PsiBug

Hi,
The added pressure sensitivity helps with opacity as mentioned above. I think it also allows your brush strokes to taper more smoothly so they are thick in the middle and thin at the ends (if you have brush dynamics enabled).

If you get alot of use out of your bamboo, it MIGHT be worth upgrading to the new bamboo, but it would probably be better to save a little longer and upgrade to an intuos 3 or 4 with a slightly larger pad size. (in my opinion)

I bought an intuos3 and used it regularly for 3 years then I actually saved up enough to get a used cintiq on ebay and I love it. I use it everyday. It sure was a big purchase but I do so much freelance work that it has been very useful and worth the investment. There is no way i would have bought one before I tried out the much cheaper intuos.

There is a pretty good WACOM folder at conceptart.org: http://conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=155 that might provide you with more opinions.

PS (I never use the mouse either.) hope that helps!

Wheee!

Hi again and thanks again.

After I do my pencils, I scan them into photoshop and scale them to comic book size which is about 6.875x10.438 inches at 400 dpi (2750x4175 pixels)
The image size above includes some extra image that will usually get trimmed off after printing. The main drawing area is 2450x3875 pixels.

I make a layer to define the size and layout of my panels. I use the rectangular marquee tool to make nice clean white panels and space them evenly. I use the layer properties to create an 8 pixel black inner stroke for the outline. This goes underneath the pencils.

The inks go on a new layer above the pencils. Then I duplicate that layer and use color fills to make my "color flats" layer. Then i duplicate THAT layer and use the new one for finished colors. You can google "comic color flats" or "flatting" if you arent familiar with the term.

Whatever section tools I use (lasso, marquee, magic wand..) I turn off "antialiasing"
At 100% magnification it may look a little jagged but at 50% or when printed, it should look nice and smooth.


So from top to bottom the layers look something like this:

Text Layer is usually my top layer
Word Balloons layer
Special effects layer
"finished colors" layer(using the panels layer as a mask)
"color flats" layer (using the panels layer as a mask)
Inks Layer (using the panels layer as a mask)
Pencils Layer with my pencils (using the panels layer as a mask)
Panels Layer with all of my panel sizes (white rectangles with black borders)
Bottom layer: blank white background


Hope that makes sense!

PsiBug

Thanks DarkEther!
Thanks VexXxa!

Here are some critters for you!

A digital tablet is very useful for inking but the learning curve is steep at first. You can get the most basic Wacom tablet for about $50-70 USD I believe. The pressure sensitivity is better on the $100-200 models but you'll have to decide what your budget is and whether or not you are motivated enough to learn to use it.

If you can force yourself to use it.. alot. it eventually becomes familiar enough to use for inking, drawing and digital painting.

Soooo much better than a mouse! You can get nice curves and line widths from a tablet that you can't get with a mouse.

I usually ink at 400 DPI at the finished comic book size.
I use the pencil tool which you might expect to look a bit jagged, but at 400 dpi it prints nice and smooth.

coloring a pencil-inked page is MUCH easier than coloring a digital brush-inked page, because your color fills are not affected by any antialiasing.

Here's a little micro tutorial I did a while back. It doesn't show a whole lot but you can see the pencil tool inks up close and how they look smoother when they are reduced.

Hope that helps!

ShaMu!

The reactor room in the heroside respec trial does a constant tick of damage if you don't have a radiation shield.

Some related info:
If I recall correctly, environmental damage types will not count toward damage badges, but If you use a heal power those restored hitpoints do count toward healing badges.

So that isn't Mega-Mu?

Kilowasp
Kilowatt
Bug Zapper

superkids wit swords! GRAAR!

The method of buying some IOs and transferring them via the SG base storage is handy if both of your characters are in the same SG and have storage access. Then the second character and pick up the IOs and re-sell them (possibly at a higher rate)

If you form a SG containing only your own alts, you can safely stock all the enhancements your base can hold for your alts to either use or resell at their convenience.

[ QUOTE ]
It's not uncommon to get people comming into the pizza parlor, for example, asking for their pizza, which we don't have.

[/ QUOTE ]

Only crazy people go into a pizza parlor expecting a pizza!

clip clop!

Yeah and it was actually 90 days inactive
and they didn't exactly purge the names they just flagged them as "available"

In other words... during the time when this policy was active, if your account had been inactive for 90 days and your character was below level six, you'd only lose your name IF someone else tried to create a new character with that name on the same server.


BTW thanks for the side-eye, Tex! It made me smile

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Make sure you are paging through all of the pages available on each server. There are three pages of characters available. Yours might be hiding somewhere off-screen.

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I know you said that you checked this but since you just reactivated your account, you might not have understood this new feature so I'm just gonna clarify in case it might help:

When you select a server, you see your first 12 character slots for that server, but there are more slots that are not immediately visible. Sometimes one or more characters get randomly thrown onto the second or third page and you have to select your server AND click through to the second or third page of slots to find the character.

About 50% of the time I get the side-eye for clarifying these things and about 50% of the time someone says "OMG thanks"

Good luck!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So, I made my account about three years ago, and played for two months and got a level 30 character. Now, I reactivated my account with the City of heroes/City of Villans account, (as well as a trial account that I played around with, which is still active), and I cannot find my character on any of the servers. I have my two month veteran thing, so I have no idea whats going on. Any help at all with be very much appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]

What level was the character? I ask because they did a purge of all characters level 5 and below IF the character hadn't been logged in, in over 60 days.

[/ QUOTE ]


When did this happen? Are you thinking of the times they made character names (level 5 and lower) on inactive accounts "available " for active users?

[ QUOTE ]


My many english lit teachers in college would kiss you now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Stranger Danger!

Oldtimer #1 "sumthin must be wrong! Here come Troy's pants without him..."

Oldtimer #2 "LOL ...Noob!"

I believe the game calculates your participation in the last mission based on some combination of:

1) percentage of mission objectives completed while you were in the mission
2) percentage of foes defeated while you were in the mission
3) percentage of time you were in the mission compared to total team time spent in mission
4) and possibly other factors


You can lose connection, you can arrive late, you can probably sit AFK inside the door, you can even log out before the mission is completed. If you meet the minimum requirements (whatever they are), you still get the rewards.

I've been playing for about five years too. I stay mostly because I like comics and I like to pretend to fly and have superpowers.

I'd recommend not rushing through the content. Take your time, chat with teammates a little, read the mission text when you do missions.

Notes for heroes starting out. (similar concepts apply to villains):
You can travel to other maps by going through the gates along the edges of the map or by boarding the elevated trains (marked with a "T" on you map). Train stations have an ENTRANCE and an EXIT. If you are standing at the exit of a train, you will not be able to board the train. Most players experience this when they are new.

Virtue and Freedom servers usually have the most people playing.
If you get on a bad or rude team, politely excuse yourself and find a good team.

press the "M" on your keyboard to view your map. If you are on a team, you can see your teammates if they are on the same map.

Trial accounts now have some limitations but you can still get a good impression of how the game works.

Run the tutorial when you create your first character. It will introduce you to some of the basic game elements. After the tutorial, most players go to Atlas park. If you want to be alone, then go to Galaxy city instead. Atlas and Galaxy are the two lowest level zones

Players often start off by doing a few missions to get to level 2 or 3 and then join a sewer team in Atlas park until level 5 or 7.
Once you reach level 5 your team may want to move to King's row to do radio missions and the bank mission which will give you a temporary flying power. Kings Row, and the Hollows are good for level 5-10. Perez Park becomes available at level 7

If you enjoy teaming, you might want to join an active supergoup. Don't be afraid to try a few different Supergoups until you find one that is a good fit. Some are very active, some are completely inactive and there are all kinds of personality types involved.

Well, I've rambled enough. You'll find lots of helpful tips in the GUIDES section of this forum. Welcome to the game.

Hiya.

Without knowing more about your system I would start here:

1) do you hear the regular beeps associated with the POST test when you start the PC?
2) do you see any of the startup text on the screen before it goes black?
3) does your system have an onboard video processer as well as this nVidia card?
4) if so, can you try starting the computer with the monitor plugged into the onboard video? (Then install the nVidia drivers following the manufacturers instructions)
5) is your video card seated properly in the motherboard? does the cooling fan on the video card spin? is the power cable connected if it has one?


(Please remember to unplug your computer before opening the case or working inside!)

Good luck.

I've been looking for the announcement too. Will we get to see all the designs and videos?

The only quote I could find said
[ QUOTE ]
these powers' damage cannot be enhanced by any means--buffs, Build-Up, Inspirations, Fury, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

no mention of recharge buffs...

and wikia does not seem to mention anything about that:

http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/V..._Reward_Powers

Are you having a problem with a particular villain type such as sniper class Nemesis or rikti drones as mentioned above?
It sounds like you already have a good grasp of the mechanics of stealth but for anyone who doesn't, I think it works like this:

1) Each type of bad guy has a perception range. They will attack any unstealthed hero of the proper level that wanders into range.

2) Some types of bad guys like snipers have a much larger perception range.

3) If you have +stealth, it essentially reduces the perception range of most bad guys. You will be able to get very close to some bad guys but others still may be able to see you from a reduced distance.

4) Some bad guys like rikti drones are unaffected by your stealth.


I don't think hasten will break stealth but I think superspeed's stealth element is only effective while you are moving. In other words, a bad guy may not notice you running within 5 feet of him but he may notice you standing within 5 feet.


Please feel free to correct any mistakes I may have made in the above statements

Excellent!