Newbie Spriter

[Clik]

So, I ran across this site, randomly searching for FFT images. Hacking FFT? DO WANT!

So, I enjoy spriting. Trying to fit detail and care into such a small picture is an enjoyable challenge. Of course, this has limitations, right? I have, what, 16 colors to play with? Less? Are Portraits more? Is there a Pallete image I can use to dropper colors from?

Sigh.

That having been said, what can I do to help? Is there a project I can volunteer to work on? Avis that need made? What programs are must haves to start hacking from an .ISO, or should I not even bother because it's too complicated? GAH! There's so much to learn. T_T

...Anyway... I'm rambling. Any help, tips, tidbits, Commands From On High, etc., would be appreciated.

Here's a quick sample of the work I've done the past day or so.

Myself, for a Forum Avatar, and to try my hand at editing a sprite:

A worksheet, where I tried to make a friend of mine with his trademarked backpack and a Red Mage hat:

And Terra, from FF6. I only managed to finish her Portrait, though I was working on a sprite:


Critiques?

[Zozma]

nice but terra looks young

[Cheetah]

This is impressive stuff, welcome! Lets see as far as your questions go. For spriting you are limited to 16 colors, for sprites one of those 16 must be the background black which becomes transparent. I would start doing spriting stuff and then branch out as you go. On the main page go to downloads and get FFTPatcher which should contain ShiShiSprite editor. Experiment with these with a clean ISO and all should become clear quickly. As far as where to help, spriters are always needed. Look around in the project threads and see what catches your interest.

[Clik]

Too young? I guess I kinda always viewed her as rather young in my own head. Most of the plot about ehr is coming-of-age... Hm. Well, I try to work her face a bit to age her.

[jimmyjw88]

Welcome to FFH ^^
This is impressive.
Looking forward for more ^^
Well done.

[Clik]

Many thanks, Cheetah. Playing with Shishi now.

[Cheetah]

I think the main reason Terra looks young is because her body is too small or her shoulders are just too narrow and small. There is basically too much of her body in the portrait. Widening the shoulders will do her a lot of good.

[Clik]

Good idea! Thanks, I'll try that.

I'm having a problem with Shishi, though... I can't upload anything into it. It tells me the "Format of the executable (.exe) or library (.dll) is invalid." Any thoughts?

[Cheetah]

Try having ShiShi in the programs folder, not just some random folder. That always helped me... Also as a test you could just export and bmp and then try importing it somewhere else. Then you will see if it is the program or something you are doing to the sprites.

[LastingDawn]

Hmm, that is some talent... I am a horrific spriter and Mercenaries could use all the help it can get! If you're looking to volunteer your efforts, you might want to take a look over at those forums, see if any of the new classes catch your eye, or if you have an idea for their sprites.

[jimmyjw88]

Clik, the images that you wanted to upload must be in BMP Format and it must be color of 256 bits.
If not, you will not able to upload anything.

[Smash]

Spriters.






Urge to critique rising.. After I saw the Terra mug.

That portrait's body looks awful. I blame it's tinyness, pillowshaded shoulderpads, granulated arms, and the weird neck shading.
We then have the tipical edits around the face, female calculator at first glance, with the hair fucked up with some ugly dark greens, lacking the proper contrast. The bangs and other hair details are poorly done as well, as if the mug underwent rushing to achieve completion.. The ear is too small, also.

If you are a fellow Ms Paint user, I'd recommend you to grab as many fft mugs as possible, and have them laying around your work area; inspecting and examining their details will allow for a better grasp at this style, that you will find easy, once you get used to it.

That's if you're planning on continuing, though.

[Cheetah]

Good advice, take it. Nothing helps one learn and grow like criticism, it is any creative person's greatest reward.

[Clik]

Apperciate the critique, Smash. Honestly, I sampled the greens for the hair from another portrait... Black Mage, probably. I was trying to stay within the shades the other images used; the colors all seem stylistically washed out. Believe it or not, I thought the hair was the only part I didn't f*ck up Short Bus style. Maybe I should try a character I'm more familiar with.

Jimmy, that seems to have solved my problem... Though, somehow, I have to go and reduce the color by hand even on the .BMPs the program itself exports. I have no idea... But it works, so I complain not at all.

[Poco Loco]

nice job

[jimmyjw88]

What do yo meant by reduce the color??
You mean to 16 palettes?

[Clik]

No, I mean to 256 bits. Am I doing something wrong?

It will open the sprites I export as BMP, but not if I export them with a specific palette, and it won't open things I've edited unless I open them and change the colors to 256 bits by hand. But I can work around it, it seems. No one else has this problem?

[Cheetah]

What program are you using Clik? Having the BMP be 256 colors is normal, the different palette colors are determined by how you arrange your colors in the images palette.

[Clik]

I have Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop and Paint. The more things I try to get the image to go to Shishi's, the more garbled the colors get.

Rather, the error I'm getting now is always that "The imported file had some pixels that weren't in the first 16 palette entries."

[Cheetah]

Try GIMP or Graphics Gale. Opening up a exported ShiShi BMP and looking at the palette in Graphics Gale will make the whole process much clearer to you I think.