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[oboe]

I'm confused, are we not using 8 bit bitmaps anymore?

Devil are you using the Bright plugin for photoshop?   Bright exports an 8-bit bmp (I don't know if it changes it to Indexed color from RGB - not sure how to find that out).  Anyway my primary bmp from Bright looks fine in AH3, but it sounds like we won't be able to use this anymore.

[Devil 505]

I just used the indexed mode right in Gimp. I could never get Bright to work for me. From what Skuzzy is saying, it looks like we're going to a 32 bit bitmap, which at least for me is no problem to make since Gimp gives you the options when saving to a bitmap.

[Vraciu]

I just used the indexed mode right in Gimp. I could never get Bright to work for me. From what Skuzzy is saying, it looks like we're going to a 32 bit bitmap, which at least for me is no problem to make since Gimp gives you the options when saving to a bitmap.

So basically we don't need to convert downward to 8-bit?

 

[Greebo]

No, you do not need to convert the skin down to 8-bit so Bright is superfluous now. The basic skin and normal map are in 32-bit colour while the specular, power and environmental maps are 8-bit greyscale.

There are also no text files needed apart from the naming one used to describe the skin in the offline game's hangar list.

[Skuzzy]

Version 3.0C is now online.

1)  Fixed the session manager so the skin information is restored when you have to go back to try and submit again.
2)  Increased the login timer to 24 hours.
3)  Fixed several error messages to make them more clear.
4)  Corrected file validation.
5)  Added a link back to the main page if the submission fails, along with the submit link.

All submissions have been cleared.

I have one big feature I would like to add, and if nothing else comes up, the final version will be done soon. So bang on it folks.  And thank everyone for the help.  It is appreciated.

By the way Greebo, normal maps should now (game Patch 14) be working for the skins which never had one.

[Devil 505]

Ok, uploader is kicking out the skins correctly now - won't accept the 8 bit bitmap. 

[Skuzzy]

I also noticed you have a 24 bit normal map, which should be 32 bit.  Technically, 24 bit would work, but we would like to standardize on 32 bit.

[Devil 505]

Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out the normal map bits. PSP did not like the 32 bit bump maps that I was trying to import to convert to normal maps, but would open the same image if it was saved as 24 bit. I'm going to try installing the normal map plugin to Adobe photoshop.

[Greebo]

Thanks Skuzzy, the lighting effects on the Boston skin now appear to be working correctly.

I have gone through the file listings on the new submission page and found what seem to me to be some bugs. As much of this was checked prior to the latest revision you may have already corrected some of these.

A-20G: Add marking.bmp, plus the e,s,p and n versions of it.

A6M2: Add a6m2a.bmp

A6M5: Add a6m5ba.bmp

B5N2: Add b5n2_1_(e,n and p).bmp

C-47A: Add c47a.bmp

Camel: Add camel_1_(e and p).bmp, camel_2_(e and p).bmp
           Remove camel(e and p).bmp
           Change camel_(1 and 2)_s.bmp from 32-bits RGB to 8 bits grayscale.

Dr 1: Add dr1_1_(e and p).bmp, dr1_2_(e and p).bmp, dr1_1d_(e and a).bmp and dr1_2d_(e and a).bmp
         Remove dr1(e and p).bmp
         Change all (a, e, p and s) files from 32-bits RGB to 8 bits grayscale.

F4U-1A: Add f4u1a.bmp

FM-2: Change fmstr.bmp and fmstr_s.bmp from optional to required.

Hetzer: Change hetztrd_a.bmp from required to optional.

Jeep: Change jeep.bmp from optional to required.

Jagdpanther: Change pnthrtrd_a.bmp from required to optional.

Jagdpanzer IV: Change pz4trd_a.bmp from required to optional.

LVTA2: Change lvtrak_a.bmp from required to optional.

LVTA4: Change lvtrak_a.bmp from required to optional.

M16: Change m3a1trd_a.bmp from required to optional.

M18: Change m18trd_a.bmp from required to optional.

M3:  Add m3a1in_(e and p).bmp
       Change m3a1trd_a.bmp from required to optional.

M4A3/75:  Change m4a3trx_a.bmp from required to optional.

M4A3/76:  Change m4a3trx_a.bmp from required to optional.

Me163: Change me163sd.bmp and me163sd_s.bmp from optional to required.
            Change me163wg.bmp and me163wg_s.bmp from optional to required.

Me262: Add me262a.bmp

Ostwind: Add pzrtrd_(e and s).bmp
               Change pzrtrd_a.bmp from required to optional.

Panther:  Change pnthrtrd_a.bmp from required to optional.

Panzer IV F:  Change pz4tred_a.bmp from required to optional.

Panzer IV H:  Change pz4tred_a.bmp from required to optional.

Sd Kfz 251:  Change sdktrd_a.bmp from required to optional.

Spitfire Mk I: Add spit1a.bmp

T34-85: Add 34trax_(e and p).bmp (The T-34s' tracks don't seem to use alpha maps)

Tempest: Change tmpside.bmp, tmpstab.bmp and tmpstab_s.bmp from optional to required.

Tiger I: Add tiger1a.bmp
           Change pz6tred_a.bmp from required to optional.

Tiger II: Change tig2trd_a.bmp from required to optional.

Wirblewind: Change pzrtrd_a.bmp from required to optional.





       

[FTJR]

according to my photoshop it is 2048 x 2048 but below is what is returned.


Skin Files Verification
All Required files: Submitted
File upload names: Verified
File upload bit count, type, or pixel size: Failed Verification
 KI61.bmp does not appear to be the correct size (2048.0002441406).
 KI61_E.bmp does not appear to be the correct size (2048.0009765625).
 KI61_N.bmp does not appear to be the correct size (2048.0002441406).
 KI61_P.bmp does not appear to be the correct size (2048.0009765625).
 KI61_S.bmp does not appear to be the correct size (2048.0009765625).

[Skuzzy]

Well, I am a bit surprised those values are being extended to double floats.  I'll look at what I can do to avoid that.  Thank you FTJR.

[Devil 505]

No, you do not need to convert the skin down to 8-bit so Bright is superfluous now. The basic skin and normal map are in 32-bit colour while the specular, power and environmental maps are 8-bit greyscale.

There are also no text files needed apart from the naming one used to describe the skin in the offline game's hangar list.

I'm getting some very weird results trying to use 32 bit bitmaps. On the main skin, the colors are shifted about 1/3 on the color wheel (yellow becomes red, etc)

32bit


24bit - How it should look.


Skins are not indexed. 32bit file is 4.00MB and the 24bit is 3.00MB

[Greebo]

I'm in the same boat as you Devil as I am using PSP which while will only save alpha channels in its native format and until your post I was happily saving diffuse and normal maps as 24-bit bmps. Luckily I have a copy of Photoshop Elements and this has an option to save the bmps in 32-bit, so I'll just do this once per skin prior to submission.

Regarding your colour shift problem. Initially I could not reproduce it, the 32-bit skin and normal maps looked identical to the 24-bit ones in both the viewer and the game. However after playing with Photoshop's advanced settings button on the bmp save menu I managed to get the same colour shift. The default advanced settings used by Photoshop are 16-bit A1 R5 G5 B5 and with that it looked fine. To get the colour shift I had to manually change it to 32 bit X8 R8 G8 B8. So just leave it on standard settings and it should work OK.

[Greebo]

Got the same issue as FTJR with a 1024 res skin:

File upload bit count, type, or pixel size: Failed Verification
 B239.bmp does not appear to be the correct size (1024.0004882812).
 B239_N.bmp does not appear to be the correct size (1024.0004882812).

[Skuzzy]

Got the same issue as FTJR with a 1024 res skin:

File upload bit count, type, or pixel size: Failed Verification
 B239.bmp does not appear to be the correct size (1024.0004882812).
 B239_N.bmp does not appear to be the correct size (1024.0004882812).

Still trying to figure out what broke that.  Should have it nailed down Monday.