How Did Fernando J Carrera Make Those Wavy Flags?

[Otto Kontrol]

There doesn't seem to be any information on how the wavy flags in SC2 were originally made. I've seen some posts that show some pretty decent mods but nothing seems to be exactly like the "factory" flags that come with the game.

Does anyone at Battlefront know how Fernando made these flags?

[Moonslayer]

These are the ones I have made for my Trek mod:

It is relatively easy to convert the existing flags into new ones. I only use free image processing software... no expensive packages here.

Try your hand

[Philippe]

His question hasn't been answered.

There is a flag template out there with about a dozen waving monochrome flags.

It is not difficult, if you have a little patience, to put a design on those flags, even a design that takes into account the rippling effect. This can be done with either photoshop or Paint.

In Paint all you do is make a bitmap with one flag on it, make a blank template of that bitmap, draw (or paste) the design of the flag onto it, adjust the design for the ripple effect, then copy and paste that design from the template onto the flag bitmap keeping white transparent. Another way to do this is using layers in Photoshop.

If you want to use a different color than one of the ones on the blank flag template you'll need to play around in Photoshop with contrast, saturation, and layers. Take the white flag, increase the contrast a lot, then take the flag whose color base you want to modify, modify it, then layer the modified color base over the blank flag with increased contrast, then layer your design over that.

There's no magic to putting a design on a flag. But what I have yet to see is a specific cogent explanation of where to go to get the software to make the original flag template, or how to go about it with existing software that you might have. Nor have I seen anyone mention the names of this software. Putting ripples on a flag is easy, we've been doing it in CM for years, and I've noticed that Juju even ported his rippled flag technique over to Silent Hunter (I recognized the template that he uses to put ripples on flags because it's the same one that I use). But I have yet to see anyone explain how to make the flag template in the first place. It would improve the quality of my flag-making a lot to know this, because flags with intricate designs on them would take to rippling much better if you could just feed them directly into the program.

So what, exactly, is this free imaging processing software you're talking about?

[Moonslayer]

Naturally I am aware that I never answered his original question but that is mainly because I have no idea what the answer is. I just felt like helping the guy out with some friendly advice.

My point is there is no need to reinvent the wheel here... just use the templates that exist and alter them to fit your needs.

I posted a set of single coloured flags for the benefit of other modders. I see no need for a separate programme (which I doubt exists in any case).

There is no single software programme I use; there are a variety of free packages available to download. Just put 'free image processing software' into google and voila.

[J P Wagner]

Here is the flag sprites that I made for the Russian Civil War mod. All I did was copy the original SC2 flag sprites and then opened it with paint.net. I then simply followed the color patterns of the original flags and replaced them with new colors, trying to match the different hues as I went along. Use the color picker feature to select colors from the original flags to use on your new ones. It is quicker than selecting from a palette and keeps the colors consistent. Of course you need to know which flag is which when you start modifying, for example my Bolshevik flag is on top of the original German flag. This is a simple way to do it and they actually do not look very good if you simply look at the sprites. And they look even worse if you enlarge it. But when they are on the game screen and thereby reduced, they do not look that bad. I cannot get too anal about the aesthetics of these type of things because I would rather spend my limited time working on the OOB and scripts.

[ November 22, 2007, 07:13 PM: Message edited by: J P Wagner ]

[Hubert Cater]

Here is a similar response I gave a little while back that outlined Fernando's technique:

http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=59;t=000088;p=1#000007

[Otto Kontrol]

Huber,

So the information you originally gave was, in fact, Fernando's technique for making the original flag set?

[Hubert Cater]

Correct, as I originally posted.

[ChrisND]

NM, already posted.

[ November 23, 2007, 04:18 PM: Message edited by: Normal Dude ]

[Otto Kontrol]

Hey ND,

Could you decode that last message? :confused:

[ChrisND]

I had posted instructions and then realized Hubert had already done it.