Ghouly89 said:
I posted this towards you, Pixote, but it seems it got pushed off to the previous page. Do you think you could drop me some pointers / a screenshot of your actions?
Sorry Ghouly…I didn’t notice that message. I will pass you my PS actions – that should speed up critter building somewhat.
I will use Mr. Baldie as an example. For those new at critter building we basically want to combine two different critters into one new critter (typically that means removing and pasting a head from one to the other). This is my method, and it isn’t necessarily the best method, but it works well enough, feel free to improve upon it.
Mr. Baldie Photoshop Action (Cropping)
1.Grab all of the files related to the two critters you want to combine – (you will need to use a program to open the critter.DAT file in Fallout 2 – check the NMA files section) – the various critters can be found in the art/critter folder. Ex. Leather Armor Male = (HMLTHR) and Blue Jump Suit = (HMJMPS).
2.Place them into two separate folders. Allocate a folder for each individual FRM (Fallout frame) and name them correspondingly. Ex: HMJMPSAA.frm into HMJMPSAA folder. Create a folder and name it “Images”, copy that folder into every HMJMPS folder… (This folder will hold all of the individual images).
3.Run the FrameAnimator and ‘Open Project’ (Ctrl+o) – now select the first individual critter FRM - ex: HMJMPSAA.frm (the idle critter in the Blue Jumpsuit). Press ‘Save Project’ (Ctrl+s) and save the Project file (*FPR) and BMP files into the “Images” folder. Each individual frame will now be saved into the images folder. Each image will have its correct frame offset numbers and alpha color (blue), so when you load them back into the FrameAnimator the critter should be in its correct position - (The FrameAnimator can be a bit buggy, I prefer not to close the program while I finish the editing the frames in PS, and after the images have been adjusted I just reload the project file and make the finished FRM).
4.Complete the same process for each FRM that will require editing – do the same for the other critters FRM’s (i.e. Leather Armor – HMLTHRAA)
5.Open the folders of both critters with the same animations (HMJMPSAA + HMLTH2AA) and place them side by side. It’s important to check to see if both critters have the same number of animations in their individual sequences. If one has more, then you might need to remove or add an extra frame to balance the equation…as well check to see that the sequences are the same, sometimes they are not – the critical factor is to ensure that the critters animations are the same, otherwise the editing process will become more difficult.
6.Open Photoshop, and load the new ‘Mr. Baldie’ action. Do this by opening the Actions panel, and selecting the button on the right hand side – (Load Actions…), now the ‘Mr. Baldie’ action will be in your Actions panel. It has 3 stages – 1: Import Image (that copies one critter over onto the other critters image file), 2: Masking (after you made a selection (critter head) you press this action and it will mask the area you have selected, 3: Save FRM (this will flatten the image and save with the Fallout color palette, and close the file – understand there is no going back after you press this).
7.Now double click on the Jumpsuit critter first, and then quickly double click on the corresponding Leather critter. Both will open in Photoshop (if not check their properties to see if PS will open BMP’s). Make sure that the Leather critter is the last image opened. Select the “Import Image” action and press the play action button…the Leather critter will be copied over to the Jumpsuit critter…if you are lucky the critters will align perfectly, otherwise de-select and move the top layer into its proper position (it’s best to judge this by aligning the feet and shoulders). Now select the area on the top critter that you want to mask (keep), the lasso tool is the best option here (L) – ex: The Bald head from the Leather critter onto the Blue Jumpsuit critter. Make any small adjustments – blend the pixels if necessary, and finally select the ‘Save FRM’ action and press the play action button.
8.Go through each and every frame in the animation one at a time – and reload the finished images into the FrameAnimator. Run through each frame and each direction to check the animation, and if all is well save the FRM with a new name. If any frame is slightly out of position then make the necessary adjustment to reposition. It’s a good idea to check both the original and the new critter FRM’s to see how well they compare.
Bye...
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