Squad art

[bj229r]

not a monumental problem, but WHAT program can create a 64X64 256 color illustration? Paint goes down to 72, or thereabouts. I Actually have a picture I want to use, and figured I might scan it in and thus change the attributes, but that no worky either;


                                           anxious

[Skuzzy]

Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro are two that come to mind.  I am sure there are many others.

[B17Skull12]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro are two that come to mind.  I am sure there are many others.

i still cant figure out how to get it to 256 color and look like 16 bit. does it have something to do with batch conversion?

[Skuzzy]

In Photoshop, you set the mode to Indexed color (Image->Mode).  I am not sure how to accomplish it in Paint Shop Pro.

[Easyscor]

Two steps:

If you don't have anything but MS Paint, load any existing nose art and it will default to the proper color depth and size.  Then just edit it.  Be carefull about using colors not in the pallet or you might change the color depth.

To convert a scaned image, there is a freeware program called i_view32 which can take your scaned image and convert it to any size and color depth required.  You'll likely want to edit it in MS Paint so pay attention to the caution above.

[bj229r]

that was the ticket Easycor--AOL has a freeware called 'Irfanview'---bout a 5 min download on dialup--it changes from any resolution--pretty neat (AOL also had paint shop pro as freeware, but its like 59 meg)....umm..that being said, after its uploaded...how does said squad art get on squaddies plane? automatically on next day's log-in?

[Skuzzy]

We have to approve the submitted art work and then it will be placed where it will be automatically uploaded to the squad members.
This is done once a week, and usually on Mondays.

[Easyscor]

Another note before you send in your nose art, put the art into your "squads" folder with the name of your squad CO.  You'll note that's how they are all listed.  Then log online and use something like a C47 with outside views to see what it looks like.

The nose art is a square and we were never able to manage any transparency meaning a crest or cheese-cake can't be the only thing you see.  Maybe Skuzzy can tell us if it's possible to or if it will be possible in AH2.

[RTR]

Paint the portions you want to be transparent grey. (or white I have found works as well).
It will show on the aircraft as you want it to.
RTR

[Easyscor]

Gray and even white didn't work against C-47s or any of the army green planes.  If you make it dark enough to blend in with the darker planes, it looks bad on P51-Ds and B-17 etc.

Please tell me I've missed something and give me the hex code for the transparency, or point me at a nose art with transparency and I can handle it from there.  Usually I would expect to need a mask for this sort of thing, or at least a void color.

[RTR]

Easycor, HTC lists the transparency colour as {127, 127, 127}
You can find this in the squads link from the home page i believe.
FYI I did mine in Paint 64X64 and 256 colour so Paint will work.
Also Im not sure what the "127" actually is, but I painted everything I didn't want to show white.
Just checked my sqn nose art and it shows up perfectly, is transparent where it should be and shows correctly on all colour schemes of all the aircraft in AH.
Hope this helps
Cheers
RTR
BTW my noseart is in your squads folder under rtrbmp. if you want to look at it. (it's also my Avatar)

[Skuzzy]

Actually, it should be 176, 176, 176 for the transparent background.

[RTR]

rgr that Skuzzy ty.
Still shows as 127 in the write up on the squads info page.
cheers,
RTR

[Easyscor]

Thanks Guys!

We spent a lot of time trying to make it work and finally gave up but now it's time to revisit our nose art.

[Easyscor]

An update...
I tried both 128,… and 176,… values.  Neither of these color values are transparent, just differing shades of gray and a poor substitute for true transparency, at least on my FE.  I was expecting one of them to correspond with a resident nose art mask but that is either nonexistent or broken.  I wish it turned out differently but I can’t see using either set of values for nose art transparency even though I see many squads using them.