A question involving Demo editing (Sorry if this isn't the wrong section)

Hey guys, I have a question regarding demo editing that I DOUBT will be answered with a "Yes", but I feel the need to ask anyway.

Is there some way to 'green screen' your character in demo editing? I tried with the black outside of a map once, but my character just kind of... blended in with the background, for the most part, and came out REALLY bad.

I'm wondering for the sake of making stuff like comic covers and stuff like that using my characters, but with a custom background (like a gradient background or something).

As said above I doubt it's possible, but I'm wondering if theres some way at all other than taking a picture and heavily editing it.

And as said in the title, sorry if this is in the wrong section.

Wow, dude, you're going to be 'professionally' schooled!

Dark_Respite is one of the best!

Meanwhile, until she can get back to you, you might find some answers in this section of the forums: http://boards.cityofheroes.com//forumdisplay.php?f=607

Be Well!
Fireheart

I'm quite honored to have you post, Dark_Respite! And I'm glad that theres a way.

And thanks for the link, Fireheart! I'll search around a bit.

Okay, back. Sorry to make you wait.

All right, greenscreening can be a bit tricky, but once you get the hang of it, it's damn useful. You'll need a couple things for this:

a) access to a base that you control
b) Leandro's Splasher Program (download and install this before we get started - it's free, it's easy, and it's small)
c) Paint, PhotoShop, or some other graphics program on your computer


Okay, here we go. Bear with me, coz this can get complicated. But you can do so much with this, it's worth the hassle. Thank God I'm a tech writer by profession...


Part One - Create Your Filming Stage

1. Pop into your base, and create a room for filming use. Depending on how far away you want your camera, choose the appropriate size. A 3x3 room should be more than sufficient.
2. Remove as much of the floor and ceiling as you can so there's a LOT of height to work with in here.
3. Apply the Hirano style (pick one and be consistent) to the entire room, floor to ceiling (AND ONLY TO THAT ROOM, don't wreck your base doing this).
4. Exit out of the base builder, and then out of the game for a bit.


Part Two - It's Not Easy Being Green

5. Open Paint, PhotoShop, whatever, and start a new graphic - 720 pixels wide by 480 pixels high, RGB color scheme, JPG format.
6. Fill the graphic with solid green - if you have access to the RGB color smear as I call it, set it for R = 0, G = 255, B = 0. Save the file as GreenBackground.jpg.
7. Create another jpg, same settings, but this one will be grey. Access the smear, and set it for R = 127, G = 127, B = 127. Save this one as GreyBackground.jpg.


Part Three - A Splash of Change

8. Open Leandro's Splasher program, and click the Textures tab.
9. Next to Input File, browse to your GreenBackground.jpg file. Leave the Alpha Mask area blank.
10. Under Destination, check the box next to Apply to all textures in the selected category. Then, next to Category, drop down to Supergroup Base Style: Hirano.
11. Click Save Texture.
12. Now change your Input File to your GreyBackground.jpg (leave the Alpha Mask blank), change the Category to Supergroup Base Style: Hirano (Bump Maps), then Save Texture again.


Part Four - Lights... Camera... WHOA!!

13. Now, log back into the game, pop back into your base, and head into that room. Green! But we're not quite done yet...
14. Open Edit Base again, head back to that room, and click the Lighting Tab on the Room Identifier menu (not the base items Lighting tab). Click the white square to the far right on each row to crank all three sets of lighting up to max brightness, and then adjust it down from there to suit your needs.
15. Lastly, solid wall space. Here's where we get sneaky. Under Room Details, pick a very, very small item (like the "clear bottles" item), and place it on the floor next to the wall, close enough that the trim disappears. Put one set of bottles at the far LEFT of one segment of trip, put another set of bottles at the far RIGHT segment of the adjacent trim. You now have two pieces of wall trim gone, and the bottles (hopefully) outside your view.
16. Position your character against that wall and swing the camera around to the front (you might need to angle it a bit to avoid seeing the juncture between floor and wall).
17. Turn off your UI, click PrntScreen, and voila!


Part Five - But What If My Character is Green?

That's easy - just change the color from Green to something that's NOT in your costume. Purple, yellow, red, blue, whatever.

(FYI, to restore the original base textures, just reopen Splasher, go to Textures, select the Hirano stuff, and click Restore Default Texture. Next time you enter the game, it'll be back to normal.)

*****

So there you go. Emote to your heart's content against a green background, then you can import the graphic into PhotoShop and greenscreen with ease.

This, by the way, is how I managed to create THIS little video. Easy? Meh. Worthwhile? Hell yes!

Good luck!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Thanks a ton! I'll try it out once I get to a computer. (I'm posting from my iPod right now.)

You're welcome, I hope it helps!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite