GR#073 - Coder Dept. Weapons

[Helm]

Take it easy, I don't think st0ven was trying that at all.

[st0ven]

I showed the best way to make a b/w image with little to no value loss.

If you want to tell me something "indirectly", do it via PM.
instead of making me look dumb.

no quite the opposite! youve illuminated quite a fundamental difference between a desaturation adjustment layer vs keeping only the luminosity channel visible. it made me feel dumb for betraying my instinct that the values didnt quite match up... which led me to post a faulty critique on values in mathias' piece. im giving you credit and my thanks, sorry for the ambiguity in my response  Its you thats made me look dumb, and rightfully so. We all learn new stuff every day though, im not ashamed.

[Mathias]

Elk's PMS'ing. (not to be a know it all, but I've been using that LAB method for a while, too. Did try it a few years ago during my greyscale confusion, it didn't help [see below].)

Steve, your advice wasn't "faulty", IMO. Glad I could help enlighten you on that little quirk with Photoshop. There's many ways to remove color from an image in PS and they all give different results. It's hilarious. Even the Image > Adjustment > Black & White function defaults to something different from other methods. It just proves the name Photoshop is very fitting - it's for photos; full color work, etc.


Alrighty then, yes, the LAB greyscale trick is very good. Good for photos. For precise indexed art, not so much. Here's what it does to the C64 palette, which you can easily check against the REAL greyscale values below. Notes on my PS workflow to get to the result in the image. Behold:



(last step especially crucial)

[Mathias]

Hilt detail. Striving for a nice reflectivey crystally icey look. The big flat blade will be an interesting challenge to make look translucent like the hilt.



I want the flames more chaotic and maelstromish.

I'm simply using any color in the palette that works now. Forget color count control, who needs it. This sword was originally supposed to have significantly more colors than the other two anyway, to give it even a technical superiority.

[Mush]

I think you got the crystal effect down pretty good. The very bottom of the hilt is kind of confusing though - it kind of looks like the hilt is melting into a goo.

[trough]

WHOA! This is EPIC, man! I just read the entire thread and I am loving these swords so much. I really liked the leftmost sword and now the master sword is looking amazing too. Sorry that I don't have any critique, I'm a real noob.

[Phlakes]

The only critique I have is that the grip doesn't have much depth to it. The detailing on it does, but it all looks like it's coming off of a flat surface rather than part of a cylinder.

[Mathias]

Thanks Trough and Shrub. And Mush and Phlakes, your critiques are very useful, thanks for the observations - they're the type of things you just stop seeing after looking at something for so long. Fresh eyes. Update soon.

[Shrub]

Hey, where did my post go - did someone delete it? If so, could they please tell me why?

Looking forward to the next update anyway. I agree with Phlakes, though; some work on the hilt to try and make it more cylindrical would be awesome. Loving your colour choices, by the way.

[Helm]

Hi, Shrub. The post you made reading the following:

Wow.

These blow my mind. Keep doing whatever you're doing, because it rocks.

was deleted on the grounds that it's not critique. Pixelation has a FAQ you should have read before posting. Be sure to read it now.