Users'/players' custom portraits

[Hexcon]

Not sure whether this is the right place for it, but since I couldn't find a thread about this here via search function (might not have searched thoroughly enough, though) ...:

Is there a special thread or even a site where users can up- and download any custom made portraits? I've created some myself and wanted to check whether there are others who've drawn some and what theirs might look like. I've found one or two threads containing a handful of pictures, but there seems to be no special thread/section of the site reserved solely for portraits - or did I miss anything?

[Ameena]

I don't recall seeing a specific area for that kind of thing, no - as you say, there are a few threads sscattered about with people's custom work, but I don't think we've ever dedicated one specific thread of the forum to it. I suppose custom pics would go into a thread in either the DM or CSB area, or under Creative Endeavours.
Also, I think some of the forum avatar choices are custom pics made by people (I seem to recall some of Cows's work is there), as well as being official images from the games themselves.

[Seriously Unserious]

I've never seen any specific area for portraits. This thread could be used for that. Everyone would need to use some sort of image hosting site and link to the portraits using the image tags, but this thread would work for that.

[Hexcon]

there are a few threads sscattered about with people's custom work, but I don't think we've ever dedicated one specific thread of the forum to it.

I think it would be sad if it disappeared in the depths of the internet. The more threads and topics there are in one subforum the more difficult it gets to find the ones containing certain content.

There might not be many people out there who use RTC's portrait changing function, but I usually replace the original characters' pictures with custom made ones.

So, if anyone wants to share their creations it would be great if they put them here for others to use (or just marvel at them).

Everyone would need to use some sort of image hosting site and link to the portraits using the image tags, but this thread would work for that.

Either that or a link to a file hosting site ... or is this kind of sites frowned upon around here?

[Seriously Unserious]

no, custom dungeon builders use file sharing sites all the time to make their dungeons available, although Beowuuf usually also mirrors them on his own site specially for that purpose to make sure these contents are not lost.

Now, how about I get things started with the 24 Castle Lynchgate character portraits.
Tzassas, Warlord of Makin

Uma, The Seer

Willow, Forest Guardian

Kakch, Queen of the Chicat

Aarach, Sage of Kaa

Fralat, The Highwayman

Marrah, Priestess of Kaa

Roan, Sylvan Swordsman

Sarie, Shaman of Orati

Fria

Gorrag, The Holy One

Errakta, The Destroyer

Actius, The Firemaster

Pritha, Holy Avenger

Orom, Archer

Zaraque, Oratian Hunter

Toraz

Talen, Of Banville

Stythis, Kingpriest of Schae

Screa, Battlemaster of Kaa

Calub, The Blackhood

Druggin, The Berserker

Lorg, Minoin of Darkness

Jranoc, Bowmaster of Schelk

[Hexcon]

Wow! Some look familiar (Talon ), others I've never seen before. Great work! Did you draw them in paint?
Never thought about changing the original colors ...

I'll add some redrawn versions of the originals created using the CSB Portrait Editor. During resizing these, Paint changed the colors somewhat and enhanced the contrast for some unknown reason - which is a good thing actually as they'd appear somewhat blurred in the game otherwise.
I've never used pages like imgur, flickr and the like before so I just hope they'll be displayed correctly.

Gnatu


Young Elija


Deth


Dema


Buzzzz...


Azizi


Aroc


Algor


Alex


Airwing


Zed


Ven


Tunda


Tula


Toadrot


Talon


Syra


Sting


Sonja


Skelar


Plague


Petal


Necro


Mophus


Mantia


Lor


Linflas


Leyla


Leta male


Leta female


Lana


Kazai


Itza


Gothmog

[Seriously Unserious]

Wow! Some look familiar (Talon ), others I've never seen before. Great work! Did you draw them in paint?
Never thought about changing the original colors ...

Talan is modeled on Zed's portrait, so I'm not surprised he'd look familiar. I drew them in the free version ofUltimate PaintOne thing I like about UP is it's style is modeled after the main art program for the Amiga, Deluxe Paint, plus you can save custom palates, which I haven't seen on any other art programs. Using that feature I was able to reproduce and save the original 16 colour palate used in DM/CSB.

Wow! Some look familiar (Talon ), others I've never seen before. Great work! Did you draw them in paint?
Never thought about changing the original colors ...

I'll add some redrawn versions of the originals created using the CSB Portrait Editor. During resizing these, Paint changed the colors somewhat and enhanced the contrast for some unknown reason - which is a good thing actually as they'd appear somewhat blurred in the game otherwise.
I've never used pages like imgur, flickr and the like before so I just hope they'll be displayed correctly.

I've had that happen to images too, I think that's because the art programs by default automatically "help" you by doing anti-aliasing, which, when you need exact colours, such as the powder pink mask used in RTC, that can be very annoying when you get a pink halo around your painstakingly painted graphics. My advice would be to turn anti-aliasing off unless you specifically want it on for smoother looking lines, such as for text.

[Hexcon]

I've had that happen to images too, I think that's because the art programs by default automatically "help" you by doing anti-aliasing, which, when you need exact colours, such as the powder pink mask used in RTC, that can be very annoying when you get a pink halo around your painstakingly painted graphics.

At first I was a little annoyed at the changes Paint added, because the pictures do look somewhat better without the color/contrast enhancement. But when loading them I noticed that the altered versions actually look better in-game, so I decided to not change them back.

What's that powder pink background for anyway? And why does it need to be pink?

I'll add the rest of the portraits once I've finished them, and after that I'll take a look at that program you mentioned and then kick the elder demons of creativity out of their pet baskets. If only they didn't consume so many hours of one's life time.

[Ameena]

The "power pink" colour is the one that DM uses as "transparent", so you'd most likely use it just for the backgrounds when it comes to character portraits. If you were designing items for a custom dungeon or something, you'd need to use it there so that all your items and stuff aren't inside weird-coloured boxes (of whatever non-pink background colour you were using).

[Seriously Unserious]

@Hexcon: You may need to modify some of those portraits to use the power pink background if there's any intentions to use them in DM clone engines like RTC and others that use the power pink as the background "mask" colour. I noticed the backgrounds are currently not in any consistent colour, this will make them look weird when in a mirror.

The portraits themselves look great. It looks like you're putting a lot of care into making them.

[Chaos-Shaman]

yeah, very good work Hexcon. the power pink does get to you eventually. i see green after a while and have to stop looking at it, or i remove it and put it back when done. really nice job!

[Hexcon]

the power pink does get to you eventually. i see green after a while and have to stop looking at it, or i remove it and put it back when done.

True that. A nasty shade of barbie-ish pink burning your eyes from their sockets. Is it possible to have two versions of these portraits in the game, one set for the mirrors (I don't even know how to replace them, just wondering ) and the other (with background colors) for the party screen?

The "power pink" colour is the one that DM uses as "transparent", so you'd most likely use it just for the backgrounds when it comes to character portraits.

You may need to modify some of those portraits to use the power pink background if there's any intentions to use them in DM clone engines like RTC and others that use the power pink as the background "mask" colour. I noticed the backgrounds are currently not in any consistent colour, this will make them look weird when in a mirror.

... and of all colors it had to be pink ... I had an idea that it would serve as some kind of mask, but - ha, yea - it never ocurred to me that portraits with background colors other than pink would look funny in the mirrors. So far I've only replaced the portraits of champions who already were in my party by clicking on the scroll in front of the dungeon entrance, loading a savegame and replacing the portraits.

It looks like you're putting a lot of care into making them.

I've been drawing custom portraits ever since games like Baldur's Gate allowed players to import their own portraits. It makes you identify with your characters and enjoy the game even more. I was rather delighted when finding out that it was also possible with RTC

[Ameena]

For RTC, you can load up the dungeon within the editor and change the portraits that way - can't remember the exact details of how to do it as I haven't used the editor for a few years now, though.

[Seriously Unserious]

It's simple, you need to make the images 64X58, use the exact shade of power pink RTC uses as it's mask and load up the editor, go to Resources -> Add/Replace Graphics -> Medium 1 scaling tab and under Add New select the Bitmap button, click on the Browse button in the window that opens up and find the portrait you want to add, then make sure it's set to the scaling is set to 1, then click OK.

Next you need to go to Resources -> Create New Character and from there you can make a new character and assign your newly added portrait to that character along with its stats, or you can choose and existing character and replace its portrait bitmaps with your new portrait.

[Gambit37]

"It's simple" + a long list of complicated instructions.

What's simple to you can look complex to others. Please don't preface your help with phrases like that: it can make people feel stupid if they don't find it 'simple'.
http://css-tricks.com/words-avoid-educational-writing/

[terkio]

+ 1

BTW "Power pink" adds confusion, this is usually named "transparent / background color".

[Chaos-Shaman]

that's a good point terkio. why did they use power pink and not some other colour? is it because most things are not pink and we can see it, or is there some other strange reason why they'd use power.

[Seriously Unserious]

"It's simple" + a long list of complicated instructions.

What's simple to you can look complex to others. Please don't preface your help with phrases like that: it can make people feel stupid if they don't find it 'simple'.
http://css-tricks.com/words-avoid-educational-writing/

I fail to see where this list of instructions is long or complicated. I also find that if a task really is simple to do, then telling a person so up front can actually reassure someone that they really can do it. I will not say "this is a very long and complicated process, better leave it to the experts" just to scare someone off of doing something.

If something does require considerable time, skill or effort, I will also say that up front too, along with an explanation on how one can learn how to do it and offers to continue giving advice and clarifications along the way if it's something I know well enough to provide that sort of help. There really is no need to twist what I said into something negative which was nowhere near my intent and those who know me know that's also against my personality to belittle or discourage people. Anyone who's read some of my posts here will notice that too as I'm frequently quick to jump in and answer calls for help whenever I can.

[Gambit37]

I drew your attention to a negative phrase used in educational writing that can come across as condescending. I'm sure that you didn't intend it that way but the fact remains using "it's simple" is a hot phrase in educational writing that is usually discouraged. There's no need to take it so personally and become so defensive, I was offering advice on how to improve your writing.

If you'd like to discuss it further I'm very happy to do so via private message.

[Hexcon]

What's simple to you can look complex to others. Please don't preface your help with phrases like that: it can make people feel stupid if they don't find it 'simple'.
http://css-tricks.com/words-avoid-educational-writing/

Thanks for reminding us and directing our attention to these conversational pitfalls, Gambit.

I don't want to turn this into a debate on principles as this would be horribly off-topic, but I'd like to point out that, while it's a good thing that people keep a wary eye on the discussions here, what originally was meant as a gentle reminder regarding the rules for proper behavior on the internet could come across as patronizing when stressed too heavily: Had it been too complicated for me I'd simply have asked for a better explanation.
I think it's not so much the content of your words, Gambit, but the fact that more than one person, who hadn't participated in the discussion before, posted a reply just to comment on his choice of words. I, too, was a little surprised.

BTW "Power pink" adds confusion, this is usually named "transparent / background color".

I doubt it was a conscious act of spreading confusion, as these users may not have known the correct term, me included. Thanks for clarifying, terkio.

[Gambit37]

Hexcon, I'm an administrator here and it's my responsibility to ensure that everyone can get equal value from the forums. Certain phrases, attitudes and language can have a negative effect on other people's use of the forum, so sometimes it means I'm required to step in.

I keep a matter-of-fact approach to those sorts of messages and if that approach is sometimes not gentle enough then I can only apologise.

[Hexcon]

I perfectly understand and respect that.

It was meant to be a summary of the different aspects of the situation. I did not mean to criticize or question what you did.

[Chaos-Shaman]

it is easy, easy to anyone who knows the program. you impress me Hexcon, you've seem to have picked up on everything. you only have 23 posts and look at you. i think you'll have no troubles learning anything, you seem confident. i think your work is excellent, keep it up. you need help, you'll find it. lots of different skills here. don't be afraid to express yourself either. we can get testy, we all can get testy. i will advise to stay on topic or you'll have the forum police after you

[Seriously Unserious]

@Gambit: I have no problem with you wanting to keep things civil and member friendly here, but in the future it would be better to address such issues via PM first, rather then airing them out in public where it can trigger a "pack attack" on a member, which would end up accomplishing just the opposite of what you're intending. I have no problems discussing preferred forum etiquette, but I'd rather you first discuss it via PM before jumping to any public admonishing or lectures.

Now, let's put this discussion behind us and get back to discussing portraits people have done. First here's some Apple Pie, all for you Gambit, because you really should eat more pies, you know:



Now Back to the champion portraits...

[Chaos-Shaman]

Hexcon, have you seen what Clodius has been doing with the characters?

[Clodius_one]

Since I started to draw characters last year, I never thought I could get so far. Having refined the lines of the face, I completed the bodies by preserving the same signature. On certain characters I put so many hours on the web search to find how I should develop them without changing them radically. Gothmog gave me a lot of work. Daroou is another I developed and I am not done working with him. For every character, I drew several poses which we could use them in future game. Here an example with Grey Lord.

[Chaos-Shaman]

and they will be Clodius, I love your work. you can remove the power pink next time, I'm seeing green

[Clodius_one]

No problem, POWER PINK is starting to confuse me too
I drew them from their appearance in my novel. My next champion should be Stamm Bladecaster, my favorite one. I expect to have real fun to draw this guy. I know you are many to look my drawings, You are welcome to comment your appreciation or dislike.

[Chaos-Shaman]

nice, it's easier to look at. as I said, I love your work

[cowsmanaut]

neat