This tutorial is intended to give some guidance and ideas to anyone that wishes to make skins for Freedom Force, or indeed for any other software. It is not intended to teach anyone how to use their art program. For my work I generally use two different packages but for the purposes of this tutorial I shall use Paint Shop Pro 7 exclusively. If you wish for more comprehensive instructions on how to use Paint Shop try Pinoy IIV for a detailed guide to the program and its capabilities.
Most art programs will provide the same or very similar tools, but it is possible that they will have different names.
The hero to be created is Micromax, a supporting character from Marvel's
Excalibur title, created and drawn by Alan Davis. The reason for this
choice is that the character has a clear and simple design and makes use of the
reflection capabilities of andrewgd's variant effects meshes available from the
Freedom Force Centre.
The first step
is to make a template file that is used to create the basic shapes for the
costume design. Start Paint Shop and open the wireframe template that Irrational
provide with the model, in this case "male_basic_wire.jpg". The original file is
in 512x512 format, but I work at the standard 256x256 resolution, so shrink the
file with the "Resize" command on the "Image" menu.
Open a base skin (make sure that it is also 256x256 resolution) and convert it to greyscale with the command on the "Colours" menu. Then increase the colour depth back to the maximum.
With the wireframe image use the "Negative Image" command to make the lines black on white. Copy the image and then paste it into the base skin as a new layer. (Right click with the standard pointer and you will get the paste menu).
Use the "Layer Palette" to make the wireframe transparent. Experiment with the percentage and blend type until you have an image in which you can see both the layout of the base skin and the lines of the mesh. Once that is done merge the layers with the "Merge All" command on the "Layers" menu.
You now have a basic template from which to work. Save it in the skins folder so that you do not have to create a new base every time. Click the "save as" command (F12) and save the file as a TGA. I give my template a clear name to ensure easy identification.
Before you can begin working on
your hero you will need to save your template into a folder with the standard
"male_basic" name. Click the "save as" command again and create a new folder
with your hero's name. Change the name of the template and save it into the new
folder.
*Note that if you are using andrewgd's Effects meshes then you will need to
open the "_refl", "_glow", and "_lightmap" files in the standard folder and save
them to the new hero's folder using the "Save As" command. Fill the "_refl" file
with solid black before saving it so that you will have a matte surface to work
on. If you wish to use the Glow map then enlarge the file size to 256x256 before
saving as it will make it much, much easier for you (the default is 128x128, but
it does not need to be).
Next it is time to start creating the hero.
