I need tips regarding using 3d software to make 2d sprites. not starcraft style, but 2d style. I once read a book that cover the making of flashback, where they draw based on real picture of a human (rotoscoping), is there tips if I plan to create a 15fps or 30fps sprites using tools such as the free daz3d and/or blender?

thanks.

but if you have any experience in other software, post away anyway. i'm sure there's enough info for me to convert it to any software i plan to use.

I'm not sure what you're asking for. Rendering from one angle and painting over images aren't arcane techniques. And "2d style" says very little about what you're trying to achieve. Try asking more pointed questions.

sorry if my question isn't clear.

Flashback used a technique where they pixel paint over picture of real human,to get a fluid and real movement.

I plan to create a 2d image, side view of human, doing things. The problem, is, while there a quite a few number of tutorial regarding making isometric image from 3d object to look like starcraft, there's not much on 2d side view. maybe some people think it's pointless.

anyway, i want to use tools such as the free daz to create a person walking, jumping, shooting from the side view. i want it to be loopable, and easily switch from one movement to another, is there any easy way to do this, in case someone here have experience in doing it.

I could use trial and error, but you know what they say, one hour in library saves one week of research?

Thanks,

Quote: Original post by FableFox
The problem, is, while there a quite a few number of tutorial regarding making isometric image from 3d object to look like starcraft, there's not much on 2d side view. maybe some people think it's pointless.

Just move the camera to the side, instead of an overhead view.

Quote: anyway, i want to use tools such as the free daz to create a person walking, jumping, shooting from the side view. i want it to be loopable, and easily switch from one movement to another, is there any easy way to do this

Which part are you interested in? Creating the animations, rendering the animations out to bitmaps, or painting over the bitmaps?

Hi,
This may be a bit random but...

The original Prince of persia (before flash back) was based on the programmers younger brother. He filmed him running and jumping then redrew the frames.
I ripped off this idea using Deluxe Paint on the Amiga, but could so easily be done using photoshop or gimp.

Since then I have used Poser for creating animated models and then rendered them to a bitmap and then... copied each image in a sprite sheet.

I have also used blender and truespace to achieve similar results for vehicles.

"copy the image into a sprite sheet"

thanks for your answer. I thought there would be a better way, automatic rendering or anything.

I mean, if you move/animate a character in 3d app, obviously it's going to be a smooth animation. but obviously we're not going to use it all (although with computer resources these day, we can)

for example, for a 3 second kick, instead of having 90 frame sprite of 30 frame per second, we might use 1 out of 3 frame so we have only 30 frame.

oh wait, this means I only need to render it out at 10 frame per second.

I think I just answer my own question, ha ha ha :-)

I was thinking about dropping images, editing timeline and whatnot. thanks anyway.

Well, you can render your sprites in blender (that is what I do) or you can paint them by hand in any program you like. I would recommend Photoshop CS3+ (comes with frame-by-frame animation) or ProMotion by cosmigo (quite similar to DeluxePaintV).

In blender you can adjust the frame rate and the length of the animation so you don't get hundreds of frames for a simple hand wave. It will render your animation to a video file or still images. I prefer still images which I montage together to form a larger sprite sheet picture. ImageMagick is a handy dos prompt tool that can do this all automated if it is given 0000.png to 000n.png files (read this GameDev post about it). There is also this plugin to photoshop cs which let you export your psd animation to a sprite sheet.

Most 2D painting tools and 3D software supports having background images to let you trace.

Good luck!