I''m starting out on a RTS game, and I was wondering what kind of system the professionals use to do 2d animated graphics such as in Starcraft, Red Alert, etc. Is it a 3d model that they then screencap and modify, is it hand-done, or is it just sitting down with photoshop for half an hour? (Comments, suggestions, and flailing stories welcome!)

3d models for starcraft, diablo 2, etc...but you could do it the traditional way if you were a good artist.

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Brian J
DL Vacuum - A media file organizer I made | MM

Normally artists use 3D modeling and texturing packages like 3D Max, Maya, etc. to create the models and then render them. Then they normally use an image editor like Photoshop to fine tune them.

Modern RTS are done using high resolution 3D models which are then screengrabbed to generated sprite from all angles, which are then cleaned up by hand. Of course given the power of modern graphics cards it might be wise to look at actually using 3D characters instead of sprites (ala Warcraft 3, or even TA, which still used tiled maps with a fixed camera, it just used 3D for all the units). Not only are 3D characters less work, they are far more flexible.

I concidered 3d graphics, but I don''t exactally have a massive design team, or a plethera of resources. I have done 2d far more than 3d, and think for the not-so-enormous goals of my project, 2d is the best way to go. I know people who have dabbled in 3d more than I, but I don''t really know how good the end result would be. I mean, is it better to have a working van, or a lambourgini covered in duct tape?

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Original post by SubQuantum
I concidered 3d graphics, but I don''t exactally have a massive design team, or a plethera of resources. I have done 2d far more than 3d, and think for the not-so-enormous goals of my project, 2d is the best way to go. I know people who have dabbled in 3d more than I, but I don''t really know how good the end result would be. I mean, is it better to have a working van, or a lambourgini covered in duct tape?

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Heh heh. When in doubt, go with the van. However, don''t let 3D frighten you off. I personally find it far easier and faster to create halfway decent looking 2D graphics with Blender than drawing them by hand. My pre-Blender "programmer art" was truly atrocious. I''ve heard it said that 3D modelling is far easier and more intuitive for the non-artist than trying to do it 2D and get shading, perspective, proportion, etc... correct, and I certainly have to agree.

Josh
vertexnormal AT linuxmail DOT org

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Yeah, thanks for the link. I''ll do what i can w/ blender and see if anyone I know is willing to help! For the sake of testing, I just drew/scanned some pics, and your right; the scale and angles were all way off, and I endeded up changing it around in psp. It still didn''t look right, and it still looked hand-drawn even after much tweaking. I think I''ll take your advice, and start fiddling with Blender as soon as I can!

Blender is awesome for doing just what you need. When the angles look wrong, just move the camera around a bit. you can also manually adjust the vertices with the ''N'' command. Anyway, look on the Blender site for the command reference. It is a 2 page pdf that has all the keyboard shortcuts. Also here are some links I have found:

http://blender3dfr.free.fr/anglais/tuts.htm
http://www.raph.com/3dartists/tutorials/t-blender.html
http://www.b5-blender.com/main.html
http://www.linuxgraphic.org/section3d/blender/pages/didacticiels/didacticiel-ang.html
http://www.crosseyedmedia.com/0_a_px800/tutorials.html
http://jmsoler.free.fr/didacticiel/blender/tutor/english/python_script00.htm
http://www.janw.gothere.uk.com/documentation.html

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First make it work,
then make it fast.
--Brian Kernighan

"I’m happy to share what I can, because I’m in it for the love of programming. The Ferraris are just gravy, honest!" --John Carmack: Forward to Graphics Programming Black Book

I know it''s pathetic, but I have a very old machine. What my friends call "lagging" is what I call "moving the cursor!" Anyway, I downloaded every version of blender, and my graphics card won''t supourt the OpenGL interface. I downloaded the newest drivers, and still I can only get basic OpenGL functionality. Hence, blender freezes my system every time I start it. I have found another open source 3d modeler, Anim8or, which is more than what I need. It suppourts a fair ui and options for modeling, and the renditions are decent, although I noticed some problems when I do certain things. It is still at version .8, but the bugs are minor and it can import lightwave and 3ds files, so I''m pretty much all set. Thx1.0e6 for the links, but sorry I couldn''t use them! I see what my next investment is going to be- a computer built in the last decade, with hopefully above a 500mhx chip and a gpx card who''s maker still exists...

If yer card cannot support even basic OpenGL interface, time for a new video card my friend.

Also, I found Blender''s interface to be utterly horrible, cluttered, and generally useless. It looks cool though. Try using MilkShape. It is an awesome 3D modeler and works wonders.