Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

A forum to discuss custom scenarios, campaigns and modding in general.

Moderators: Slitherine Core, Panzer Corps Moderators, Panzer Corps Design

guille1434
Major-General - Jagdtiger
Major-General - Jagdtiger
Posts: 2856
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:32 pm

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by guille1434 »

Hello Soldberg: Thanks for asking permission... Both you and Bruno can use any number of the units and other stuff I posted here for your modding works. I will wait for seeing your work finished!
Good luck and happy modding!
Konigstiger88
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Posts: 76
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2016 4:49 pm

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by Konigstiger88 »

I attempted to make my first icon, the 35.5 Haubitze M1 (a super heavy artillery piece of Germany; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/35.5_cm_Haubitze_M1).
35.5 cm big.png
35.5 cm big.png (27.58 KiB) Viewed 4110 times
It comes out a bit rough in the game when i convert it, having a white outline. Any tips for improving it?
Here's the original for anyone interested.
35.5cm Haubitze M1.png
35.5cm Haubitze M1.png (28.55 KiB) Viewed 4108 times
Might lose the car.
Here's the pic i based it on.
35.5cm Haubitze M1.jpg
35.5cm Haubitze M1.jpg (53.71 KiB) Viewed 4108 times
captainjack
Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
Brigadier-General - 15 cm Nblwf 41
Posts: 1908
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:42 am

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by captainjack »

It's year or two since I made any icons so this will probably lack detail. I use Paint.net. Avoiding white borders involves adjusting the selection settings so that you exclude as much background colur as possible. Be prepared to make several selections and try adjusting the settings for the second or third attempts - the scond and third are usually done at higher magniification and removing ever-smaller areas. You will probably need to do a bit of work with the eraser to finish it off or you can try switching the white to a less obvious colour. Plan B you could make it more contrasting with the icon itself so it's easier to see and to remove.

There may well be better or easier ways to do this, and I'd be happy to learn a better way, but I'm no graphics wizard and it works quite well with a bit of practice.
Konigstiger88
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Posts: 76
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2016 4:49 pm

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by Konigstiger88 »

captainjack wrote: Fri Feb 22, 2019 1:12 am It's year or two since I made any icons so this will probably lack detail. I use Paint.net. Avoiding white borders involves adjusting the selection settings so that you exclude as much background colur as possible. Be prepared to make several selections and try adjusting the settings for the second or third attempts - the scond and third are usually done at higher magniification and removing ever-smaller areas. You will probably need to do a bit of work with the eraser to finish it off or you can try switching the white to a less obvious colour. Plan B you could make it more contrasting with the icon itself so it's easier to see and to remove.

There may well be better or easier ways to do this, and I'd be happy to learn a better way, but I'm no graphics wizard and it works quite well with a bit of practice.
Thanks, your advice is helpful. i'm revising it but at a slow rate.
nono hard et heavy
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Posts: 482
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:18 am
Location: France

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by nono hard et heavy »

Hello Mr Guille, it's the Frenchie. Can you explain to me how to create a Big Unit with this camo ? I have paint, paint.net but I don't know how to do it ! I've done several tests but I can't do it. When I place the big unit in DCS, the camouflage does not apply.
Panzer_IID_E.png
Panzer_IID_E.png (37.06 KiB) Viewed 3932 times
SS_Maus.png
SS_Maus.png (46.16 KiB) Viewed 3932 times
I would like the panzer IID-E with the camo of Maus. I'm here with paint.net
Panzer_IID_E_Mask.png
Panzer_IID_E_Mask.png (19.83 KiB) Viewed 3932 times
.
I'm right or wrong ? Thanks for your help
Bruno
glaude1955
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Posts: 449
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:55 am

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by glaude1955 »

Bonjour Bruno,

Ton mask n'est pas bon.
Je te renvoi à la page http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... start=2700
On ne doit pas voir ton unité sur le mask, elle empêche la texture de s'appliquer sur le modèle.
J'en profite pour t'adresser de nouveau les tutoriels que je t'avais composés.(je crois que tu as eu des problèmes avec ton disque dur)
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ivk6spe2 ... no.7z/file

For forum users, there are two tutorials for coloring units with DCS110.
They are in French but I think that the images make it possible to understand the process.

Cordialement

Yves
nono hard et heavy
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Posts: 482
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:18 am
Location: France

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by nono hard et heavy »

glaude1955 wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 8:02 am Bonjour Bruno,

Ton mask n'est pas bon.
Je te renvoi à la page viewtopic.php?f=147&t=36536&start=2700
On ne doit pas voir ton unité sur le mask, elle empêche la texture de s'appliquer sur le modèle.
J'en profite pour t'adresser de nouveau les tutoriels que je t'avais composés.(je crois que tu as eu des problèmes avec ton disque dur)
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ivk6spe2 ... no.7z/file

For forum users, there are two tutorials for coloring units with DCS110.
They are in French but I think that the images make it possible to understand the process.

Cordialement

Yves
Bonjour Yves. Oui, je sais que le mask n'est pas bon. Mais même la dernière tentative (unité en blanc) la texture ne s'applique pas ! C'est pour cela que je demande de l'aide. Merci pour les tutos.
Cordialement. Bruno.
Panzer_IID_E_Mask - Copie.png
Panzer_IID_E_Mask - Copie.png (6.05 KiB) Viewed 3855 times
glaude1955
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Posts: 449
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:55 am

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by glaude1955 »

Bruno,

Je t'adresse un essai de BigUnit.
Panzer_IID_E.png
Panzer_IID_E.png (34.25 KiB) Viewed 3838 times
Panzer_IID_E_Mask.png
Panzer_IID_E_Mask.png (6.71 KiB) Viewed 3838 times
Panzer_IID_E_Tarnmuster.png
Panzer_IID_E_Tarnmuster.png (37.71 KiB) Viewed 3838 times

ATTENTION : Pour le Mask, il n'y a pas de blanc, c'est transparent.
Cela ressort en blanc sur le forum mais si tu ouvres le fichier dans ton logiciel de dessin, tu ne dois avoir que du noir, du cyan et du rose.

Fais un essai avec les fichiers si dessus et dis moi si cela fonctionne.
Last edited by glaude1955 on Wed Feb 27, 2019 2:21 pm, edited 3 times in total.
glaude1955
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Posts: 449
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:55 am

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by glaude1955 »

Voici une copie de ce que tu dois voir :
Mask.png
Mask.png (4.63 KiB) Viewed 3831 times

et la texture Tarnmuster utilisée
Tarnmuster.png
Tarnmuster.png (80 KiB) Viewed 3837 times
Tarnmuster_Thumb.png
Tarnmuster_Thumb.png (32.82 KiB) Viewed 3837 times


Cordialement

Yves
nono hard et heavy
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Posts: 482
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:18 am
Location: France

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by nono hard et heavy »

glaude1955 wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 2:13 pm Voici une copie de ce que tu dois voir :

Mask.png


et la texture Tarnmuster utilisée

Tarnmuster.png

Tarnmuster_Thumb.png



Cordialement

Yves
C'est bien ce qui me semblait. Quand j'ouvre les mask des units, je vois le quadrillage là où la texture doit s'appliquer. Cela fonctionne. Mais pour les big units, je fais les chenilles en rose, les canons en bleu mais après... Je n'arrive pas à voir ce fameux quadrillage. J'utilise Paint.net, qui est un bon programme, peut-être pas aussi complet que Photoshop mais je n'ai pas trouvé ou compris comment faire apparaître le quadrillage. Je suis bloqué à cette étape. En tout cas, merci pour ton aide précieuse et tes conseils.
Bruno.
PS : j'ai enregistré les images plus haut, je vais essayer de comprendre. Pinaise, toute une après-midi de perdue pour ces p*****s de mask !
nono hard et heavy
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Posts: 482
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:18 am
Location: France

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by nono hard et heavy »

Oui, pour les image de 16h11, celle du mask fonctionne avec DCS. Quand je l'ouvre avec Paint.net, je vois bien le quadrillage dans la zone ou doit s'appliquer le camouflage Tarnmuster.
glaude1955
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Posts: 449
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:55 am

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by glaude1955 »

Je regarde demain avec Paint, là ce soir je n'ai plus le temps.
glaude1955
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Sergeant First Class - Elite Panzer IIIL
Posts: 449
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:55 am

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by glaude1955 »

Bonjour Bruno,
Je n'éprouve aucun problème avec Paint.
Le mieux pour que je puisse t'aider est de m'adresser tes fichiers ainsi qu'un résumé de chaque geste que tu effectues dans Paint.
Pour ne pas polluer ce post, utilises mon adresse mail.
Cordialement
Yves
nono hard et heavy
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Posts: 482
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:18 am
Location: France

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by nono hard et heavy »

glaude1955 wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:22 am Bonjour Bruno,
Je n'éprouve aucun problème avec Paint.
Le mieux pour que je puisse t'aider est de m'adresser tes fichiers ainsi qu'un résumé de chaque geste que tu effectues dans Paint.
Pour ne pas polluer ce post, utilises mon adresse mail.
Cordialement
Yves
Bonjour Yves. D'accord avec toi, on arrête de polluer. Je vais faire cela.
guille1434
Major-General - Jagdtiger
Major-General - Jagdtiger
Posts: 2856
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:32 pm

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by guille1434 »

Hello All:

Having read in some postings (the ones not written in French) asking about the making of big unit portrait masks, here are some stuff that could be useful:

- First, here is a set of big unit image and mask that I know works ok in the DCS program, you can use it as an example to make masks for other units.
Sturmpanzer_I-big.png
Sturmpanzer_I-big.png (33.96 KiB) Viewed 3686 times
- Secondly, here is a document about how to make masks. It refers to the making of map icons masks, but the technique is the same to make a big unit mask, so anyone can learn from it.

And last, a suggestion: never, never, use Microsoft Paint to work with your icons/big units/masks files... That crappy software will ruin your work for sure. Instead, you can use Paint.Net (my all time favourite) or the Gimp (which I find a little over complicated for this use).

Of course, you are encouraged to share the new big units images here after you make them, new big units images are always welcome!! :D

I hope this helps... Greetings!
Attachments
Camo Sprayshop Mask Creation Tutorial pdf.rar
(334.54 KiB) Downloaded 227 times
Sturmpanzer_I-big_Mask.png
Sturmpanzer_I-big_Mask.png (5.35 KiB) Viewed 3686 times
nono hard et heavy
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Posts: 482
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:18 am
Location: France

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by nono hard et heavy »

guille1434 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 12:38 pm Hello All:

Having read in some postings (the ones not written in French) asking about the making of big unit portrait masks, here are some stuff that could be useful:

- First, here is a set of big unit image and mask that I know works ok in the DCS program, you can use it as an example to make masks for other units.Sturmpanzer_I-big.png

- Secondly, here is a document about how to make masks. It refers to the making of map icons masks, but the technique is the same to make a big unit mask, so anyone can learn from it.

And last, a suggestion: never, never, use Microsoft Paint to work with your icons/big units/masks files... That crappy software will ruin your work for sure. Instead, you can use Paint.Net (my all time favourite) or the Gimp (which I find a little over complicated for this use).

Of course, you are encouraged to share the new big units images here after you make them, new big units images are always welcome!! :D

I hope this helps... Greetings!
Hello Mr Guille.
Thank you for your explanations. The subject was a little polluted by the conversation in French between Yves and me. I translated Rezaf's PDF into French so that I could understand it better. I can do the step-by-step process for the Tiger tank. But this is complicated for big units. I always take the Tiger tank as an example. I cut the image into 4 equal parts and select the top right one, which gives a Tiger tank seen in profile on the left. Then I open an empty frame (with the black and white checkerboard grid) of 256 x 256 to paste the Tiger layer. But it is the dimensions of the layer that are the problem: once finished, either the big unit image is very small, or it is too large and does not fit in the units purchase screen. I use Paint.net like you.
I'll take it if you have a better solution. If you have time, if you don't mind and if you want, can you take me step by step with Paint.net.
Maybe there's something I can't control or not well.
Thank you for everything, Mr. Guille.
nono hard et heavy
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Master Sergeant - Bf 109E
Posts: 482
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:18 am
Location: France

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by nono hard et heavy »

nono hard et heavy wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:45 pm
guille1434 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 12:38 pm Hello All:

Having read in some postings (the ones not written in French) asking about the making of big unit portrait masks, here are some stuff that could be useful:

- First, here is a set of big unit image and mask that I know works ok in the DCS program, you can use it as an example to make masks for other units.Sturmpanzer_I-big.png

- Secondly, here is a document about how to make masks. It refers to the making of map icons masks, but the technique is the same to make a big unit mask, so anyone can learn from it.

And last, a suggestion: never, never, use Microsoft Paint to work with your icons/big units/masks files... That crappy software will ruin your work for sure. Instead, you can use Paint.Net (my all time favourite) or the Gimp (which I find a little over complicated for this use).

Of course, you are encouraged to share the new big units images here after you make them, new big units images are always welcome!! :D

I hope this helps... Greetings!
Hello Mr Guille.
Thank you for your explanations. The subject was a little polluted by the conversation in French between Yves and me. I translated Rezaf's PDF into French so that I could understand it better. I can do the step-by-step process for the Tiger tank. But this is complicated for big units. I always take the Tiger tank as an example. I cut the image into 4 equal parts and select the top right one, which gives a Tiger tank seen in profile on the left. Then I open an empty frame (with the black and white checkerboard grid) of 296 x 296 to paste the Tiger layer. But it is the dimensions of the layer that are the problem: once finished, either the big unit image is very small, or it is too large and does not fit in the units purchase screen. I use Paint.net like you.
I'll take it if you have a better solution. If you have time, if you don't mind and if you want, can you take me step by step with Paint.net.
Maybe there's something I can't control or not well.
Thank you for everything, Mr. Guille.
guille1434
Major-General - Jagdtiger
Major-General - Jagdtiger
Posts: 2856
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:32 pm

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by guille1434 »

Hello... After refreshing things a bit (I haven't used DCS and masks for a while, so I had to re-train myself), I worked one big unit mask. It is not a difficult thing to do after you dominate the process to make regular game icons.

First of all, some "technical" notes to explain things better:

1) I think the DCS program is well suited to "paint" big unit portraits, the problem is that the skin format is what is not well adapted to this task. So, the trick is to adapt the format of the big unit image to the skin file format... Then you can proceed just as when making a game map icon.

2) The big unit image has a 256 x 256 pixels size, the game icon file has a 296 x 296 pixels size, but the skin file has only a 108 x 148 (or a little more, in a pinch) pixels usable area. Those last numbers are for my "standard" created or adapted skin files... If you use the "original" skin files, the usable area would be just 96 x 148 pixels. A diagram should explain this issue further:
Skin Measures.png
Skin Measures.png (86.28 KiB) Viewed 3595 times
In my opinion it is easier to adapt the big unit files you will need, than adapting all the skin files for this use.

3) So, the process would be as follows (I used the Panzer IIC big unit as an example):

a) Open Paint.net and open a new, clean image of 296 x 296 pix size, make sure the background is transparent, not white (you should be able to see the light grey/white checkerboard pattern),

b) Then copy the image from the big unit image and paste it on the newly opened file, taking care to position it on the upper left or right part of the 296 x 296 square canvas area.

c) With this simple "trick" you make the DCS program think it's working with a regular icon, and it will give you a satisfactory result. Now, you can make the mask in the same way as you would do with a regular game icon, just like it is explained in Rezaf's tutorial.

d) Save the "positioned" big unit 296 x 296 image and its mask file for possible future use...

e) Copy the newly created big unit portrait from the file created by the DCS program and paste it on another vanilla game big unit image file to place the image in a 256 x 256 canvas and in its correct position inside said canvas.

f) New big unit ready! :-)
guille1434
Major-General - Jagdtiger
Major-General - Jagdtiger
Posts: 2856
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:32 pm

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by guille1434 »

Nono: You cited the Tiger tank big unit as an example, but this is a little more difficult to use, because it's big unit image is way larger than the usable skin file area, so in this case, I think it should be necessary to reduce the size of that big unit to make it fit inside that 108 x 148 pixel area. However, this is only just one small previous step to do before applying the process I explained in the previous post.

Instead of a Tiger I, I used a Panzer IIC big unit file. So, here are the result I got: A "painted" Pz IIC big unit image, the base icon and its mask.
An important detail: take care that the base big unit image you will work with should be made a "grayscale" image (just tones of gray, no colors) for the DCS to correctly apply the camo skin on it.
Attachments
Panzer_IIC-big.png
Panzer_IIC-big.png (28.42 KiB) Viewed 3589 times
Panzer_IIC-big_Mask.png
Panzer_IIC-big_Mask.png (2.08 KiB) Viewed 3589 times
Panzer_IIC-big(base icon).png
Panzer_IIC-big(base icon).png (19.89 KiB) Viewed 3589 times
guille1434
Major-General - Jagdtiger
Major-General - Jagdtiger
Posts: 2856
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:32 pm

Re: Guille's PzCorps Support Base - Multipurpose Icons and more.

Post by guille1434 »

An last, but not least, here is a special "extended area" skin file with the German SE units camouflage pattern, useful to apply when the base icon is larger than the 108 pixels high area that the regular skin is able to handle. It has a 147 x 148 pixel useful area. 8)
Attachments
02-SS Stock Camo big.png
02-SS Stock Camo big.png (114.15 KiB) Viewed 3589 times
Post Reply

Return to “Panzer Corps : Scenario Design”