... I need help

OK here is what I am trying to do:

I am trying to make artificial rings around planets that can transport ships to another system. Very similar to a hyper-gate or wormhole. These rings will work more like wormholes in the fact that, when you use them you cannot see where you are going before you get there.

I see two problems

1. How do I make the planet and ring separate objects so that the player can still land on the planet and use the outfitter, MissionBBS, Shipyard, Bar, and Trading center, and then leave the planet and use the ring to transport himself to the linked system.

2. How will I make it so that the player doesn't accidentally land on one when he means to land on the other?

OK here is what I what one of the rings that I have created so far looks like:
AppiusCyriacusWthRing_copy.png (70.16K)
Number of downloads: 25

I want to make the rings spin when activated. I have done the animation in Blender and rendered it. But when I us PicsToSprites to make the grid something goes wrong. The mask looks something like this:
http://imagebin.org/21303

So when the rlëD is made there are holes and gaps in the ring because the mask is wrong... <_<

Is the ring too dark?

Any Ideas on what I should do?

This post has been edited by Eirikr : 20 June 2008 - 10:23 AM

Select the white parts with the magic wand, add a layer filled with black, go to that layer and press backspace.
The ring will now-be auto-magically completely black!

@eirikr, on Jun 20 2008, 08:20 AM, said in rlëD Trouble:

1. How do I make the planet and ring separate objects so that the player can still land on the planet and use the outfitter, MissionBBS, Shipyard, Bar, and Trading center, and then leave the planet and use the ring to transport himself to the linked system.

2. How will I make it so that the player doesn't accidentally land on one when he means to land on the other?

My answer to question 1 is make two different spöbs. One of the spöbs can be your planet, while the other is the ring. Give the planet all the stats you want, but for the ring, make it a hypergate. I really have no idea how to help you from here on out when it comes to designing the ring to make it appear like a hypergate.

For number 2, it can be possible to press 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the keyboard when you're playing Nova to select a planet you want to land on. So if it's only the ring and the planet in your system, you can choose either your planet or the hyperspace ring.

An old Mech' technique for masks (I don't know if you can make it work in Blender but I can't see why not) is to apply a shader that is 100% white and not affected by shadows and render against a black background.

@timmytiptoe, on Jun 20 2008, 10:44 AM, said in rlëD Trouble:

Select the white parts with the magic wand, add a layer filled with black, go to that layer and press backspace.
The ring will now-be auto-magically completely black!

Um, What program are you assuming that I am using?

@king_of_manticores, on Jun 20 2008, 11:28 AM, said in rlëD Trouble:

My answer to question 1 is make two different spöbs. One of the spöbs can be your planet, while the other is the ring. Give the planet all the stats you want, but for the ring, make it a hypergate. I really have no idea how to help you from here on out when it comes to designing the ring to make it appear like a hypergate.

For number 2, it can be possible to press 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the keyboard when you're playing Nova to select a planet you want to land on. So if it's only the ring and the planet in your system, you can choose either your planet or the hyperspace ring.

Ok I'll see what I can do.

I'd just like to mention the lighting seems off. Nice model, but it could do with some refining

@rmx256, on Jun 20 2008, 11:32 AM, said in rlëD Trouble:

An old Mech' technique for masks (I don't know if you can make it work in Blender but I can't see why not) is to apply a shader that is 100% white and not affected by shadows and render against a black background.

I did that and got this:
Picture_3.jpg (37.76K)
Number of downloads: 24
There seems to be a white outline that is unwanted... :huh:

@pace, on Jun 20 2008, 11:34 AM, said in rlëD Trouble:

I'd just like to mention the lighting seems off. Nice model, but it could do with some refining

haha yeah it was a little dark and off a bit. Here's an update:
ValeriusWithRing.png (41.53K)
Number of downloads: 22

You rendered your main image onto a white background instead of a black background. Aside from that I can almost guarantee your render sizes/camera positions/ etc are different between your mask image and your main image.

Actually, that render that looks like it has a white background has an alpha channel.

@rmx256, on Jun 20 2008, 02:23 PM, said in rlëD Trouble:

You rendered your main image onto a white background instead of a black background. Aside from that I can almost guarantee your render sizes/camera positions/ etc are different between your mask image and your main image.

I rerendered with the exact same sized. Then I dropped the frames into P2S and created the rlëD. I came up with the same thing.

Then why else is your mask larger than your main sprite? Are you using mask amplification (select mask, expand by one pixel, fill with white) with a sprite image rendered onto a white background? To do that you need your sprite to be rendered onto a black background.

Go into GIMP and load the ring sprite. Right click on the layer with the ring and select "Create Layer Mask." Select the option that says "Transfer alpha channel" and click okay. Select the entire mask and copy/paste it into a new image. Go back to the ring and disable the layer mask. If it's white under the ring, apply the mask and make a layer of black (HTML #000000 black) underneath the ring and merge the ring onto it.

Now go to the new image with the mask. Use "threshold" so that it is slightly bigger than you need it to be to cover the entire ring. Index it to 1 bit colors for good measure, and save in some place where you can find it again. That should do the trick.

It's all easier than I made it sound, I hope you can follow all that.

Um, Gimp can't open .16bit files..... :huh:

You mean, 32 bit RGB? Or 16 bits per channel? (48 bits) It should handle that perfectly well, but why do all the images you've posted have alpha channels in them?

I thought that was how one was supposed to render them. With an alpha background. Maybe that's my problem.... hmm

The engine doesn't support alpha channels - that's why you need a separate mask. (And remember, the mask has to be pure black and white, without any antialiasing.)

Oh ok, so when I render my animation I should have a pure black or white background with no alpha channel. This goes for both the mask and the sprite correct?

Pure Black Only background, no alpha channel, for both sprite and mask, correct.

Ok thanks... that should help... haha