Comparing the old to new

[UnkoMan]

Is that a subtle texture I see in the reflection? Oh my!

Gotta remember to use some gradients on extra pieces. The helmet. The arm bands. That little face ON the helmet. Otherwise? Nice job. You're getting there, and I love watching the improvement.

[laughing paradox]

Oh yeah, working the subtlety! So until you mentioned gradients, I had no idea what that was. (I'm still a Photoshop newb, too!) So I checked it out and it did illicit some subtle changes on the metal items, so thanks for that. I need to mess with it even more so I can get varying effects from it.

So I ended up creating a cool snake-texture for Copperhead (as well as some of the following skins)

[spoiler]




- redid the texture of her costume.


- I changed up some of her reflections levels and it came out even better than previously.

Available for download at LP's Repository
[/spoiler]

[laughing paradox]

Some questions..

[spoiler]

How does one make pants...look like pants? I tried whatever I could to make some jeans, but it came out looking less than stellar. Does anyone have any tips to make them look like pants, instead of tacky 1980's leggings?

I've recently purchased a new laptop and I can see from my previous Copperhead skin that the coloring is way off with the extras, but it looked right in my other laptop. I'll be correcting that.
[/spoiler]

[UnkoMan]

IT MIGHT BE YOUR NEW LAPTOP!

I noticed with my new iMac that the colours and especially the blacks are way off. This might be the standard now for computer stuff (although I hope it isn't) but since I work in TV it just will not work. Not even high def. And I can't seem to calibrate the gamma to how I'd like it, thus for most image editing I still use my PC. If I was better with computers I'd find out how to connect my PC's harddrive as a slave drive to my Mac, then set up parallel desktop so I can still use windows and windows based programs, then hook up my monitor as a second screen. Even better would be if I could just use my monitor on windows most of the time and the mac as itself, so basically it's like I'm still running my old computer, except with the updated processor and superior graphics card that my mac has. But blahblahblah I have no idea how to do that and this has just been a big, off topic rant.

Onwards to skins!

Jeans? How to make jeans? Really, TUE is the best source for this, probably, but I will give my two cents. Have you tried looking for "jean textures" online? Then you can overlay/hardlight/softlight/whatever you use for textures it onto your skin. You might have to desaturate. You might have to do some level adjustment. It's all about playing with it until you've got something you like, but looking for actual jean textures is a good base point. Or, just scanning a pair of jeans yourself.

I like the seam work I'm seeing on this as a start. Since it is jeans, you'll obviously need a lot more. The crotch area is the toughest part. I don't think I've ever been satisfied with how I've done it. Again, I would reference TUE on this. Heck, just check out Flesheater. It should hold every technique you need for the skin you are doing now. Except the extensive refl. Although I do like the super contrasty one you've got going on now. Oh, and I just realized... would the seams down the legs be the reverse of what they are? IE, light is coming from the front of her (I always assume, when I skin, that the light is front, centre, and slightly overhead) so it would hit the ledge on the other side. Gosh, do those words make sense?

Anyhow, as I said, check out TUE and see what he's done, then see if you can figure out something similar.

[Lunarman]

Also on the jeans, it looks like you may need to pump up your res a bit, to get the fine grains. What resolution are you working at at the moment?

[laughing paradox]

My current resolution is 1440x900. When I created this skin, on my old laptop, the resolution was at 1024x768, I believe.

I'll definitely study those skins by TUE and see what I can do with it. I think my old laptop's color schematics was a little off and this one is more correct. And yeah, good eye about the seam detail, they all have to be reversed.

I actually created that denim look from scratch but yeah..it will be better just to take a free denim texture and use that instead.

Thanks. I really appreciate the feedback.

[Lunarman]

I mean the resolution of the skin, not the screen's resolution.

Having a skin of higher res means it contains more pixels per inch and therefore is finer in detail. They're always squares, so 256x256, 512x512, 1024x1024. A good size to go for is 1024x1024, it's pretty much a standard for skinning.

[laughing paradox]

Oh..hehe.  :doh:

I usually work at 512 or 1024, but I'll make the resolution even larger when I get into specifics.

[electro]

Thanks again for these Serpent Society & Zodiac skins :blink:

[House Quake]

Oh..hehe.  :doh:

I usually work at 512 or 1024, but I'll make the resolution even larger when I get into specifics.

Depending on preference and style 512 is fine... bigger than 1024 isn't necessary.  I've done fine at 512 and respect those with the choice of 1024... but it isn't a required res at all.

The only thing is to be considerate of those with slower connections and make sure the final product isn't greater than 512 (or smaller with non-detailed textures)

[laughing paradox]

Suicide Squad

[spoiler](clockwise from top left)Black Orchid, Javelin, Rick Flag Jr., Slipknot


[/spoiler]

[Jakew]

It's extremely cool to see all of those Sucide Squad skins done so well.  :thumbup: Suicide Squad was my favourite comic.

My only niggle is with Rick Flag Jnr. As far as I know, his yellow T-shirt "costume" had a shoulder holster (there is hex of Texas Jack's Male_shoulder_holsters which is similiar) ... not two hip holsters. His hair also looks a bit "off" somehow, in comparison to how he was in the comic.

I hope you're planning to do more Suicide Squad skins ... I'd love to see Ravan, Nemesis, Atom (Adam Cray) and White Dragon.

[laughing paradox]

You're right, Rick Flag Jr. (and Nemesis) use shoulder holsters, but I just immediately fell in love with the mesh it is on. You're also right about the hair. I originally skinned it for the male_hunter mesh, which has a bit of a difference with the head shape.

I'll look for Texas Jack's mesh and see if I can adjust things a little. As of now, though, I've already got Nemesis done on that mesh.



I'll definitely be doing more Suicide Squad characters.  Duchess is high on that list.

[electro]

Might wanta think about adding a Link to your Yahoo group from your web site - Only place I see it is in the second page of this thread - By the way new skins are Awesome :blink:

[laughing paradox]

Might wanta think about adding a Link to your Yahoo group from your web site - Only place I see it is in the second page of this thread - By the way new skins are Awesome :blink:

I'm really only using that Yahoo group as backup for my older files. Besides, there's a link to that group on every one of my readme files. Thanks for the compliment!



I updated Rick Flag and Nemesis so they can go on TJ's great male_shoulder_holster mesh.



Fantasia from the Supreme Soviets. (My first real skope!)
Duchess (skoped by Johnny Patches and a little tweaking by me)


Pantha (skoped by Johnny Patches) (decapitated head not included)
I've had this for a long while, but I'm not happy with this skin so I'll keep working on it, but it's good to have some kind of Pantha out there.

[djfredski]

 :o way to go JP! :thumbup:

[USAgent]

Fantasia, now there is a chararacter I thought I'd never see, great skin and scope, I really like your Rick Flag as well.

[laughing paradox]

Thanks.

Yeah, I love those obscure characters. I'm actually trying to create everyone from that fantastic Captain America issue #342, where the Supreme Soviets, disguised as the Avengers, battle defecting Russian superheroes. I skoped a Gladiatrix (see below) and already skinned Blue Shield and Vostok/Sputnik. Speedball by tommyboy has enough skins, Crimson Dynamo was made a few times, Stankowicz could be represented by any robot mesh..so the only thing now that need to be done are Major Ursa and Perun. I'm okay with skoping very basic things, but I think Perun is going to be a lot of work.. and I don't think there's a bear mesh anywhere, so that is going to be very difficult as well.

[herodad1]

ursa major would work well on a skoped (ink) caliban mesh.i gave the mesh(i think)tj gorilla kfs.it has loping run animations as well as claw looking attack.

[BentonGrey]

Howdy LP!  These are fantastic!  I love the Suicide Squad, and you've done a great job with these characters......although, curse you, because now I've got to add Slipknot and Nemesis!  Any chance we'll see the SS's adversaries, the Jihad?

[laughing paradox]

Herodad - Thanks for the tip on the bear! I'll check it out..by skoped, do you mean hexing parts off, or adding parts on?

Benton - Thanks. I wasn't thinking about doing the Jihad, but if you can lead me to some meshes, I'll see what I can do. ;)

[USAgent]

I have a Perun skin I can send you, its on the Thor mesh and the skin was by Electro.

[Jakew]

That Duchess is cool  :thumbup: ... how did you make that mesh?

If you could do Ravan for a skope of Valandar's male knifefighter, that'd be ultra cool.

[electro]

Could skope the fur from Ink's sabertooth & boots from captain america onto the Thor to make a decent Perun mesh - My skin is quite old now & would love to see sothing new :blink:

[UnkoMan]

NICE highlights on that latest one. Lookin' sweet, man.

[rmt]

LP, if you're interested in Jihad meshes, I have an updated Manticore, updated Rustam with fire sword, and a hex of Jaculi (the male one) I could probably send you later this week.  I need to make sure C/S is OK with my sending, but it's not like Reloaded ever got made and I'm not sure if/when it will.  It's high on my to-do list and may get higher after I check out your Duchess, but seems like it gets bumped easily.  I guess I tend to end up doing my mod work instead of his...   :P

I don't have anything for Ravan or Agni/Angi at this point, or other Jihad members like female Jaculi, Badb, Djinn, etc. that weren't in the original SS mod.  Ravan could use a knife since a garotte (sp?) probably isn't practical to animate.  An exploding pickaxe fx would be nice for him too.  Agni/Angi (whichever spelling they're using these days) could probably go on a male basic or maybe some sort of fx mesh, though I think the flame came and went rather than being constant, least as I remember him.

Djinn would rock but I'm not sure how he would function in game.  Maybe with a very small bounding box that only included his base...

[herodad1]

use calibans body but give him a diff. head.zulu has a werewolf looking mesh and bobby 69 has the feline beast mesh.both may be the same but the head is what would work for ursa major.ears may be trimmed back to look more like a bear.

[BentonGrey]

I should think Ravan could simply be put on a male_basic with Kung Fu kf's, he was a martial artist, right?  He was like the Bronze Tiger's opposite number, so for herofile reasons, a martial arts kf set makes sense.  For Djinn, you could use the fire elementals that Red Sun conjures in FF2, they have the right shape.  As far as making him work in game, you could design him as the "Astral Form" half of a character with Astral Projection.  Make the actual corporeal form of his a small mesh with very limited defenses.

[laughing paradox]

-It's funny you mentioned the Fire Spirit, that's the same thing I thought of too for Djinn! I don't know if it would look good on that mesh, but I'll try it eventually. I've been wanting to create "shadow spirits" on that mesh. Is there a  :ff: version of the Fire Spirit? I also need to get pants cuffs for Ravan, which I'm not sure I've seen yet, because he certainly enjoys his high-waters.

-RE: Major Ursa - I don't know if you can remove a mesh's head with Nifskope, which is all I have. It's part of the mesh...if you can remove it, it's far beyond my current skill level.  <_<

-Jake, I didn't make the Duchess, but I know it was created using the Taskmistress mesh. :)

[herodad1]

the caliban is the perfect choice for a ursa major mesh.it has the size and the claws.i guess his look would be all in the skinning.hope you give it a try.