<!--quoteo(post=237933:date=Oct 26 2008, 04:28 AM:name=Canned Karma)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Canned Karma @ Oct 26 2008, 04:28 AM) Compare this to the original. I have traced over it exactly so it shouldn't be wrong. But if you think it needs to be sent to the middle I'll fix it up. Edit: I have just finished Sonic's Life box. So there's another complete!
The invincibility box looks pretty spot-on; I like it. The 1-up monitor, however, just looks a bit off. If I'm not mistaken, the original monitor had some shading around the eyes and on the bottom. That aside, it looks really good!
<!--quoteo(post=238080:date=Oct 26 2008, 03:04 PM:name=Ritchie Ramone)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Ritchie Ramone @ Oct 26 2008, 03:04 PM)
Great! I will fix that shade for you!! It will require more refinements to be approved, but it's getting good, Kamon! Monitors needs to be improved in color shades, they still suffer too much from the previous 256 step color limits. The 1 up monitor: -Sonic needs to be shaded like the Uber Sonic version -Have some facial expression The Invincibility monitor: -Stars needs to be more HD looking
Great! I will fix that shade for you!! It will require more refinements to be approved, but it's getting good, Kamon! Monitors needs to be improved in color shades, they still suffer too much from the previous 256 step color limits. The 1 up monitor: -Sonic needs to be shaded like the Uber Sonic version -Have some facial expression The Invincibility monitor: -Stars needs to be more HD looking [/quote] Here's the new ones, I have applied many more shades to Sonic and he has his usual 'confident-to-win' look about him. I have used more gradients to get That sparkle looking alot cleaner and less '256-bit...-ish :p' If they still need more work I'm happy to update them again, practice makes perfect, as they say.
Personally all the attemps for Sonic's life icon look, well not Sonic like at all, yeah the original didn't have the best look but personally since we have a lot more room than the original did I think we should make it more like Sonic. Also just doing some things, obviouslly not perfect but I thought I would give it a go.
<!--quoteo(post=238159:date=Oct 26 2008, 05:41 PM:name=Flare)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Flare @ Oct 26 2008, 05:41 PM) </a> Also just doing some things, obviouslly not perfect but I thought I would give it a go.[/quote] It looks really good. Two things though. Green: It seems as if its a bit of a darker shade than the orginal. Red: Did you leave the light blue part out on purpose? It looks better without it imo. Just curious.
<!--quoteo(post=238159:date=Oct 27 2008, 02:41 AM:name=Flare)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Flare @ Oct 27 2008, 02:41 AM) </a> Also just doing some things, obviouslly not perfect but I thought I would give it a go.[/quote] Yes, the Life icon did have a generic look with no smile but I quess in HD we do have room to add things, such as facial expression. I'm sure sega would have done the same if they weren't reduced at 16-bit. Nice work on the level icon by the way, They are look excellent! Only thing that I would change is the Steamer/banner. You know the what stripe going through it? It seems a little larger than in the sprite. You may want to reduce it. Other than that it is some great work.
Great start Flare!! - Hodgy I just analyzed the file.. Congratulations for the many shades you did!! But to avoid unecessary use of long manual shading, you can use gradients! ^^ Fixed file: -Added coil spotlight gradient: You will find after opening the file, a shape named "simple gradient". to make that I created a new squared shape, added a "radial" type, metal effect swatch. Set "overlay" on transparency, than used the pencil to make the shape overlap coils completely. -Also added an extra hidden layer with a new spring done with gradients. You can view it on top of layer list!
<!--quoteo(post=238234:date=Oct 26 2008, 10:54 PM:name=Vincent)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vincent @ Oct 26 2008, 10:54 PM) If I need to make any improvements just say so!
Yess!! :v: -Now please fix the left coil edges (the first one on the top is not covered by shadow!) -Add the original frame for comparison purposes (height, proportion) -Fix the yellow gradient shading on the edges of the base, to be more curved thus following the / \ lines! -The white light spot on the yellow base is too strong, make it more like the original! You are improving alot, Hodgy! :v:
<!--quoteo(post=238251:date=Oct 26 2008, 07:47 PM:name=Flare)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Flare @ Oct 26 2008, 07:47 PM) </a>[/quote] The blue part of the flag is most likely what the dark shaded part of the flag looks like. Having the far part of the flag be blue and the close part of the flag (where the SONIC text goes) have grey shading looks completely wrong, to me.
<!--quoteo(post=238259:date=Oct 27 2008, 04:17 AM:name=Hodgy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hodgy @ Oct 27 2008, 04:17 AM) If I need to make any improvements just say so![/quote] You have improved yet again! It is not often I post but this time I had to: I simply can't sit quietly while someone is steeping up his skill over and over. Well done!
<!--quoteo(post=238617:date=Oct 28 2008, 06:13 AM:name=LOst)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (LOst @ Oct 28 2008, 06:13 AM) If I need to make any improvements just say so![/quote] You have improved yet again! It is not often I post but this time I had to: I simply can't sit quietly while someone is steeping up his skill over and over. Well done! [/quote] You know, I couldn't have said it better myself! I find it even more amazing that you are working with a seeming disability so very, very well... art + colorblind = massive hurtle, but dammit did you clear it with style! :applause: (not sarcastic, either )
<!--quoteo(post=238470:date=Oct 28 2008, 12:44 AM:name=Vincent)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vincent @ Oct 28 2008, 12:44 AM) I think I've done everything except for the third change you suggested. While I have tried to I'm not sure if it is right. Just done a bit of what LOst suggested managed it on the base and the red part of the spring.
When you have completely moved over to Illustrator, there is a tool I want to introduce to you. It is the most important one called "X-Y W-H Transformation". In order to boost the quality of object sprites to those of original Sonic 2 you must have control over how the vector graphics gets rasterized so that pixels are rounded on whole pixel coordinates (once going File->Export to web...->PNG 32bit). This is done with math and cannot be done by free hand. Vincent and I are working together closely to have sprites and level art as pixel perfect as possible, both on the art side as well as in the engine. I have made a video (it's played by a Flash player) how to enable the transformation toolbar (enabled by default in Illustrator CS2 and possibly CS3 as well). Also showing how to set the alignment of coordinates (the 9 points icon) to bottom-left, and finally showing how to move an image as well as sizing and positioning primitive spring shapes. Watch the video here: http://www.logotypes.se/sonic/HD/align/test.html Why is this needed in the first place? When scaling/rotating/positioning a shape by free hand, it will end up on coordinates inbetween pixels. When those coordinates are rasterized into a bitmap such a a PNG, the pixels will be interpolated. We want to minimize interpolations especially on edges of sprites, simply to make the art look like it was drawn by a pixel perfect artist (which we really miss by looking at todays graphics artists). So when having an edge of a sprite, or an edge where two shapes touches each other, use math instead of free hand. The quality will be boosted to a level that will set a new standard in HD graphics. And remember, once you have transformed a shape by math, never scale it or do anything to it by free hand because it will be forever destroyed. Also positioning can be done relatively which is awesome. If you know your shape is off by 3 "whole" pixels on the X axis, and the X axis says "5 px", instead of typing in "8 px", you can type "+ 3" and press enter. "5 px + 3" will become "8 px" when you pressed enter. Another important part is to remember that Illustrator may say the shape is located on a whole pixel after you moved it by free hand or when it was pasted from the clipboard, like "12 px" for example, but that may not be true. To be 100% sure, always input "12 px" manually in case you haven't done it yourself. These things are very easy to work with. It is simple +/- math. Width and height might show up as percent instead of pixels. All you need to do is enter px, or % after the number to choose what unit to use. I perfer pixels because we want to output the result as pixels. Also default units ca be set at Edit->Preferences->Units and display performance... Hope that will help. I am sure this will end up in the guidelines too. EDIT: To bring up the other 2 important tools, I will pretty much give you the whole secrets behind Illustrator: The next best tool after the X-Y W-H Transformation is the Path Finder/Align/Transform docking window which can be enabled by looking into the Window menu. God it is the best thing ever to work with. Aligning two shapes perfectly against each other or centering two shapes of different sizes. Also the path finder is a bless, where you can combine multiple shapes of the same color into one single shape (merge) as well as other lovely stuff. And the last tool is hidden in the context menu and is called "average": When you have two or more points that you aren't sure are completely aligned, like the blue crosses I have drawn, you choose average, and an axis, press OK, and Illustrator does the job for you. Doing it by free hand is TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE. You will never get it right. Those tools only help you on layouting shapes from the shape's own origin. The X-Y W-H Transformation is the main key to success! EDIT again: Remember that you don't need to redraw the spring just to align it. All the shapes that you have drawn and possibly grouped, can be ungrouped and transformed individually. For example, when you select the top highlight of the spring the X-Y W-H Transformation toolbar will show that shape's coordinates and size. You have an estimate size and all you need to do is retype the pixel values. Example, it the shape's width is 129, you type 128 and press enter. Because you know 128 is the real value of the pixel art scaled to 4X, and 129 is definatelly a rounding error by editing the shape in free hand. But first things first: Move the whole spring to origin X: 0 and Y: 0 (first set the alignment to bottom-left like I did in the video), Then do the width and height changes. Don't worry about gradients, as they do not need to be aligned (we are talking the gradient coordinates and not the shape coordinates that has the gradient applied to it). They are already interpolated anyway. Even each gray spring element needs to be aligned perfectly in all X, Y, W, H, but since they are so complex like gradients, you can get away by just aligning the whole gray spring area itself. And don't forget, if the value was already 128 (as my example above with 129 -> 128), retype 128 again to be sure it is 128 and not 128. Illustrator is evil when it comes to that.
<!--quoteo(post=238621:date=Oct 28 2008, 11:44 AM:name=ZOPR)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ZOPR @ Oct 28 2008, 11:44 AM) If I need to make any improvements just say so![/quote] You have improved yet again! It is not often I post but this time I had to: I simply can't sit quietly while someone is steeping up his skill over and over. Well done! [/quote] You know, I couldn't have said it better myself! I find it even more amazing that you are working with a seeming disability so very, very well... art + colorblind = massive hurtle, but dammit did you clear it with style! :applause: (not sarcastic, either ) [/quote] Thanks for all the nice comments My colour blindness isnt as much of a problem as you think it is. I am red and green colour blind, this only effects the way I see red and green hue's making it dificult to distinguish between them easily. I can still see the colours! Just cant see the differences as well as other people!
Very nice visual help LOst, this will go straight up onto new guidelines. About the spring, there are now some small size differencies to fix: -The higher part of the spring is one pixel line lower, yo just need to enlarge it. -The yellow base is also missing one pixel line, same as above to fix. -Clips are one pixel lower as well -The green mark circles, indicate the coils sides, which should be darker on the edges. It's almost getting approved, keep it up! ^__^ P.s. Don't forget sides of the base! They must have the dark yellow shading with the correct angle, or it will just appear as a gradient and not a metal.
