[WIP] Ship Silhouettes / Rec Manual Mod

[etheberge]

This upcoming mod will turn this:



Into this:



Old:



New - (Don't) Sink the Bismarck!:



For OM with OMEGU, it will add proper silhouettes for all the new ship models recently added by Lurker. I may also create new silhouettes for all other ships to maintain a consistent look.

I also intend to make a darker "night" version of the manual.

So far I have only completed the silhouettes for 4 of the new models but now that I figured out a quick and easy to create them it only takes me about 5 minutes per ship. It shouldn't be too long until the mod is ready for release, hopefully less than a week.

Edit:
To clarify the three opened manuals in the screenshots above are just Photoshopped together for demonstration purposes. In game you will still have only the one page at the time as usual.

[Hitman]

Very nice, thanks

Though I'd like to see all pictures in teh same page of the recognition, not in three as it is now

[etheberge]

Originally Posted by Hitman

Very nice, thanks

Though I'd like to see all pictures in teh same page of the recognition, not in three as it is now

Hitman,

If you mean the three different pages in my screenshots, then no, you don't have those in game. I just photoshoped three pages together for demonstration purposes. In game you still have only the one page at the time as usual.

If you mean that you'd like to have all three angle views in the same page in game, then no, I'm afraid my mod won't do that. I feel the silhouettes would be too small if I crammed them all in one page.

I'll edit the first post so it's clearer. Thanks for the feedback.

[Te Kaha]

Excellent!

When I was doing some Recognition Manual pictures for OM at the beginning of this year, it took me ages to just get one single picture done (I was working off screenshots).

Looking forward to your much needed additions!

[Akula4745]

Another great addition for my OM install. Many thanks Big E!

[etheberge]

Originally Posted by Te Kaha

Excellent!

When I was doing some Recognition Manual pictures for OM at the beginning of this year, it took me ages to just get one single picture done (I was working off screenshots).

Te Kaha,

Yeah I know what you mean, working from in-game screenshots is not the way to go because then it's an incredibly sharp pain in the balls to remove the background.

I'm working from S3D, taking a print screen of the model in the 3 positions then bringing that over to Photoshop to remove the background. When I first tried that about 2 months ago I was trying to remove the background by selecting everything by hand. It was taking forever so I gave up.

I had a breakthrough last night and now I can remove the background in like 3 clicks. I'll do a step by step guide with screenshots (or maybe a video) once I'm done with this.

BTW I have 60 of the models done, only about 140 to go :-)

[longam]

The series 'You Suck at Photo Shop' (no offense intended, just what this guy called them) has some real good pointers and shortcuts, one being how to remove the back ground.

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f

[Hunter]

I am not shure that recognition book shall looks old, as it is a new print for the ingame time. Though, mentaly old book looks more authentic, as all books from 1930 and 40s look old in our time.

[etheberge]

Originally Posted by longam

The series 'You Suck at Photo Shop' (no offense intended, just what this guy called them) has some real good pointers and shortcuts, one being how to remove the back ground.

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f

Lol, I think I've watched those before a year or two ago, I think that's the series with the guy yelling at his wife in the background and him photoshoping something with her wedding ring. He has a full storyline going through his tutorial, real funny stuff. Thanks for digging them out, they're classics :-)

Originally Posted by Hunter

I am not shure that recognition book shall looks old, as it is a new print for the ingame time. Though, mentaly old book looks more authentic, as all books from 1930 and 40s look old in our time.

Yes, I know what you mean. The cover manual in the screens above is the same as in OM/OMEGU except for the lettering. I thought about replacing it with something else but I won't, at least for now.

I'm almost done with the mod BTW, I'll release it either tonight or tomorrow night.

[etheberge]

Mod is complete, just need to package it and write a readme. It will be up before late evening.

All merchants done, one minor issue with warships, will describe in main post.

[Hitman]

Cool, looking forward to see it

[Sailor Steve]

I noticed that the main lettering is in German, but the "Merchants" and "German" labels are still in English.

[etheberge]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I noticed that the main lettering is in German, but the "Merchants" and "German" labels are still in English.

Yes Sailor Steve, that bugs me too but I don't know how to change it. Probably in a CFG file somewhere. If anyone knows how drop me a line and I'll change it.

What I'd really love is to be able to load image files there instead of that stupid plain text thing we have now. Like in SH3. Then I could make it look really nice!

Thanks for the feedback!

-BTW if any mods reading this could close this thread I'd appreciate it.

[sergbuto]

Originally Posted by etheberge

I'm working from S3D, taking a print screen of the model in the 3 positions then bringing that over to Photoshop to remove the background. When I first tried that about 2 months ago I was trying to remove the background by selecting everything by hand. It was taking forever so I gave up.

I do not remember if S3D has an option to rotate a model to a presize degree (I am on travel at the moment and away from the computer with S3D installed) but I found very convenient to use 3DS MAX for that. The way of the 3D model presentation and options to define the exact angle of rotation and to define the background made it quite easy to do recognition manual shots for the ships I imported to SH3.

[skwasjer]

Chroma keying

And no, you can't specify an arbitrary angle of rotation of the viewer in S3D. The only thing that is guaranteed is that the viewer by default opens at 45d up, 45d rotated, while looking at the world origin.