How are unit icons done?

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

I know it has to do something with the alpha of like a TGA image, but how does one get a decent side profile from a model file? Or can a more 3d image be used? What are the size requirements or does BZII do some of the work in displaying the unit icons?

[Tempest Storm]

Dutch-boy used to have a video tutorial on how to make classic unit icons and wireframes up on his website, don't suppose anyone still has it laying around these days do they?

Essentially though IIRC, unit icons are basicly a 32x32 pixel TGA file with proper alpha channels which can generally be a picture of anything although to mimick the look of the BZ2 unit icons I belive DB's tutorial had you pretty much screencapping the model in 3Dex (Or Deep Exploration, if thats what they still call it these days) without any textures showing. 3Dex could also shade the untextured model to have the blueish hue like the BZ2 icons if you so wish them to appear that way, from there is just pasting the screencap into an image editing program like Photoshop or GIMP and scaling it down to 32x32 pixels and setting up the appropriate alpha channels. The same method can be used create wireframes for your units by having 3Dex display the model as a wireframe. (Wireframe images are 128x128 pixels from what I can see)

I think the unit icons and wireframes will appear with their corresponding units as long as they are named after the unit's ODF name or atleast the basename in the ODF file with the wire_ or icon_ prefix. (So for the ISDF tank the unit icon is named icon_ivtank.tga) Otherwise they can be established in the unit's ODF file with the commands:

[GameObjectClass]
unitIcon = "icon_unit.tga" // For unit icons
unitStatus = "wire_unit.tga" // For unit wireframes

[Zero Angel]

Take a screenshot of the ship, import its silhouette into your image editor, then use the resize tool. To make it shiny and silvery just apply a bevel effect (in Photoshop, use it as a layers effect)

[Nielk1]

I have started using a new system of rather high quality renders at tiny size (they go quite fast and look quite good).

[TheJamsh]

i use Threed to do mine, which may not be the best idea but it works...

1) make a copy of the model, so as not to destroy the original if i save by accident.

2) within the copied file, change the colours so as to give the model a blue tint, be sure to remove all textures, add a little shine maybe

3) make the 3D window as large as the screen, and get the view you want, now hit 'print screen'

5) open up GIMP, paste image in, scale it to 32x32 pixels, and select 'colour to alpha' from the transparency menu.

6) select black as the alpha colour

7) save as a .tga file WITHOUT 'RLE COMPRESSION' (will cause the game to AV if you use RLE).

name it! BTW, unit icons can be specified to units in two ways:


Method 1) give a base name to the unit, such as baseName = "ivtank"

now BZ2 will automatically look for 'icon_ivtank.tga' and 'wire_ivtank.tga'

Method 2) add this line to the units ODF if you want it to have a different basename

unitIcon = "icon_ivtank.tga"

Job done!

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Tanks guys. I believe you all have provided enough info for me to get it done. I remember some posts  before the server change, but man did a ton of useful info get lost. Hopefully, another server swap won't be needed for a very long time. BNG.

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

I finally figured out how to more easily get units icons displayed for my units. I suspect it'll work with any 3d modeler that allows for a render scene to file option. In Truespace it can be done with the render scene to file option. Select TGA as the output format, in the size box select other and type in width 32 height 32. Now select your addon folder and type icon_yourmodelname and hit enter. This will save a 32x32 pixel TGA image of your model and BZII will use the image to display your units custom icon. Nicely, it appears to display the material colors as well. I finally used a 3d profile, but I suppose you could also use any other angle if you wish. BNG.

PS: I just realized that the unit icons can also be fully textured if you like as well. Also, remember to change the ODF entry baseName = mymodelname otherwise it'll use the original name listed in te ODF.

[Nielk1]

Sounds like my method, render directly.

[TheJamsh]

i used to prefer the bluey ones, they kept the whole HUD looking clean. after FE though i kind of preferred the textures ones...

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

I always try to seek simpler solutions whenever possible, and going directly from the 3d modeler straight into the game is much simpler for modelers who like to tweak such things in real time as apposed to using a middleman application like a paint program to go back and forth trying to produce enough ships and props to eventully get enough done to contemplate making a BZII MOD. I guess that's one major reason I'm really grateful for TS 7.6; it was designed for modeling idiots like me. You experienced modelers really should suggest to noobie modelers to try TS as a first 3d modeler and tell them we know one modeling idiot (namely me) that if he can make models; then just about anybody else can do the same. Anyone wanting to try truespace as a first or even second 3d modeling tool can visit www.caligari.com and navigate to the TS 7.6 download link on their website. Don't forget to DL the PDF manual on the same site as it has all the help files for the program in that document. Happy modeling...BNG. 

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Sorry to post to an old topic, but I made some unit icons and wire icons for the air units I'm making for some special air death match maps. I use Truespace 7.6 to render 32x32 tga images for conversion using GIMP's color to alpha tool to make full color unit icons; basically in a batch style way. Loading model files one after the other from my TS library set against a pure white background; the default alpha color in GIMP. Did like a dozen or so models in just a few minutes this way. Then in GIMP I open the first file then select layer>transparency>color to alpha (white is the default color) hit okay and save the file again to get rid of the white background. Then I open the model odf and change the baseName = to my models name to use the new unit icon file. The whole process repeated for each icon in GIMP.

I also make wire icons the same way only at 128x128 rendered using hidden line mode to produce a clean wireframe image. I figured the secret to simplifying the procress is to set the TS background color to white (255 255 255) position the model in the workspace and then hit the render to file tool, set the size to either 32x32 or 128x128 respectively and save the output to my addon folder.

I also added inf files for each of my air units to give them an I command description in game. The trick with doing the icon and wire tgas is to add a prefix to the file name of icon_model name or wire_model name when rendereing the tga file. Works great and is a relatively easy way to mass produce such BZII elements.

I especially love the look of the wireframe while in my ships. I'm also making a variety of air types like helicopters, jets, bi-planes, etc and having a ball in the process.