Darkside Transition Photoshop Question

[rgdelta]

Does anyone know of or can help me with a tutorial on how to do the darkside transitions in Photoshop like the cracks and stuff. I used to use Photoshop for web graphics but have not used it in a long time. I don't need to know how to import export from K2 I just need some good places to help me make my darkside transitions look right also the making of sith tatoos in darkside transitions.

 

Also how do you do the portrait do you take a screenshot remove the background and do a new grandiant background?

[Princess Artemis]

I use a different graphics program for DS transitions, but I think the same concepts will work for PS. First, make a master file of the original face texture. Then, make a copy of the original texture, desaturate it, and place it as a new normal layer over the top of the original. Using the lasso selection tool, cut out the eyes and teeth of the copy (this makes the originals visible.) Make a layer for coloring the eyes, fiddle with transparency until you like the result. If you have a tablet, this next part will be much easier. Make a layer for dark veins, and carefully draw some on where you think would be a good place for them (experiment with the layer properties for the best effect, possibly lower the opacity). It might help to have an actual game DS trans open to use as a reference. Do the same for light veins. Use different colors, but in the same general range. Make a new layer for tattoos, same deal, although you may want to play with opacity on it, and if you know how to do vectors, that will make them sharper edged. If there's anything else you want to change, like lip color or adding wrinkles, do them all on seperate layers. You might want to add some surface texture to the skin, but unfortunately I don't know how to do that with PS. Save the file as a PSD, then save the file as a .tga in Override so you can test it. There is a neat property about KotOR in that if you change the override file while the game is running, it will change on the character. So run K2 and look at your character, then alt-tab out and tweak the .tga, resave, and go back in and look at the character again. Make sure to save as PSD often as well; K2 dislikes being alt-tabbed out of much more than K1 and it may lock your comp. But that's by far the best way to see what you're actually doing.

 

To make a second DS trans, you may be able to get away with using the same master PSD file--it might save only what is visible as a .tga. If this is the case, you can make a copy of your first desaturated version, desaturate it more, and put it above the 1st transition, cut out the eyes and teeth, and then make more layers for more veins and such (it's good to keep the layers for that seperate in case you need to resave as .tga for the 1st trans. If PS doesn't allow you to save what is visible (that is, layers with closed eyes still show up in the save), try using your final version of the 1st DS trans and make it a basis of a new file, following the same steps above, except copy the 1st DS trans and desaturate it, placing it over the original, cutting out the eyes, etc.

 

As for portraits, yeah, take a screenshot, crop it square (I'm not sure on the pixel size--256x256 looks like it shrinks on my screen, so maybe extract a portrait file to get the right demensions), lasso around the face, invert the selection, and fill with a gradient. Or take the screenshot in front of a boring wall.

 

I hope that helps.

[rgdelta]

Thanks Princess I will give those a try.

[The Paper]

Just to add on a little snippet....

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the portraits are 128x128.

 

As for more on portraits, here's what I do. I mostly use PS Elements 2.0 (need newer/full PS I know), but I use I think it's called the Magic Wand and click the areas surrounding the character's head till I'm satisfied. Then I go back in with the Selection Brush and add/subtract from my selection then start deleting/erasing and then copy what's left over the background I want for the portrait. I also like to keep a few portrait backgrounds saved seperately so if I want to be lazy I can just open and paste onto that and go from there.