Need help with character image gallery
By
Aliana Blue,
Posted on: 2007-05-10 23:58 in Multi-Media Fan Creations
While i'm afraid i haven't a clue as to what you're talking about, i've posted this just because i know it's encouraging to know that people are reading.
Hopefully someone will stumble upon this here thread and offer you more help than i could.
_D
P.S.: Oh, and i was prompted to respond to this even though i can't help because i think the idea of a gallery featuring a rotating image of your character would be damn cool and i'd like to see what some other people have to say about it. So i thought a little bump would help.
My DeviantArt
Extraplanar 50 Mind/Kin
Argos the Beast 50 Stone/Stone
Everblaze 50 Fire/SS
Falcon's Fury 50 Kat/Inv
Heirloom 50 BS/DA
I can help out a little. The following is what I use when I want a nice clean shot of my characters.
1 0 Version 2
0 0 Map
0 0 Time 12.000000
0 CAM POS 0 -9997 6
0 CAM PYR 0 0 0
0 2 Player
0 2 NEW "Sparky"
0 2 COSTUME 0 000000 -3.879388 -0.219780 0.000000 -0.109890 -0.137363 -0.098449 -0.109890 0.000020 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
0 2 PARTSNAME Pants_Loose Pants_Baggy_01 Lightning ff5700 000000
0 2 PARTSNAME Tight tights Electricity 000000 ff5700
0 2 PARTSNAME Masked_Bald skin_head_10 Small_Mask_1 ff5700 970099
0 2 PARTSNAME Smooth tights Blend ff5700 000000
0 2 PARTSNAME Smooth smooth_01 none ff5700 970099
0 2 PARTSNAME Jewel Jewel_01a Jewel_01b 575757 ff5700
0 2 PARTSNAME Spiky2 Style_01a Style_01b ff5700 1f0b00
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 MOV READY
0 2 POS 0 -10000 0
0 2 PYR -0 0 0
20000 2 MOV PRECOMBAT
Just swap out the character data and you'll get a demo of your character with a blue background and nothing else. The rotating camera might take a bit of work though. I'll see if I can come up with something when I get home from work.
Sparky - mutant elec/elec/elec blaster
Thanks for the help. Now all I need are the rotating camera (or character) and how I can extract character costume information (and where to find that information if I have to do it manually).
You might have to go with rotating the camera instead of your characters. I've found that the characters seem to rotate around a point roughly at the tip of their feet. So when you rotate them as their back spins towards the camera it seems they're moving closer. Zloth has a demoedit program that might make creating the camera movements easier as well as locating your character data in a demorecord. To make it really easy, when you do a demorecord of your character do it in a base or a remote location in a zone so the file isn't loaded with info you won't need or have to dig through. I hope that helps a little.
edit: Now that I think about it, even rotating the camera will probably give the same result as rotating the character since they'll be rotating around the same point. If that's the case rotating the character is much easier.
Sparky - mutant elec/elec/elec blaster
Okay here we go, a quick and dirty demo that should spin your character. If anybody with access to demoplayer can test this it would be appreciated as I'm stuck at work for another 3 hours.
1 0 Version 2
0 0 Map
0 0 Time 12.000000
0 CAM POS 0 -9997 6
0 CAM PYR 0 0 0
0 2 Player
0 2 NEW "Sparky"
0 2 COSTUME 0 000000 -3.879388 -0.219780 0.000000 -0.109890 -0.137363 -0.098449 -0.109890 0.000020 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
0 2 PARTSNAME Pants_Loose Pants_Baggy_01 Lightning ff5700 000000
0 2 PARTSNAME Tight tights Electricity 000000 ff5700
0 2 PARTSNAME Masked_Bald skin_head_10 Small_Mask_1 ff5700 970099
0 2 PARTSNAME Smooth tights Blend ff5700 000000
0 2 PARTSNAME Smooth smooth_01 none ff5700 970099
0 2 PARTSNAME Jewel Jewel_01a Jewel_01b 575757 ff5700
0 2 PARTSNAME Spiky2 Style_01a Style_01b ff5700 1f0b00
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 PARTSNAME none none none 00000000 00000000
0 2 MOV READY
0 2 POS 0 -10000 0
0 2 PYR 0 0 0
50 2 PYR 0 0.19625 0
50 2 PYR 0 0.3925 0
50 2 PYR 0 0.58875 0
50 2 PYR 0 0.785 0
50 2 PYR 0 0.98125 0
50 2 PYR 0 1.1775 0
50 2 PYR 0 1.37375 0
50 2 PYR 0 1.57 0
50 2 PYR 0 1.76625 0
50 2 PYR 0 1.9625 0
50 2 PYR 0 2.15875 0
50 2 PYR 0 2.355 0
50 2 PYR 0 2.55125 0
50 2 PYR 0 2.7475 0
50 2 PYR 0 2.94375 0
50 2 PYR 0 3.14 0
50 2 PYR 0 -2.94375 0
50 2 PYR 0 -2.7475 0
50 2 PYR 0 -2.55125 0
50 2 PYR 0 -2.355 0
50 2 PYR 0 -2.15875 0
50 2 PYR 0 -1.9625 0
50 2 PYR 0 -1.76625 0
50 2 PYR 0 -1.57 0
50 2 PYR 0 -1.37375 0
50 2 PYR 0 -1.1775 0
50 2 PYR 0 -0.98125 0
50 2 PYR 0 -0.785 0
50 2 PYR 0 -0.58875 0
50 2 PYR 0 -0.3925 0
50 2 PYR 0 -0.19625 0
50 2 PYR 0 0 0
5000 2 MOV PRECOMBAT
As before just swap out the character data. I've guessed at the timing so hopefully it will be a slow rotation. If not just increase the time (the 50) until it's at a speed you want, or I suppose you could play with the FPS on the demoplayer.
Sparky - mutant elec/elec/elec blaster
I'll have to give this a try and see how well this works. The hard part is going to be getting all the costumes from my 126 characters, plus previous costumes recorded on old demorecords. Some of these don't seem to have any costume info which is odd. I'm not sure how to extract costumes using Zloth's demoedit program either. Anyway, I'll be back with some updates after I try this out.
Okay, I didn't have a chance to try this out yet because I was called in to work over the weekend. I'm updating this thread to keep it past the forum maintenance. This way when I get around to testing out the above suggestions I can post feedback with regards to my success or failure and any further help I may need.
Ok, this is sort of what I've put together using the demo edit you gave me above (including reducing the size of and cropping the image as well as deleting about 148 frames of the character just standing there doing nothing).
Animation test
I noticed a few problems with the demo right away, which you can clearly see in this image. The way that the character fades in is a bit of a problem. The camera also seems to clip off parts of the character during various parts in the rotation. I have absolutely no idea what I need to do to fix this. At the very least I've figured out how to insert my character info into a demo. Once someone can fix the demo above so that it works I can take it from there.
All I need is a nice continuous rotation with no fading in or out, and a camera angle that's close enough to get all the details, but not so close as to cut parts of the character out of the image during the rotation. This would also include character models using the huge body type with the sliders maxed out. Or if someone could show me how to tweak the camera distance?
Edit to include additional comments:
If it isn't possible to get the rotation animation working correctly, then would it be possible to create 4 separate demo files, one for each of the main compass points? Then I can either create .gif files of standing animations or just extract one image from each file and create a static pose of my character from each direction.
No more help? Uh-oh.
I think you might be able to boost the camera distance in your demo.
0 CAM POS 0 -9997 6
0 CAM PYR 0 0 0
Mess with the bolded number and see what the camera does. I'd recommend you try changing it in increments of 10, positive or negative (It's currently negative). If the figure disappears, then you moved it the wrong 'direction' and you should try subtracting if you added, or vice versa.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
[ QUOTE ]
I think you might be able to boost the camera distance in your demo.
0 CAM POS 0 -9997 6
0 CAM PYR 0 0 0
Mess with the bolded number and see what the camera does. I'd recommend you try changing it in increments of 10, positive or negative (It's currently negative). If the figure disappears, then you moved it the wrong 'direction' and you should try subtracting if you added, or vice versa.
[/ QUOTE ]
Just a quick note here...
POS is given in X/Z/Y coordinates, so changing that number (the second field) would move the camera up or down (along the Z-axis).
Looking at the earlier reply, it looks like the character is standing at 0/-10000/0, so 0/-9997/6 would position the camera down 3 "feet" along the Z-axis and 6 "feet" along the Y-axis.
One thing you can do to make the rotation look right is to not have the character rotate, but to have the camera rotate around an invisible point near the character.
Get Zloth's Demo Editor and load your demo. In the first screen, highlight a camera line, then click on 'Movement'. Play around with the settings on the 'Circle' tab and you should get a clean rotation.
In particular, select the 'Center on a fixed point' option...
Good luck! 
Test Subject 42 - lvl 50 Sp/DA Scrapper
Oku No Te - lvl 50 MA/SR Scrapper
Borg Master - lvl 24 Bots/traps MM
Pinnacle
Nyghtfyre - lvl 50 DM/SR Scrapper
Champion
[ QUOTE ]
Get Zloth's Demo Editor and load your demo. In the first screen, highlight a camera line, then click on 'Movement'. Play around with the settings on the 'Circle' tab and you should get a clean rotation.
In particular, select the 'Center on a fixed point' option...
Good luck!
[/ QUOTE ]
Zloth's programs are _excellent_ all around.
But that said, it may be a bit too much for what our dear poster is trying to do, specially since he has 126 characters. Too much work by hand!
I'm cooking you a Perl script to do this stuff. I'll get back to you in a few hours 
Players' Choice Awards: Best Dual-Origin Level Range Arc!
It's a new era, the era of the Mission Architect. Can you save the Universe from...
The Invasion of the Bikini-clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space? - Arc ID 61013
Well, that was a bit more complex than I thought (I didn't spend an hour looking for a bug that turned out to be a missing number in one of the fields of the demo, not at all... )
So! You can download the program here!
http://walkiry.no-ip.org/coh/rotating_demo_creator.zip
It's a 400 kb executable! The reason is that it's made in Perl, and I used Perl2Exe to compile an independent executable. If you download a Perl command line interpreter:
http://www.activestate.com/store/activeperl/download/ (Go for the free download, you don't have to fill in anything or register, just leave everything blank)
Then you can download this (and many other) program with just the source, which is about 10 Kb!
http://walkiry.no-ip.org/coh/rotatin...reator_src.zip
And now, the little program itself:
How to use:
1. Create a fresh new clean directory.
2. Extract the Per/program to that directory.
3. Copy all the demos that you have made that contain your character information to that directory.
4. Run the program (typically doubleclick will be enough after you've installed Perl, if you got the executable it is straightforward by itself I think 
).
5. Follow the screen instructions
What will this thing do?
It will make a demo of your character (the "basic template" has been shamelessly stolen from Sparky ) in an empty map.
The demo will "nudge" your character to life (this is handy if you have a cape, so that it doesn't get stuck in your leg), then rotate the camera around him/her/it. The radius of the rotation circle, centering and speed are user-configurable.
The program will either make one big honking demo with all the characters one after the other, or create separate independent files for each one of the demos you feed it, as you prefer.
Anything else?
Yes! If anyone has any idea how to stop the "idle" animations so that the character is merely standing there without crossing his arms or putting her hands to her hips, let me know! It's very irritating.
Players' Choice Awards: Best Dual-Origin Level Range Arc!
It's a new era, the era of the Mission Architect. Can you save the Universe from...
The Invasion of the Bikini-clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space? - Arc ID 61013
Oh that's very handy, I'm going to have to play around with that.
Wow, that sounds cool. Makes me wish I understood what you said!
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
[ QUOTE ]
Wow, that sounds cool. Makes me wish I understood what you said!
[/ QUOTE ]
Well very basic... See what Personamorpher wanted to do? He has 126 characters and a demo for each, and wants to create a video of them rotating. The program will do all the "create an appropiate .cohdemo" automatically, just put it in the same directory of the demos, run it, and say yes to all
Players' Choice Awards: Best Dual-Origin Level Range Arc!
It's a new era, the era of the Mission Architect. Can you save the Universe from...
The Invasion of the Bikini-clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space? - Arc ID 61013
Is anyone else having problems getting demos to run? Did a recent patch break the demorecord feature again?
Um, not particularly, although last I heard some of the zones, specially some of the new Rikti Maps and the RWZ could give trouble when playing back.
Are you having trouble with the demos you recorded, or the output of the program?
EDIT: Also, I'm using the CoH Demo Launcher. Tried a couple of demos and they seemed fine.
Players' Choice Awards: Best Dual-Origin Level Range Arc!
It's a new era, the era of the Mission Architect. Can you save the Universe from...
The Invasion of the Bikini-clad Samurai Vampiresses from Outer Space? - Arc ID 61013
[ QUOTE ]
Yes! If anyone has any idea how to stop the "idle" animations so that the character is merely standing there without crossing his arms or putting her hands to her hips, let me know! It's very irritating.
[/ QUOTE ]
There are other animations that return to a neutral position. I'd have to go through them and find which ones. ;akimbo and ;atease are good for costume demos though.
You could always issue a "powexec_name Brawl" which since it wouldn't have a target, would just put the character into the combat stance.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
There's something I've wanted to do for a while now and that is to create a gallery of images of all of my characters and all their costumes. I've wanted to use my demorecords to create some simple demoedits that I can use to create demodumps from. They would basically show one character in a well lit area and then have them rotate (or the camera rotates around them). I could take the screenshots created from the demodumps and use them to create animated GIFs of every character in each of their costumes. I could also create a static image that shows the character from the front, back and both sides.
So how far have I gotten in this endeavor? Not very far at all. I'm still stuck with a ton of demorecords and no clue how to extract the costumes and no clue as to how to create the simple demo with which to insert them into. I've sent some PMs to a few people with requests for help, but without any success. I was wondering if someone from the forums here might be able to provide me with some help.