Just Learnig

[Comrade_sanchez]

hey peeps of TT forums,
Considering when i joined i have lurked in the background way too much,
(also forgetting my password for a while didn't help)

anywho i have wanted to contribute to the ongoing TT world for a long time having played it since TTO, although i'm first to admit that my graphical skills are as good as your average paper bags, soo with my final year exams coming up next week and the need to procrastinate from revision being felt , i thought i could look into coding, and knowing the regular TT forum gripe of lack of prior research , i have spent two evenings (certainly not long enough tho) now reviewing all the links posted , getting all the right tools and attempting to understand the very helpful wiki.
So i then had a need of something to practice on, seeing as how maley here is being so very (and a little annoyingly to some folk) enthusiastic, i thought his practice graphics would be the perfect material for myself to practice on. Hope you don't mind btw maley?

So here we have my first grf, it's only a direct copy of what the tutorial suggests and i have'nt attempted the carriges yet (this took me long enough for today). But it works on my TT with all other grfs turned off although the offset seems slightly off.

I'll start trying my luck with the carriges little by little over the week , but i doubt anything major will happen until after next week when my exams are done.
But if any of the great coders on this forum fancy pming me some tips , that would be really helpful, and also if i need any advice take it as a complement if your pm'd (though i'll try not to be to often and annoying)

But i'll post everything in here to save cluttering up the forum, and because basicly i'm as newbie at this as maley is at set making.
@ Maley :Also hope you don't mind if i semi hijack your topic ?

[krtaylor]

Maley, you are improving a lot! You have gotten to the second stage of drawing TTD graphics, and that is, the trains look recognizable when the sprites are posted (a very important step!) But they still don't look real in the game, and that's because they are insufficiently shaded. A flat area of blue or white shouldn't be all one solid color of blue or white; it should have several shades, just as a real photo would. Look closely at a photo of train: even if the train is a solid color, it won't be all the EXACT same color. There will be many different shades. This makes it look more real.

[Killer 11]

oh no one noticed my coal truck
Btw maley nice work now it really looks good

[DeletedUser21]

Hey Maley, didn't I say that you could do it?

[krtaylor]

The coal truck wasn't bad. Again, I'd say more color variation and shading.

[maley123]

ok
ow and i don't mind you using my train as an devolopment
i had school today so i was panicing i will finish the spritesoff
and also who do i make it look more reaistic i am dying to get to the third and final stage
ow nad my teachers said i pick things up quick
(was it say two weeks spent on graphics)

[Wile E. Coyote]

Now make white stripes in engines and wagon equal (as in pic of original train). Not bad. Try more!

[maley123]

ok sorry for posting half a train i took your addivice and i am starting a sweedish train (to all the sweedish)
i am shading it like you said

what do you mean try more
as in try harder
or pratice more

[krtaylor]

No, no, no. Stay with the ONE train until it's PERFECT. THEN move on to something else.

[maley123]

ok shall i shade bottem up or left to right
how dark should the shade get

[krtaylor]

The sun in TTD comes from the right. Therefore, the right side of each sprite, and the roof, would be brighter.

Here's an example from the Japanset, of a Shinkansen bullet train. IRL they are entirely painted high-gloss white, with a blue or green stripe. They also have a rounded nose. Notice how the artist used shades of grey to make the train look more three-dimensional and real. (Don't worry about the yellow ones, those are a special livery.)

[Wile E. Coyote]

No, Maley! Don't start next rain until you finish this! You're going fine, so finish your DMU.

[maley123]

ok

[krtaylor]

I guess I can't see the panto.

[maley123]

well the three car train at the bottem i have shaded it does it look beter

[krtaylor]

No actually, the shading is too harsh.

Something else that helps is "mottling", that is, randomly changing alternating pixels with a slightly different shade. Try this on the lower part of the train - pick a darker shade of blue, or a couple of shades, and randomly change some of the pixels to the darker shades.

[DeletedUser21]

It's starting to look cool with that wagon in there,
I like the blue!

[maley123]

it is very good you see, i think it is too good for a practise anyway i will try randamly changing pixels at the bottem but what is the range
(randomly change pixels on two bottem lines or higher)

[krtaylor]

Actually, randomizing is good for almost all of the train. Of course, you would use lighter random colors for where it is in the sun, and darker random colors for where it is in the shade. I mean, not totally random colors you understand, but darker or lighter shades of the same color.

[maley123]

here i have only done the example