Matrix Games Forums

How do you all get your planes to line up between the different slides?

Thanks
joe

What do you mean exactly?

Lining up the alpha and top artwork. I'm having a tough time getting some of them to line up correctly.

ORIGINAL: DOCUP

Lining up the alpha and top artwork. I'm having a tough time getting some of them to line up correctly.

You need a steady hand my friend....GP

Planetop Alpha Image Tutorial

Amen!

Took me years to get there. And I still find it challenging. If possible,
I team with an artist. Originally it was Cobra Aus. After that Mifune. Now
he is unable to produce much of anything, I have been forced to learn how.
But I still prefer to have someone with skills do it!

What ever happened to Mifune?

I use the editor a lot and have learned a lot from it.
That said, I have always wondered what the numbering system is for each pic on the plane "slides".
I suppose if I manually went thru every single plane stats page, I might be able to figure out some kind of order since every plane is represented by a particular pic...but it would be nice if someone might just pop in and say "Well, Bob, ya' dummy...it starts with pic#1 on the top left and goes to #2 as you progress to the right, and then go to the next row...starting from the left and reading to the right as you go.

That does NOT seem to be how it goes.
In RHS scenario 122, the bitmap image for the Chinese P 40E is "13"...but I doubt the image on the art strip file places it in the 13th slot?

Thanks everyone, for your comments.

ORIGINAL: m10bob

I use the editor a lot and have learned a lot from it.
That said, I have always wondered what the numbering system is for each pic on the plane "slides".
I suppose if I manually went thru every single plane stats page, I might be able to figure out some kind of order since every plane is represented by a particular pic...but it would be nice if someone might just pop in and say "Well, Bob, ya' dummy...it starts with pic#1 on the top left and goes to #2 as you progress to the right, and then go to the next row...starting from the left and reading to the right as you go.

That does NOT seem to be how it goes.
In RHS scenario 122, the bitmap image for the Chinese P 40E is "13"...but I doubt the image on the art strip file places it in the 13th slot?

"Well, Bob, ya' dummy...it starts with pic#1 on the top left and goes to #2 as you progress to the right, and then go to the next row...starting from the left and reading to the right as you go....." because that's exactly how the bitmap number works. [:D] [:D] [:D]

HOWEVER...., when you create an aircraft in the editor you can assign any bitmap number to any aircraft slot (ID). If the scenario designer is smart (draw your own conclusions here....), they will use the bitmap corresponding to the aircraft slot to avoid questions such as yours above.

Note how the bitmap (artwork grid panel) numbers do not align with the slot (aircraft ID) numbers in the example below.

What you need is my tool below. It displays in any web browser how the artwork is loaded in your game installation. There is one line displayed for each aircraft slot and it shows which bitmap number is assigned to that aircraft slot. Very handy for quickly identifying errors and is much easier than going through the lists manually. [:)]

The Default column is the assigned artwork extracted from the default artwork grid file. The other columns to the right are rotating artwork which you probably will not have installed. The aircraft and bitmap assignment data is extracted from the scenario files so it reflects the currently selected scenario.



Download my tool from here: Rotating Art Tool V1.6
Just unzip and run the installer.

This program is written in MSDOS so will run on any Windows PC (though may be a bit slow).



Create a Installed Air Art Page (option E).
(You will be asked which scenario to generate - please be patient, it may take a while).

View the Installed Air Art Page (Option 1)

That's it!! (Documentation is included though you will need a pdf viewer installed).

I hope this meets your needs.

oops..... Accidental double post. [:(]

REG!!!...Ya' read my post, lol!!!!

Thank you so much for helping me with this issue...As I have stated before, I am a huge supporter of the editor and recently, (this year), I am having issues seeing the ships shils in the editor on most of the classes...No idea why..I have them looking in the same art folder as the planes, and they are just fine?

I have downloaded your great art tool and will be playing with it to see what all it does....Again, thank you!

ORIGINAL: m10bob

I am having issues seeing the ships shils in the editor on most of the classes...No idea why..I have them looking in the same art folder as the planes, and they are just fine?

Hi Bob,

Sounds like you need the Installed Rotating Ship Art display tool. If the shils don't show up here they probably won't show up in the game either.

If you aren't seeing the shils, the most common errors are that the shil files are not named correctly (don't forget the .bmp suffix, not .gif or .jpg) or are in the wrong folder. The shils will be missing from my display tool if this is the case.



Tip: You don't need to keep re-creating the display Art page unless you are changing the installed scenario. Just update your artwork, refresh your browser and the new artwork should be displayed.

The ship images show up fine in game, it is just when I look for the shils in the editor itself...This is why it has been perplexing?

BTW, in my modding, I have found scads of ships not in the WITP AE data base and have gone as far as to open the game and scan the ship sides from the button at the top left of the screen to see what I need, image wise..Like the rest of you modders, I try to do whatever it takes, lol...

Hi Bob,

I'm not sure what you are after here.

The editor allows you to assign a bitmap number to a ship class. The game then looks for BOTH the ship side and shil files associated with that bitmap number in the appropriate locations.

( Art\AlliedShip_Back\, Art\AlliedShip_Transp\, Art\JapShip_Back\ and Art\JapShipShills_transp\ )

Easy as that. [:)]

If you haven't already, I would suggest you download and read MichaelM's excellent guide to game artwork attached to this post.

It is a treasure trove. [&o] [&o] [&o]

ORIGINAL: Reg


If you haven't already, I would suggest you download and read MichaelM's excellent guide to game artwork attached to this post.

It is a treasure trove. [&o] [&o] [&o]

Thank you again Reg...EDIT: I had pointed at the wrong folder!...I use a mod and was not pointing at the correct folder within the art folder...