Transport Tycoon Forums

I thought I'd have a bash at drawing a new graphic for the game, so I decided to start with a generic car derived van such as the Ford Courier, though this is similar to the old Ford Escort vans that used to be around. I don't think it's too bad although the perspective isn't perfect but it does work. I won't be offering it for download just yet because I nicked some other blokes NFO to test it out with, (the guy who did the taxi's) I am new to NFO and don't understand it fully yet but I can alter them pretty well, does OK for testing and personal use. Eventually it will offer two refitable cargoes which will be mail and goods which it will carry ten crates or ten bags of, not yet certain how that works out in game weight wise though. It will also have its own NFO.

In the future I will probably do larger vans and the 7.5 ton range as well, comments and critiques are welcome as long as they are constructive.

Attached is a copy of the PCX, and a couple of in game screenies.

=) Bad Graphic... you need to draw it different... this one looks like a floating picture.

Yyou should change the angle to make it fit to the road properly. Keep going!

WRH wrote:I thought I'd have a bash at drawing a new graphic for the game, so I decided to start with a generic car derived van such as the Ford Courier, though this is similar to the old Ford Escort vans that used to be around. I don't think it's too bad although the perspective isn't perfect but it does work. I won't be offering it for download just yet because I nicked some other blokes NFO to test it out with, (the guy who did the taxi's) I am new to NFO and don't understand it fully yet but I can alter them pretty well, does OK for testing and personal use. Eventually it will offer two refitable cargoes which will be mail and goods which it will carry ten crates or ten bags of, not yet certain how that works out in game weight wise though. It will also have its own NFO.

In the future I will probably do larger vans and the 7.5 ton range as well, comments and critiques are welcome as long as they are constructive.

Attached is a copy of the PCX, and a couple of in game screenies.

Try to draw it again following this tutorial:
http://users.tt-forums.net/purno/PDT/re ... index.html

Also, don't make the PNG file bigger, is better with a 1:1 scale.

Thanks for the input, my perspective was pretty bad but I had another go which didn't take too long either. That tutorial was quite informative also so thanks for that.

Small vehicles are tricky to draw well, little details like indicator lights were difficult to put in the revised version since with perspective properly implemented the way pixels are they look out of place. But I think it looks better. I suppose that's why the original TT vehicles only had headlamps. So I left mine with just headlamps and break lights.

Scale is also another thing but something I can't really do much about unless the HGV's get bigger, much smaller and you'd not have enough detail in there to make it worth it. Some new screen shots for you then with some vehicles from Long Vehicle V4 for comparison.

This is far better than your first try! Very good


Scale is indeed an issue. There are generally two options, of which you have to choose one:
-TTD scale: keeps the vehicles somewhat realisticly sized compared to the rest of the graphics, but looses a lot of details.
-LV scale: Far more details, but you end up with (IMO) way to big vehicles compared to the other graphics.

If you like the TTD scale then take a look at my cars, feel free to decode and modify if you want...

WRH wrote:Small vehicles are tricky to draw well, little details like indicator lights were difficult to put in the revised version since with perspective properly implemented the way pixels are they look out of place. But I think it looks better. I suppose that's why the original TT vehicles only had headlamps. So I left mine with just headlamps and break lights. .

Small vehicles are an absolute pain in the arse to draw well. The small forklift trucks I drew for ISR were the hardest thing I've drawn. See them here: http://www.tt-foundry.com/

Good choice on leaving out the indicators etc. When I started drawing trucks (three months ago) I included some things like wing mirrors, but it makes for a better sprite to leave out some detail. I include headlights, brake lights, and also for some vehicles, amber beacons (no easy way to make them flash though).

Best way to learn is by looking at the work of others. I used Purno's tutorial and looked at Zephyris' sprites a lot. It's really handy if you have a drawing programme that can show a zoomed in view and a 100% view at the same time (Photoshop can, but is way more powerful than you need for drawing sprites).

cheers,

Andy

I often used Windows Magnifier for that purpose. Type <WinKey-U> and a dialog will appear that lets you start it.

Awesome work! I have tried and failed at drawing OTTD sprites, so I really admire you for sticking with it.

andythenorth wrote:
Best way to learn is by looking at the work of others. I used Purno's tutorial and looked at Zephyris' sprites a lot. It's really handy if you have a drawing programme that can show a zoomed in view and a 100% view at the same time (Photoshop can, but is way more powerful than you need for drawing sprites).

So can paint

Just zoom in, then go to view->zoom->show thumbnail

may i suggest i.mage?

Zephyris wrote:If you like the TTD scale then take a look at my cars, feel free to decode and modify if you want...

Thanks, if I get time to have a play about again I'll have a look, I'll be sure to give you credit for anything of yours left in any modifications. Must say those are pretty cute little fellows.

Scale is always a funny issue, I must say I'm more of a fan of LV scale, simply because of the detail. If only the rest of the game matched it. Imagine ships large as they should be, Loco's and rolling stock all to that scale. I'm not aware of all the games limitations but I'd say that since it's not been done then it's probably not possible yet and may never be. I just live with the scale differences unless some of the above becomes possible at some point.

For now though I'll be having fun playing the game when I'm not busy with other stuff.

The small forklift trucks I drew for ISR were the hardest thing I've drawn.

I can see why, those are rather good. You've got a good choice of plant on offer. Fork Trucks, mechanical shovels...

I have photoshop already, which I bought for other stuff I do. I found paint easier to use for the drawing stage with it's handy line tool.