hi everyone! I have learned DirectDraw, at least I think I did, maybe not everything but enough to make some scenes. I am a great RPG fan and I''d like to make some 2d oldskool RPG scenes, but I just don''t know how to make some nice maps or characters! All I manage to create are some trees or leaves.... Where can I get info about that, or maybe get alreadymade maps?

Try searching google for some kind of 3d-program tutorials, myself I've got a copy of TrueSpace 2.2, it's enough for me . Anyhow, if you can make and render 3d-models you can just rotate them, and render again, to get a bitmap of the model in an other direction! It's a very quick and easy way to get professional looking bitmaps, try a tree rendered in some cool light; you will end up with a real cool-looking one!

______________________________
No way! I will never write a profile signature!

[edited by - the Chef on July 5, 2002 6:54:56 AM]

The Chef is right for character animations and such. However....

IMHO, the best way to make terrain maps is to use a 3d modeler/renderer and get some good ground textures. The problem is that finding good, cheap (read: free) sw like this for us hobbiests isn''t exactly easy (unless you want to pirate stuff). But you can use Moray and POV-Ray pretty effectively if you just want terrain. YOu can dl these free from http://www.povray.org and http://www.stmuc.com/moray (I reccomend using the moray modeller since POV-Ray has a kinda steep learning curve).

Once you have the proggies, I''d do a seach online for textures. Realize that a lot of web pages use grass, stone, sand etc as background images. Pop over to http://images.google.com and search for these. Make sure they''re not copyrighted, but if you find a tex you like, dl it and turn it into a texture. IIRC though, Moray only uses jpg, bmp, and tiff as texture files, but you can convert from one to the other in any decent paint program. But if you don''t have one, Handmade Software (http://www.handmadesw.com) makes a proggie called image alchemy which will do the conversions for you if you need them. You''ll have to get the demo, but I think it will suffice for making map tiles.

Hope this helps.

quote: Original post by Pipo DeClown
hi everyone!
I have learned DirectDraw, at least I think I did

*chuckle*

[edited by - T R i K s A N D on July 6, 2002 2:02:52 AM]

Yeah, I chuckled a little too, hehe.

Anyway, Pipo, you said you like old school RPGs right? If that''s the case, perhaps you should draw them by hand (as opposed to modelling them). It will take longer, but I have yet to see a render of a character that would fit the "old school" style.

------------------
Warcraft III mod:
Project ROR!
http://projectror.warcraftiii.net
------------------

Im pipo!
Yeah but I dont have a scanner...

You could always just *hack cough* pixel draw them. I mean in the end, if you''re going to use a really ''old school'' look then the tools in MS Paint are probably sufficient. You have 16 colors, a bitmap grid and a pencil. But that takes FOREVER and is a royal PITA.