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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:29 pm
by carlinho
To all mythers any help appreciated:
So I asked before about arrows and javelins and I was told that I need to create a bitmap as a texture which is achieved by creating a sprite with size exponent of 2, example 64x64
The question is: what sprite should I create to make myth use it to create the animated arrow flight?
an arrow/javelin horizontally placed and seen in the 8 possible views ?
If not, which ones?
any details on how to achieve all the process?
From which sprite to draw to how to make amber and fear understand it and make it fly like an arrow/javelin?
thanks guys!
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 9:48 pm
by Graydon
Assuming you're on a mac (since you're making all these units I'd think you are) you can open up the Souless collection in Amber, and just extract all the bitmaps. Take a peak at how it's set up, and just mimick it 
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 11:27 pm
by carlinho
Graydon! what's up!
I did that with the archer collection and all there is is this arrow by itself with no animation whatsoever, but treated as a texture...instead of as a sprite...
just thought somebody could avoid me the hours and hours of trial and error..hehehe
I have so little time this days you know...too much reality...sigh
I count your word on that level scripting !
at least for the 2 major battles.
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 10:37 am
by Graydon
Don't worry.. those units look so fun man. Script is good too. Can't wait
I have never made a unit in my life, so I really don't know if this is accurate, but I THINK the flying arrow is just a 1 view image, and the projectile tag animates it to fly. Whether they have multiple views or whatnot, I couldn't say 
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 11:57 am
by haravikk
I don't think that arrows/javellins can have multiple views, I will admit I haven't tried but I don't see why it would, as the point of the texture is that it has an unlimited number of views due to being a 2d image made into a 3d polygon (ie it's a flat 3d object).
To set-up an animating texture you need to make sure your images:
- have both dimensions as power of 2 (1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256)
- do NOT use the background colour (the first colour in your colour table)
The second one is the trickier one, but not that complex still. Instead of the background colour you can use the transparent colour, which is the THIRD colour in your colour table. I hope your unit has this set to something bold and easy to use (it's a good idea to make sure the first and third colours are NEVER used by your unit except as background/transparency).
Once you've done this, you simply add the images in like any other unit animation, when you import them you should notice (in Amber in the Bitmaps section) that they come up as being "RAW" for their type. This in turn allows you to enable the "Texture" box in your animation (needs to be enabled for every frame of the animation).
Once you've done this you've got yourself an animating texture, for use on buildings or as a projectile in your case.
Hope that's not too confusing for you!
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:18 pm
by carlinho
uhh...I'll give it a try this weekend, hopefully it works
it doesn't sound too complicated except the 2d 3d thing....
does it mean I have to create a 3d arrow?
or just a sprite that somehow myth treats as a 3d object?
anyways don't worry, I'll try it saturday
thanks guys!!!!!!!!!
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 2:47 am
by carlinho
muaahahahahahahahaHAAAA!
At last!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I understood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it works!!!!!!!!!!!
took me a long time but finally I got the point and I made it work!!!!!!!!
one question though: the speed at which the arrows fly has anything to do with the size of the sprite created?
I did bigger size sprites than regular myth II arrows and mine fly damn fast, almost real time...
looks good though, but maybe it's too hard to run away from archers now...hehehehehe
thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 12:44 pm
by haravikk
Glad to help
The speed will depend on the attack settings for the unit, this is the most difficult part for arrows actually so try and make sure you copy existing units as much as possible. Velocity will of course make the most difference, but there are a few flags such as "Fixed pitch" which also effect it.
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2005 5:29 pm
by carlinho
thanks Hara!!!!!!!!!!!!!