Color Images of German Soldiers

[Philippe]

I'm trying to do a mod that will eventually improve the graphics on the German Unit Portraits.

I've started by replacing the fictional background flag with an historically correct Reichskriegflagge. The results have already been posted at CMMODS as version 1.0.

I'm currently in the later phases of producing version 2.0, which currently has an ETA of mid-January. Version 2.0 adjusts the uniform images in version 1.0 so that details like the color of the collars and waffenfarbe are correct for the unit depicted.

While waiting for the next round of comments on the accuracy or lack thereof of the uniforms in version 2.0, I've started to work on version 3.0. Version 3.0 is a much longer term project, and involves trying to make fuller use of the 120 image slots available for the Germans.

To do this I'm using a combination of photographs and color line drawings, and trying to meld the two to create new images that look like photographs. You can mask quite a bit when you're working in less than 60 by 60 pixels.

One of the problems that I'm coming up against is the shortage of color photographs. Which is the reason for this post. I've done quite a few searches, but there are almost certainly sites out there with color images of German soldiers that I can rework that I'm not aware of.

So any suggestions of sites that I should look at with color images would be more than appreciated. I'm more than happy to wade through a hundred images just to find a nose or an ear that I can use (though what I want right now are color headshots of officers in field dress).

I'm finding useful material from three sources: 1) Color photographs from WWII; 2) Color photographs of re-enactors (potentially good material, especially if you change the faces); 3) Color illustrations of uniforms (also needs face changing). I don't have the Osprey books or a similar source, so if someone knows where I can find more of those illustrations on the web, that would be great.

I've looked at a lot of sites on the web, but I'm sure that I've missed a few. I haven't looked at images from movies because I want to avoid using familiar faces, but there are probably some sites with color photographs of obscure war movies that no one has seen that I should take a look at.

So any suggestions will be welcome, no matter how obvious they seem. They might not be obvious to me. It takes me about three days to build an image from scratch, and I'm looking at 120 images, so anything I can find that is almost ready-made will be a great time saver. I'd like to get version 3.0 finished before the end of the decade.

[Corvidae]

In the feild, the average german adjusted his uniform for the climate,, Perhaps some mods to reflect this fact???

Also the lack of long coats in the game could be addressed, A lot of germans wore long overcoats during winter,

Also the forage cap, its not in the game and it should be, The boat cap was less common but also worn in the east ,,

Henrick, now dead, served in the east for the entire campaign, He told me that he wore russian sleeves on his tunic, He also told me that uniforms faded over time, The feild grey turning to a dirty grey/green, and eventualy becoming a brownish colour,

Helmets were usualy covered with cloth, and sometimes wraped with string or twine, The wearer could weave twigs, leaves and grass into the string for added camoflage,

As the war dragged on, uniforms departed further from the parade ground standard, becoming increasingly individualized, untill the uniform itself became little more than a basic kit to be built upon,

By mid 43 certainly, a german platoon had a mish mash of diferently dressed men, Althought the basic features of the standard uniform were there, The way the uniform was worn, and the various modifications added to it,, Plus the use of captured clothing and some civilian odds and ends, All affected the way the whole platoon looked,

A Heer private might be wearing captured russian officers trousers, a faded tunic, and a squashed forage cap, His helmet might be painted olive green or kahki, it might even have been lost ages ago,,

Because the german army was not properly supplied with adequat winter clothing, many items of captured russian clothing were worn,,

Adding to the general mess was the fact of orphaned troops, Men who had as individuals, become separated from their units and were included into other units of other branches of the service, These men usualy retained their old uniforms and insignias,,

This probably hasn't helped a bit, but a mod reflecting the diversity of uniforms would be interesting to see,,

It would also probably be a pain to make,,

[Wodin]

Ive had the same problem doing a mod for Squad Battles.

[eyepilot]

for late Stalingrad battles / operations you could have German troops in babushka scarves and ladies winter coats.

*-)

[Philippe]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions. I'll certainly keep them in mind as I work through the material.

Remember, though, that I'm working in 55 by 57 pixels, and that these are unit portraits, not uniform mods. So that means that the image is pretty much limited to an area from a centimeter or two below the collar-bone to just above the hairline. Maybe a little more. I also seem to have latitude between using half-faces and full faces.

When you're working this part of the anatomy sleaves and coat-tails are completely out of the picture (by about a meter). I agree that it would be nice to see winter mods of uniforms with long coats, but that's for uniform mods, not unit portrait mods (the little colored square at the bottom left of the screen that suddenly has a face and a flag in it when you click on a unit in the game).

I'm planning on varying the head-gear a bit, especially for the gebirgsjaeger. Right now I'm trying to make up my mind exactly how to use the 120 images to best advantage, given that many of the image slots get re-used for different kinds of units (e.g. Lieutenants and spotters, weapons crews and truck drivers).

I'm not planning on doing a scenario-specific set of unit portraits: if I did something like that I would release it as a CMMOS mod, and not enough people seem to use CMMOS these days. And my current thinking is to stick to summer uniforms. In my Faces of Fear mod for CMBO I had a set of summer faces and winter faces, but you had to use my CMMOS Semiotics mod to effect the changes. I'm going to have enough trouble coming up with 120 color faces, let alone 240.

While I welcome suggestions on content and approach and will read all of them with great interest, what I really need right now is sources of images that I can remove from the web by download or screenshot. So please keep those cards and letters coming, and think about images, not ideas.

[eyepilot]

Hi Philippe

another URL in your mailbox and sorry 'bout your name being misspelled

[junk2drive]

Philippe

When you are done, I could use a set of French portaits for CMAK 1940. The stock ones have US pictures over French flags.