Painting Icons in Camouflage fast and for profit!

[MarkSheppard]

(NOTE: Graphics are blown up by 200% using Pixel Resize to make it easier for you guys to see on the monitor)

I took icon 2526 - SPCAMO's Winter M1A1 Abrams from MOBHACK (it's where I do my icon flipthru and viewing, as it's easier than SHPed for quick viewing), and placed it into Paint Shop Pro.

I then created a raster layer above the Abrams icon.



I then used the Icon Palette above to help me as a guide for picking out colors; which I then painted onto the raster layer I created above the M1A1 icon.

I then selected the "Multiply" option for the layer, and then "flattened" all the layers into a single one; and then loaded "JASC_WINSP_ICON_PALETTE" to see how it would look in the game.

Some of my attempts looked good, while others looked like crap.

This method of camouflage won't be as good as doing it by hand, like SPCAMO does; but it's a pretty fast way of rapidly turning out icons and seeing if a paint scheme you saw on the internet is feasible or not in SPCAMO games...

[thatguy96]

Hehe, the overlay method is how I've always done it. I just wish I could figure out every color in the palatte that's used for dynamic effects.

[DRG]

There are lot's of ways to camo an Icon. Some I do Icon by Icon, ( or "by hand" if you prefer ) some, like vehicles that might end up being used by many nations I create maybe 8 different coloured "solid" versions then, after the Icon pallete has been applied and corrections made I simply cut one colour and paste it onto another.

I vary my technique a lot simply becasue there are so many diffent ways to do this. Here's one example that does not require a layer as you describe. It's just cut and paste. It's vital when doing it this way that both the hull and turret are positioned exactly the same for all icons in the series

Don

[MarkSheppard]

Creating a Winter Icon to use as a base or a Black/Tan icon when there isn't one requires quite a lot of comparisons back and forth between multiple icons

For a Green to Black Icon conversion I do the following:

First, I grab the original SPCAMO Green Chieftain Icon and the SPCAMO Green/Black Camo Chieftain icons. I then look for areas on the Green Chieftain that are Black on the Camoed Chieftain, and I use the PSP eye dropper to pick up the colors from like areas and then use the PSP "color replacer" set at tolerance of 1 to replace the colors.

I then repeat this process with different areas until I'm done.


(Again, blown up 200% for clarity)

[MarkSheppard]

I just wish I could figure out every color in the palatte that's used for dynamic effects.

These are the colors used in WinMBT for dynamic animation:

[thatguy96]

Awesome, if I dled that would it be something I could use in Photoshop? I find that sometimes when I just do "save target as..." the colors don't always stay correct in the process. Your template is a bit clearer than the one provided with the .shp editor.

[DRG]

MarkSheppard said:
Creating a Winter Icon to use as a base or a Black/Tan icon when there isn't one requires quite a lot of comparisons back and forth between multiple icons

For a Green to Black Icon conversion I do the following:

First, I grab the original SPCAMO Green Chieftain Icon and the SPCAMO Green/Black Camo Chieftain icons. I then look for areas on the Green Chieftain that are Black on the Camoed Chieftain, and I use the PSP eye dropper to pick up the colors from like areas and then use the PSP "color replacer" set at tolerance of 1 to replace the colors.

I then repeat this process with different areas until I'm done.

Mark, may I suggest an easier way?. If your method works best for you that's fine but there are easier ways to do that


See A-------Start with the green one



See B-------Then, use the Retouch controls set to 'Color to target' set to 100% Hardness, Density and Opacity and set the forground colour to either pure black or pure white and wash over the entire Icon.



See C----Then get rid of the light grey that is covering the background pick by clicking on it as the forground colour and selecting the pink as the background colour and click on the "color replace" control to clean up the background. Now, apply the ICON palette to the icon. ( I recently discovered some people didn't know this existed. it's in the Game Data\Design\Palettes folder and is named JASC_WINSP_ICON_PALETTE.pal) using "nearest color matching" and you will see "C"



See D-----Now, that a bit too light so use the SHIFT+B key and set that to Brightness -10 and contrast 3 and you will get this



See E-----Now correct the background as described above then apply the palette again and you get this



See F------Then cut the camo pattern you want from either the green of the black version .........


See G-----.......and paste it together and you get this



Don

[MarkSheppard]

I think so. (in reference to the palette)