Print Page - Call of Warhammer 3d Models To Dark Omen 2d Sprites

Beta Guide to convert the amazing Call of Warhammer 3d Character models into Dark Omen sprites

Please download the zip file that contains all required mod tools, you will also need Milkshape 3d or 3d Studio Max and Adobe Photoshop/Gimp.You will not have to 2d draw or 3d model, so don't worry as you will easily be able to create great looking sprites, very quickly such as the example new Giant.Please always credit and acknowledge their work.

1) Download mod tools and read the fantastic Alletun's Tome of Knowledge v1.3 -
http://www.filefactory.com/file/5ch4tvo100ud/COW_Modtool_for_Guide.zip (http://www.filefactory.com/file/5ch4tvo100ud/COW_Modtool_for_Guide.zip)
2) Download Call of Warhammer http://empiretw.ru/board/index.php?showtopic=24936 (http://empiretw.ru/board/index.php?showtopic=24936)
3) Download and install Milkshape 3d or 3d Studio Max, Python and Adobe Photoshop/Photoshop_Plugins_8.52.0208.1800 and Gimp and Rob's Dark Omen Sprite Editor.
4) Install Call of Warhammer, you don't have to install Medieval II Total War - Kingdoms unless you want to play their excellent mod.
5) Browse to C:\Program Files\Medieval II Total War Kingdoms\mods\Call_of_Warhammer\data\unit_models\_units
6) Run the mod tool - meshconverterv1_0_3 to convert all .mesh 3d models into .ms3d
7) Run the mod tool - convert_all_textures_nosub to convert all .texure into .dds but you will have to Edit line 142 of texture Converter.py with IDLE to set your own path -> C:\Program Files\Medieval II Total War - Kingdoms\mods\Call_of_Warhammer\data\unit_models\_units
8 ) Run Adobe Photoshop to view the newly converted .dds which are the skins of the 3d models
9) Run Milkshape 3d and select from the menu -> File -> Preferences -> Choose -> and set the green colour background

(http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/1953/guide1.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/407/guide1.jpg/)

10) File -> open the newly converted giant_lod0.ms3d
11) On the Materials tab (top right corner of Milkshape 3d) click on <none> to open the giant.tga.dds Carry on adding the skins to figure and attachements.

(http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/7343/guide2e.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/804/guide2e.jpg/)

12) Right click on the bottom right 3d perpective viewpoint and tick Textured, Draw backfaces, Transparency -> Depth Buffered with Alpha Reference -> then Tools -> model Cleaner -> separate verts = No -> ok -> which takes light source away so no annoying shadows makinghis legs too dark to see in small detail .
13) Bottom right corner -> press Anim to switch to animation mode
14) Top Right corner press Joints button and double click on bone_Rclavical
15) Switch to Model Tab and Press Rotate button, deselect X Y and leave Z depressed and assign it value of 90 with Origin selected
16) Click on the Top left window Front view point and drag your mouse downwards and it should lower the giants right arm towards the floor.
17) The arm appears stretched so click on Move button and in the Front View drag the arm upwards until it looks natural
18) Repeat the same procedure for the left arm, so select the Joints Tab and double click on bone_Lclavical and then switch to Model and Rotate Z 90 degrees and drag his left arm towards the floor in the Front View and then select Move and readjust the arm back into a natural position besides his sides
19) Using the Dark Omen sprite viewer examine a similar existing sprite such as the Troll or Treeman sprite, to mimic suitable poses for each sprite sheet.
20) Angle your camera view in the 3d Perspective Viewport (lower right corner window) by using your mouse left click and wheel to zoom in/out. Then bring up the Treeman and Troll for comparison

(http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/3889/guide3.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/804/guide3.jpg/)

21) Press Print Screen and then open MS Paint and paste. Then crop (cutout) just the giant and paste into new Paint file and save as 24bit bitmap

(http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/6262/guide4.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/560/guide4.jpg/)

22) Open that new Giant.bmp file in Gimp and Select Image -> Mode -> Indexed -> Generate optimum palette - > Set Max number of colours to 16
23) Within Gimp Select Windows -> Dockable Dialogues -> Colourmap to see the 16 colours
24) Open a new Gimp File and select a decompiled Trolls_63.tga which has been created via the Dark Omen sprite viewer Export function
25) Examine the Troll's 16 colours in the colour map palette and leave the first 2 colours as they are (green for sprite background and cyan for shadow)
26) Return to the Giant's colour palette and double click on the 3rd colour and add the colour to the history palette and switch to the Troll palette and replace its 3rd colour with the Giant's 3rd colour. Continue to switch all the remaining colours but leave the Troll's original last blackish colour

(http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/2027/guide5.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/guide5.jpg/)

27) Since a Giant is larger than a Troll -> Image -> Scale Image -> 200 % percent for both Width and Height
28) The modified Troll sprite sheet is now ready to accept all of the Milkshape screenshots of the Giant in all the required poses to past over the Troll

(http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/9580/guide6r.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/26/guide6r.jpg/)

29) Return to the minimised Milkshape and your Giant in Animation mode (careful not to come out of Animation mode by pressing the Anim button as it will undo your Arm and leg position changes). To save your pose in Milkshape 3d, when you are in Anim Button Mode and have already positioned the arms and legs -> Type 1 into the Current Frame box (bottom right corner by Anim button) -> then from the Menu -> Animate-> Set Keyframe -> File Save as -> yes to any warning messages. When you reopen the same file and press the Anim Button it will revert back to its saved pose.
30) With the Troll and Treeman Sprites displayed alongside the Giant in a pose - Print screen and Switch to paste into MS Paint or Gimp and crop out just the Giant from the screen shot and paste into a new smaller file to then copy again and paste again into the modified Trolls_63.tga to replace each of the relevant original Troll poses
31) All colours will automatically convert from 24bit to 16 and the green background colours will import correctly which will avoid alot of unnecessary time, finely cutting around the giant, like you would in the past.
32) Repeat the process of rotating the Camera around the Giant for the 8 Angles for each pose, in Milkshape - following the Treeman and original Troll next Pose (they roughly point towards the corners of your monitor as a rough guide and from a 45 degree viewing angle, use the view of an original sprite's shoulders as a reference

(http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/2431/guide7.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/708/guide7.jpg/)

(http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/2005/guide8.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/109/guide8.jpg/)

33) Progressing through the process of replacing each pose will lead onto the other Troll poses that mimic walking
34) So to adjust the Giant's legs to either have his right leg back or his left leg back ( see frame 1st and 3rd strips. Frame 3 and 4 can be same for Giant as both feet together. Infantry only typically use 3)
35) Go to Joints Tab in Milkshape 3d and double click on bone_Rlowerleg and the onto Model Tab -> Rotate X by 90 and in top right viewport drag his right leg backwards into the required pose. Use the Move button to perform fine adjustments if the leg appears slightly stretched
36) Rotate in 8 angles to screenshot -> crop and paste into modified Trolls_63.tga sprite sheet and repeat process until completed replacing original Troll. You may have to align each sprite with the red dot within the Dark Omen Sprite viewer Rdose.
37) Save the completed sprite sheet and reimport the the Troll filmstrip back into the Dark Omen sprite viewer and resave back into Dark Omen Sprites folder as Troll.spr after taking a copy of your original Troll
38) Start Dark Omen and use a game save to jump to Troll Country to preview the new Giant, even though we have only completed a few frames but it is important to confirm correct size and colours as they can be adjusted before proceeding onto replacing all the other remaining Troll sprite sheets and poses

(http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/4664/trolls63final2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/825/trolls63final2.jpg/)

(http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/6319/trolls31c.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/12/trolls31c.jpg/)

(http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/6052/giantingametrollcountry.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/840/giantingametrollcountry.jpg/)

(http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/2511/giantingametrollcountry.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/833/giantingametrollcountry.png/)

(http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/5451/guide9.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/545/guide9.jpg/)

39) If happy with the in game preview, continue replacing each sprite sheet - walking (Trolls_63.tga),Charging (Trolls_31.tga),Melee(Trolls_103.tga) and Death(Trolls_111.tga) by adjusting the Giant's arms and legs in Milkshape and screen shotting
40) I could average a whole sprite sheet every couple of hours each night, so a new sprite every few days (6hrs total) which is far quicker and way beyond the quality I could ever produce, so at the very least it provides a perfect starting template to follow

Good luck and as we all before more familar with the process, im sure it can be enhanced such as recording custom Animation sequences (you can import COW animations) within Milkshape that could possibly be scripted to rotate and screenshot each pose automatically.

:)

Warhammer Dark Omen Forum

Modifications => 2D Sprites => Topic started by: olly on July 13, 2010, 11:21:32 PM