but it still feels flat and toy like when compared to the other vanilla weapons.

So do any of the experienced modders here know how to make something look more "realistic"?

p.s. Would it be considered improper to only release a single weapon as a mod or should I make a few more before releasing my noobish creations?

p.p.s I currently have 4 animation frames depicting the barrel of the gun retracting whenever the weapon is fired, but the game plays it too fast for it to be noticed. Is there any way to slow down the animation play speed?

Thanks
Author:  Azukki [ Sun Dec 25, 2011 6:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How should I make my sprites more "Realistic"?
Don't get too caught up on making it look realistic. Making it match the style of the rest of the spriting in CC is much better than something that looks like a downscaled image.

Anyways, maybe try a slightly more profound shading on the barrel, fore grip, and stock, with a darker outline on the underside of the barrel, and make the top of the muzzle less dark?
That big flat grey spot on the receiver also doesn't look great. You could try making up some detail to put there? That might be the wrong approach for that situation, but it's what I'd do. :P
Author:  Naxete [ Sun Dec 25, 2011 9:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How should I make my sprites more "Realistic"?
Find a style you like, if you go after realism, try to find the
characteristics which made special the device you want to focus.

In case of fictional devices, you should try to be faithful to the
original device and his performance, for example, the RYNO:

Image

Gotcha made this a little time ago, focusing in various things; don't lose the
orange color, keep the cartoon shape and the minigun-multi-barrel looking:

viewtopic.php?f=61&t=25335

Pretty successfully attempt I should say.
Author:  Shook [ Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How should I make my sprites more "Realistic"?
ryry1237 wrote:
p.s. Would it be considered improper to only release a single weapon as a mod or should I make a few more before releasing my noobish creations?

Nope. People may be getting spoonfed with packs nowadays (which is not bad), but it's definitely not unheard of to release single weapons (which is not bad either).

ryry1237 wrote:
p.p.s I currently have 4 animation frames depicting the barrel of the gun retracting whenever the weapon is fired, but the game plays it too fast for it to be noticed. Is there any way to slow down the animation play speed?

Well, i don't delve much in animation, but i think that it's only properly doable with some Lua snizzle. Guns only play one other frame when recoiling, and that happens insanely quickly. The Coalition gatling gun obviously has some spinning going, but that happens before, while and after firing, and is a looping animation. You could try setting the SpiteAnimMode to 3, which corresponds to "always pingpong". I have NO idea of whether it will work, though.

As for the sprite, i think it looks fine. But, you don't, so here's what i've gathered about sprites for CC: Visible outlines and bold shading usually works well. Once that's done, adding some random noise and detailing to it CAN (not WILL) improve it quite a bit. Be careful not to overdo it, though. Whether that's useful or not is for you to decide. :U
Author:  Kettenkrad [ Sun Dec 25, 2011 11:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How should I make my sprites more "Realistic"?
What I've found with good spriter's sprites is that they use and have a wonderful understanding of shape. Not quite sure how to describe it, but the way everything looks when put together just looks right. I suppose practice makes perfect in the end. My advice would be just to look at the vanilla sprites and see how Prom has put them together.

Oh and a line from Lizard that I'll never forget: "If I don't like the look of it I change it till it looks good."
Or something like that. Try and use that for different sections of the sprite.
Author:  LordVonKain [ Mon Dec 26, 2011 12:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How should I make my sprites more "Realistic"?
any time i do a sprite, I tend to base it off somthing and make a 100% Exact copy first. Then inculde what i envision to be "cool" or looks nice on the said image. Then again i find it hellva hard if not nearly impossable to create anything without conpect or a design in front of me.
Author:  ryry1237 [ Mon Dec 26, 2011 1:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How should I make my sprites more "Realistic"?
Azukki wrote:
That big flat grey spot on the receiver also doesn't look great. You could try making up some detail to put there? That might be the wrong approach for that situation, but it's what I'd do. :P

Yea, that spot's been bothering me for awhile, but I'm not very sure what else to put on it.

Shook wrote:
Visible outlines and bold shading usually works well. Once that's done, adding some random noise and detailing to it CAN (not WILL) improve it quite a bit. Be careful not to overdo it, though. Whether that's useful or not is for you to decide. :U

I actually did add a fairly significant outline as well as a bunch of noise onto the sprite, but yea, too much noise makes the gun look as if it were made of concrete rather than steel.

Naxete wrote:
the RYNO:

Image

Gotcha made this a little time ago, focusing in various things; don't lose the
orange color, keep the cartoon shape and the minigun-multi-barrel looking:

viewtopic.php?f=61&t=25335

Awesome! I can't seem to find the original image I based my sprite on, but looking at your mod, it seems that I was following the original picture a bit too closely.

LordVonKain wrote:
any time i do a sprite, I tend to base it off somthing and make a 100% Exact copy first. Then inculde what i envision to be "cool" or looks nice on the said image. Then again i find it hellva hard if not nearly impossable to create anything without conpect or a design in front of me.

Lol, that's actually exactly what I did, until I realized that the 256 color palette made all those fine lines in my first pic look weird.
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