New skin for HAL: WMP

[Holllywood]

Hello Art,
  I really appreciate the info. Could you suggest,what you call a good "Graphics Prog." I'll get it right away. I'm not sure what you mean by "Unfold" it. But I'll try to play with it once I find it. Is it the body female.map that I have in my Haptek "Skins" folder? Again, my thanks for the pointers. If I don't get it right away... I'm gonna have fun trying...
Again to all,my thanks..I'll let everyone know how I'm doing with it.

StillTrying,StillListening,StillLearning

[Dr.Benway]

Good programs for making and changing graphics are always expensive. I would definite recommend Paint Shop Pro if it was not rather expensive. Maybe you should try to buy an older version from Ebay if you are familiar with those things.

A good viewer for all kinds of picture files is Irfanview, which is freeware (http://www.irfanview.com/). You cannot really paint with Irfanview, but you must always have a small program for quick examining of all kind of files.

The template Art was talking about is part of the Haptek-SDK (once installed: "C:\Program Files\Haptek\HaptekGuide4\MakinContent\advanced\   extures"). You should download that guide anyway.

[Holllywood]

Thanks Dr.
 I've got the Haptek Guide. So I've got the place to start. I will get the Graphics. (Hopefully today)I am anxious to get started. I'll download the viewer as well. I'll let you know how its comming.
Thanks some more.

StillTrying,StillListening,StillLearning

[Holllywood]

ps.
  Since I posted my last reply... I have "Paint Shop Pro. 8Premium", and "Paint Shop Pro.9". Which do you recommend to install?

[Dr.Benway]

You're quick! I still work with version 7. I don't know the difference between the versions you have. You tell me!

[Art]

Corel Draw has numerous versions out there as well. It is quite a capable program. PhotoShop is probably one of the better programs but rather pricey. Raymond's recommendation of PSP is certainly a good one!

By trial & error you will be able to figure where different parts of the body start and end. Do one, save, load Hal and try that character / skin combination. Close Hal, bring up PSP modify a bit more, save, Load Hal...etc...etc...until you get something you like.

Let us know how you're doing...

[Holllywood]

Well Guys,
Just to keep everyone posted. I've got all these new toys, and not a brain to go with them.LOL. I've read alot. But I haven't a clue about Graphics. So I guess I'm just out of gas. Heck I don't even have the slightest idea as to how to use this Paint Pro. Another waste I guess.
 Well that's the update.

StillTrying,StillListening,StillLearning

[Dr.Benway]

You're giving up already?

Listen, don't try to understand everything at once. Go to the library and borrow a book about how to use Paint Shop. Start with easy things, try to change colors of skins, for example. Just fool around. Experiment with the different filters that Paint Shop has. That's how I started.

Use your Haptek guide and the Haptek console to explore the different ways a character can look by changing settings. You can learn a lot that way. I learned a lot in the past about the working of 3D-cards by experimenting with the config files of games like Quake.

I know it all seems very overwhelming at the beginning. Just take your time and try out little things.

[Holllywood]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Dr. Benway. But I honestly don't have a clue as to how to even open my texture.jpg, that are in my Skins folder. Let alone how to get them into my paint shop. I've been reading in the Haptek guide and the Paint shop "Getting started" But it's all a foreign language to me. I haven't given up. I guess we can say; "I've slowed down" [8D]

StillTrying,StillListening,StillLearning

[Dr.Benway]

If you installed PSP or Irfanview all you have to do is double click on such a file to view it. If PSP rejects a .jpg file then the file must be corrupt or not a valid .jpg-file to begin with.

Say, you are not accidentelly talking about a texture file with the .jhp or .hap extension? Because you just cannot open such a file, because it is encrypted.

[Holllywood]

Well Dr. The .jpg's that I am able to see are the ones that just look like a picture of the character. And the other is the one I call the texture. Its that real ugly looking image, with the face and the sides of the head open flat on each side of the face. I have no idea. which one I should be trying to work with. I know that when I load the ugly one in Hal I get my character. But how do I get to change or play with it?

[Holllywood]

Oh yeah, I've got the Body female map.jpg. That's the ugly one I viewed. I just wish I knew where to start for there.

[Dr.Benway]

Yes, Hollywood, the ugly one, that is the one that does all the magic. She doesn't look as beautiful now, does she? [] Quite a shock for the first time, but you'll get over it. When you make any changes to that picture in Paint Shop and drop it on the character you will see how this effects her.

Keep one thing in mind. The texture is a .jpg and therefore already a bit compressed. When you save it again as a .jpg the added compression is going to make her really ugly. So, as long as you work on her, keep saving her as a .bmp file. When you are done with changing, save the result one more time as .jpg. In that case choose "save as", and before typing a name, choose "options", next choose "optimize" and look how much compression the picture can handle without getting ugly.

[Holllywood]

It all sounds good Dr. But I can't make out what part of the ugly is what part of the body. And I'm being quite honest when I tell you that I do not know how to paint... Or erase or anything. And what your saying about compressions and saving and changing names... I'm at a loss. But I'm still reading as much as I can.

[cmlane]

quote:Originally posted by Dr.Benway

Good programs for making and changing graphics are always expensive. I would definite recommend Paint Shop Pro if it was not rather expensive. Maybe you should try to buy an older version from Ebay if you are familiar with those things.

A good viewer for all kinds of picture files is Irfanview, which is freeware (http://www.irfanview.com/). You cannot really paint with Irfanview, but you must always have a small program for quick examining of all kind of files.

The template Art was talking about is part of the Haptek-SDK (once installed: "C:Program FilesHaptekHaptekGuide4MakinContentadvanced   extures"). You should download that guide anyway.

Wow, someone else knows about irfanview. That is one of the first programs I install on any new PC. No time for paintshop to load up and that stupid MS Fax viewer thingy does things I don't like.