Ship question

Can someone give instructions as to the exact procedure for shan resources? I understand (I think) that we need an rled and an rle8, a shan and a ship, but how do I go about this, and what am I missing?
EDIT: Okay, I'm using Meaker's file Sketchyrender, and no matter where I seem to move it, I seem to be off on top or bottom, and it's obnoxious. Example. I know I'm supposed to be exporting in png format, but I did quicktime to show you what I meant.
http://dl.dropbox.co...chyRenderer.mov

This post has been edited by Spartan Jai : 05 February 2011 - 10:08 PM

Sorry, I didn't have time to respond yesterday when I saw this. I figured someone would've responded by now, too.

First off, you don't need an rlë8. That was for back when a lot of computers couldn't handle rlëD. These days, that's not the case for the most part, so most people ignore it, myself included.

Second, if the problem you're referring to is the empty space under the ship, that's not from the shän, but from the render process. I got the same thing from Meaker's render file, though not as extreme as in your video. Did you have the fighter sitting on the circle, or was it lowered inside the circle? I find lowering it helps. Basically, put the very center of the model in the very center of the circle.

A shïp resource controls the actual behaviour of the ship — its speed, shields, weapons, and so forth.

The animated graphic which represents it on screen is stored in an rlëD resource. As DarthKev says, rlë8 is now obsolete and should be ignored.

A shän resource is the link between the two, telling the game which rlëD resource should be used to represent your ship, and how it should be animated.

I'll rerender and if it looks pretty enough I'll try the rest. Thanks.

I figured it out. It's all good. The animation is jumpy, but that's because of a mixup with Illustrator. I have a few more questions, however. What is the best way to make banking frames, and is there a better way to put the individual frames together other than Illustrator?

@spartan-jai, on 06 February 2011 - 11:58 AM, said in A how to thing:

What is the best way to make banking frames . . .

With a 3D model, it's just a matter of re-rendering with the ship tilted a little; if you’re doing 2D ships, you’ll probably have to draw them separately. In terms of creating the sprite, you simply make an animation in which the ship rotates in a complete circle three times — once flat, and then once banked in each direction.

@spartan-jai, on 06 February 2011 - 11:58 AM, said in A how to thing:

. . . is there a better way to put the individual frames together other than Illustrator?

Well, since they’re bitmap graphics, Photoshop or equivalent makes more sense than Illustrator, but there are also purpose-built programmes like the p2s and m2s components of NovaTools, and I think there’s also one called SpinApp on the add-ons page.

I typically don't use spinapp because it keeps giving me an overload message.

I took some screenshots of the fighter, and it's pretty low quality in comparison to the world around it.

@spartan-jai, on 05 February 2011 - 08:52 PM, said in A how to thing:

... I'm using Meaker's file Sketchyrender, and no matter where I seem to move it, I seem to be off on top or bottom, and it's obnoxious...

Right, not sure if I was clear on any of those (there are at least 3 or 4 render-setup files floating around now), but you really need to make sure the model is centered on whatever I've given you to center it on. That means all 3 directions, not just side-side and front-back.

@spartan-jai, on 06 February 2011 - 11:58 AM, said in A how to thing:

I figured it out. It's all good. The animation is jumpy, but that's because of a mixup with Illustrator. I have a few more questions, however. What is the best way to make banking frames, and is there a better way to put the individual frames together other than Illustrator?

Are you using illustrator for laying out the frames? If so, awesome, but there are better programs for that (and ones that do it automatically). Banking frames are made by 'rolling' your ship 5-90 degrees (you choose how much)in one direction and re-rendering. Then switching it to the other way and rendering again. Roll it around the central axis of the render setup - make absolutely sure that the model will rotate around that point and not some other point or you'll get issues.

I'm using illustrator for laying out frames (spinapp {when it actually opens} gives me an error message) and graphic converter for masks.
EDIT: Can someone suggest an automatic program besides spinapp, providing one exists of course.

This post has been edited by Spartan Jai : 07 February 2011 - 05:07 PM