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tutorial drawings for general portraits

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:49 pm
by Glaude1955
[color="Blue"]The advice in this thread was originally posted for NCP, but it holds valid for other games too, hence its' move here to the general modding forum :) - Rafiki
===============================================[/color]


Hello,
Interressing by the glaring work of Nikel, is it a tutorial on the way to create these portraits from ancient picture ? Nikel has some can be put one to disposition but I didn't find anything in postses.
Thank you for advance
Yves

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:57 pm
by Generalisimo
Glaude1955 wrote:Hello,
Interressing by the glaring work of Nikel, is it a tutorial on the way to create these portraits from ancient picture ? Nikel has some can be put one to disposition but I didn't find anything in postses.
Thank you for advance
Yves

Well, you can try by sending him a Private Message too. ;)
Just ask him directly and maybe both of you can create togheter a tutorial with your experience to help the community.

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:59 pm
by Nikel
Oooops, a tutorial? I am a bit lazy right now :bonk:

Already said it many times, but here is one more just in case. I cannot draw the pictures, well I do not know how to do it. They only thing I can do is add the color to an already existent picture and then reformat so that it can be used for the game


Not a tutorial, but here are some ideas



Software used.

Paint.NET is free, you can get it here. Used to get the format of the game

http://www.paint.net/


Adobe Photoshop, this one is not free. To add or modify the colors. I suppose others can be used, But started using Photoshop and so...



Graphics in the game

You need two graphics for the generals in NCP. Look to the ones included in the game and get familiar on how they look, open them in Paint.net. Example Dupont


The portraits that appear in the stack or units are in this folder

Napoleon's Campaigns\NCP\Graphics\Units

[ATTACH]9499[/ATTACH]


The portraits that appear in the map are in this folder

Napoleon's Campaigns\NCP\Graphics\Armies&Fleets

[ATTACH]9498[/ATTACH]



This is why I like paint.net, the files opened appear on the top right and so they are very useful as a reference

[ATTACH]9500[/ATTACH]



To be continued... :)

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:22 am
by Hobbes
Nikel, this could be just what I need! I have been trying to use Gimp - and slowly getting the hang of it - but more than happy to use Paint.NET if I can get some advice.

At the moment I can change a few existing pictures to make them look a little more 17th century :-

Image

Image

But if you can provide any advice on how to resize images like this or how to add the coloured oval behind portraits it would be of great help.

Cheers, Chris

tutorial drawings for general portraits

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:25 am
by Glaude1955
Thank you Nikel, your answer perfectly suits me.
I wrote drawning but it was necessary to understand coloring.
My school English is very far!
Okay with Hobbes, if you can provide any advice on how to resize pictures or how to add the coloured oval behind portraits it would be of great help.

Cordially

Yves

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:10 pm
by Nikel
Hobbes, regarding on how to add the coloured oval. Have used two ways and I think that both are wrong :wacko: I will tell you how I do it right now.

And about resizing, well, should be easy.

Glaude1955, my english is also the one from when I was young, plus a pair of things from the internet, hope we can understan ourselves ;)


The RGB on the coloured oval in NCP is 224 198 152. What is RGB?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_model

I know that numbers from Photoshop, putting the cursor on a color and the program will tell you the data.

[ATTACH]9503[/ATTACH]



Now in paint, colors window type those numbers. This way you have selected the same color of the oval

[ATTACH]9504[/ATTACH]



Tools window, select paintbrush and increase the brush width to 10 for example. Zoom the graphic and paint over it. This way you are replacing the picture of Dupont to get a background with the oval for future graphics

[ATTACH]9505[/ATTACH]


Be careful in the lower border so that you do not paint beyond it. Save the picture as .png (as the original), but rename it so that you do not lose the original! You will get something like this.

[ATTACH]9506[/ATTACH]



Now do the same with the armies&fleets graphic, but in this case use the ereser tool (no coloured oval here). This way tou get an empty canvas. Save it with other name

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 6:23 pm
by Nikel
How to add a face to the background with the oval? As an example let's try to add the face of Napoleon from this painting by David


Image



Glaude1955, you have to know that the graphics included in the game have been drawn by a professional artist based on paintings. So if you use a face extracted directly from a painting they will look different to the originals , this is the main problem with modding without the abilities of a real artist :D Of course I am referring to me, perhaps you are able to draw them ;)



Open the picture of Napoleon in Paint. To work better, as it is a full body picture, cut the head and neck using the rectangle select tool. Now with that selected, edit and paste in as new image. You will have something like this. You have to look carefully at the original graphics so that only are shown the head and the neck

[ATTACH]9507[/ATTACH]



Now zoom on the picture to work comfortably. We are going to remove the background. There is a tool in Photoshop that removes it but not always work fine, so got accustomed to use it manually. Use lasso select tool in Paint. Holding the left button of the mouse and select the face and neck. Some time and practice are needed to do it more or less fast and right :wacko:

Now Ctrl-I and Ctrl-X, with these shortcuts you select the inverse (background) and delete it respectively. And you have the face without the background. Note that the picture posted here is now a .png, not .jpeg. In the first transparency is possible. At this point sometimes I increase the contrast and reduce the brightness, but it will depend on the picture

[ATTACH]9508[/ATTACH]


Edit and select all. Edit and copy. And edit and paste as new layer on the background with the oval. Note that it is bigger than the canvas, so a dialog appears asking expand or keep the canvas. Select cancel. First it is better to resize. Go again to the picture without the background and image resize. Dupont is around 75 pixels high. So resize Napoleon to a height of 75 maintaining the aspect ratio

[ATTACH]9509[/ATTACH]



Now we are prepared for edit and select all. Edit and copy. And edit and paste as new layer on the background with the oval. Keep the canvas size. Center the portrait in the oval. You will have something like this. Note that you have to work with zoom

[ATTACH]9510[/ATTACH]


As you can see we have to erase some parts. We have 2 layers if you have selected the portrait you will only erase it but the background will remain untouched. You have to do it carefully so that the borders of both fit. Well this is how I do it right now, probably there is a simpler way but I do not know other. The one I used before required more time and I will not post it :bonk:

[ATTACH]9511[/ATTACH]

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 6:49 pm
by Nikel
Once you have finished. File and save as .png format. Select flatten when this option appears so that both layers are merged. You should have something like this

[ATTACH]9512[/ATTACH]


This is the top right part on Paint, so that you know what I was meaning with the references. Besides note that the look of Napoleon is different of the portrait of Dupont :( This is frustrating of course, but nobody said that modding was easy :D . Another thing Napoleon has nearly no neck and the face is a bit smaller with respect to Dupont :bonk:

[ATTACH]9513[/ATTACH]


A lot of trials and errors may be needed to get a decent portrait. Anyway the fire test is the look in the game. To test your graphic in the game. Select a graphic from the units folder that you know that appear at the beginning of a scenario. In this case the own Napoleon is good, but can be any just to test.

Copy the file Unit_FRA_Napoleon, paste in "Napoleon's Campaigns\NCP\Graphics" and rename to Unit_FRA_Napoleon2. Now copy your modded file to that folder and rename it like the original Unit_FRA_Napoleon. Copy it to "Napoleon's Campaigns\NCP\Graphics\Units" and replace the original.

Now start NCP, 1805 scenario. Select Napoleon and you will see the results of your efforts :D . Note that the portrait on the map is different because it is the only one we have modded so far, two are needed

[ATTACH]9514[/ATTACH]




To be continued...

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:11 pm
by Glaude1955
Hello Nickel,
Your explanations are superb.
I wait with hurry this week-end to try your method.
And when I read on your post " To be continued... " then, I am delighted.
Amicalement (in french)
Yves

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:39 pm
by Hobbes
This is really wonderful Nikel - it will save me hours! :thumbsup:
Printing it out now.

THANKS!!!!

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 3:52 pm
by Nikel
Thanks, let's continue then ;)

We need the second portrait for the map, this one is located on the folder "Napoleon's Campaigns\NCP\Graphics\Armies&Fleets"


Open two times the portrait of our friend Dupont, one to work on it and the other as reference.

Select eraser tool, increase the brush width and zoom on the image. Start to erase the portrait completely. Now you have an empty canvas to work. Save it with another name as .png

[ATTACH]9534[/ATTACH]


Open in paint the portrait of Napoleon without the background, the .png file that we pasted on the oval before. We will have to do the same. First resize; the height of Dupont is 57 pixels in this second portrait, so we resize Napoleon to 57 height, keeping the aspect ratio. Note that we have more trunk of Napoleon that what we want, so perhaps we could try with more height and remove part of the trunk, but to learn with an example is enough

[ATTACH]9535[/ATTACH]



No we are prepared for edit and select all. Edit and copy. And edit and paste as new layer on the empty canvas. Keep the canvas size. Again the references in Paint. We have to move the portrait of Napoleon over the empty Canvas so that the position is identical to Dupont's

[ATTACH]9536[/ATTACH]


So, zoom on the picture of Napoleon with the empty canvas and with the tool move selected pixels, move it while you look to the top right for reference, the picture there will also move. If you do many portraits you will not have to look at it :wacko: The head is what has to be centered so we have too much trunk on the left on Napoleon. Again the head on Napoleon is a bit small :bonk:

[ATTACH]9537[/ATTACH]



To remove the left part of the trunk. Use rectangle select tool. Trace the part you want to remove (you have the reference of Dupont) and once selected Crtl-X to remove it

[ATTACH]9538[/ATTACH]

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 4:06 pm
by Nikel
If you are happy with the result save it, flatten and test in a similar way to the first portrait

Copy the file Army_FRA_Napoleon, paste in "Napoleon's Campaigns\NCP\Graphics" and rename to Army_FRA_Napoleon2. Now copy your modded file to that folder and rename it like the original Army_FRA_Napoleon. Copy it to "Napoleon's Campaigns\NCP\Graphics\Armies&Fleets" and replace the original.

Run the game and start 1805 scenario. Select Napoleon and you have both portraits modded ;)

[ATTACH]9540[/ATTACH]


How to improve that result? If you compare the original portraits with the modded Napoleon, the face has a pale or white look in the originals. Encountered this problem with the russian portraits modded more than a year ago. Like Napoleon, they were extracted from coloured paintings of the period.

For this I used a tool in Photoshop, Replace color, in Image and Adjustments

[ATTACH]9542[/ATTACH]


Here you click on the face and you get the orange that you want to change to a light pink playing with hue, saturation and lightness. Fuzzines is to apply the changes to variable areas of the graphic, from none to all, you are interested in applying the changes only to the skin of the face

[ATTACH]9541[/ATTACH]

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 4:31 pm
by Nikel
With this tool, got some good results with the russian portraits, like the example of Inzov, posted in its day on the portraits thread :D


[ATTACH]9543[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]9544[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]9545[/ATTACH]


Another pair of tips and tricks that can be used with Paint are:

To increase the contrast and reduce the brightness in adjustments

And Effects-Photo-Sharpen the default amount of 2

Some portraits look a bit blurry after resizing,..., and can be improved with some sharpening. A clear example is the default graphic of Vandamme


[ATTACH]9546[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]9547[/ATTACH]


I have used these tips, increase the contrast and reduce the brightness and sharpening systematically, but of course the result will depend on the specific portrait, you will have to experiment a bit ;)

Of course replace color, change the contrast and brightness have to be modified before creating the portraits, or the oval will be also modified :bonk: On the contrary sharpening can (and it is recommendable ;) ) be applied to finished portraits, as a last step


To be continued :)

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:50 pm
by Hobbes
I hope I get a chance to try some of this out tomorrow! :coeurs:

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:06 pm
by Nikel
Hobbes, some time ago you requested William Phips?

Tried a little bit, but with the usual problem looks-different-to-the-stock-ones, finally did not post it :o But perhaps you consider it valid?



[ATTACH]9548[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]9549[/ATTACH]

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:28 am
by Hobbes
Wonderful Nikel! :w00t: I will certainly add him to the scenario.
I'll stick him in a screenshot when it is up and running and we can see how he fits in.

Many thanks again!!!!
Chris

How to color a black and white picture ?

Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:28 pm
by Glaude1955
Hello Nickel

Thank you for your explanations. Me successful with photos in color but I have difficulties however to pass a photo in black and white to a photo in color. How to color a black and white picture ? I use Paint Shop Pro but I am beginner. I think that all software function in the same way. Your method will put me on the good path.
Thank you for advance.
Yves
NB: my personal tests with the colored picture made me discover the quality as well as the number of past hours to your splendid realizations

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 1:05 pm
by Nikel
Glaude1955 wrote:Hello Nickel

Thank you for your explanations. Me successful with photos in color but I have difficulties however to pass a photo in black and white to a photo in color. How to color a black and white picture ? I use Paint Shop Pro but I am beginner. I think that all software function in the same way. Your method will put me on the good path.
Thank you for advance.
Yves
NB: my personal tests with the colored picture made me discover the quality as well as the number of past hours to your splendid realizations



Yes Glaude, there is a last missing part, how to color black and white pictures.

But modding, postings AARs and making tutorials are badly remunerated jobs and I am a bit lazy :niark: ;)


Just give me some more time :)

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 1:36 pm
by Hobbes
We await eagerly and patiently :hat:

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:47 pm
by Nikel
Here is the final part. How to add color to a black and white picture. Hope it is useful, and sorry for the delay :)

For this part I use Photoshop.


First get a palette from one of the pictures available, I used Clauzel

[ATTACH]9627[/ATTACH]


Photoshop calls it color table, is in .act format and here is loaded in the program and is zipped at the bottom of the post. You can see several tones for the skin or for the uniforms,... You will have to play with these colors


[ATTACH]9628[/ATTACH]



The fundamental tool to color a black and white portrait is the Color Replacement Tool, because when you apply a color to a black and white picture the shadows of the picture are preserved, thanks to the tolerance.


[ATTACH]9629[/ATTACH]


For testing I will use this picture of Talleyrand, not a general but there were also diplomats :D ;)


Image

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:02 pm
by Nikel
Now load the picture of Talleyrand on Photoshop and let's add the different colors. You will need some trials and errors to get a color you like. The color eplacement tool has the advantage of preserving the shadows, but also the color you add is not exactly the same you see, it is somewhat washed


The skin

[ATTACH]9631[/ATTACH]


The hair, perhaps too youg for him, or not? ;)

[ATTACH]9632[/ATTACH]Image



Some yellow for the neck to simulate the golden is what I used for the generals

[ATTACH]9633[/ATTACH]


But I will use brown to all the clothes. It is up to you to add the color you want, just use the one you like


[ATTACH]9634[/ATTACH]

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:15 pm
by Nikel
Details in the face, a lot of zoom is needed for the lips and cheeks, used here a light pink in the palette above. For the blue eyes used une of the Focoltone included with Photoshop


[ATTACH]9635[/ATTACH]



The medals probably will be cut, but if you want try add some colors


[ATTACH]9636[/ATTACH]



Perhaps you are more or less happy with this result? Later in my modding process started to use another tool, Burn. In part to add more strength to the colors because are a bit washed

[ATTACH]9638[/ATTACH]



This is the same picture above, perhaps a bit overburned :mdr: This tool is really useful, but has to be used carefully or the results will be awful :)


[ATTACH]9637[/ATTACH]

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:22 pm
by Nikel
With the picture above you can apply now what we learnt before, remove the background, increase contrast and reduce brightness, add it to the colored oval and sharpening, in this case only applied the value of 1.


For displaying only did the units portrait, and here is the result, with a picture in-game. Hope it is good enough. Who said NCP had no diplomacy? ;)


[ATTACH]9639[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]9640[/ATTACH]



And this is the end. Hope it is a decent tutorial :)

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:38 pm
by Hobbes
Superb thread Nikel. Thanks for taking the time to do this. I haven't tried with my portraits yet as I am still messing with the events but I will certainly do so soon. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks, Chris

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 1:21 am
by Generalisimo
Impressive job, this MUST be saved somewhere so everyone can see it :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Thanks Nikel.

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 9:40 am
by Carnium
Fantastic thread Nikel. This needs to be a sticky :thumbsup:

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 3:27 pm
by Glaude1955
Thank you very much Nikel, you could not be clearer.

Yves

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:27 pm
by Hindov
Just Amazing!Thank you Nikel! :thumbsup:

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:13 am
by bigus
:eek: How did I miss this Thread?

Great work Nikel! :gardavou:

Paint.net rocks. I love free programs.

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:27 am
by Nikel
bigus wrote: :eek: How did I miss this Thread?

Great work Nikel! :gardavou:

Paint.net rocks. I love free programs.



lol :mdr:

And I just noticed that it is a sticky thread, thanks Rafiki ;)