Non-infantry unit cards

[reahad]

How do I make a unit card of a unit on a horse, chariot and elephant? I tried making them using in game images, but they look REALLY bad. How do I make them using 3ds max (with the unit on the horse or the units on the elephant/chariot)?

[SubRosa]

Basically you want to first take out the alpha channel parts of each .cas file you are using (the high quality one for the mount, and the that for the rider). There is a article around here somewhere but I am not exactly sure where. The gist of it is this:


Open .cas file.

Press M to open the Material Editor (or click on the button with four colored balls on menu at the top of the screen)

In Material Editor Assign texture as normal.

In the Opacity field, click on the drop down arrow, and select Default.

Select Opacity, click on the field to the right (which will say "none"). This brings up a new window.

Here select your texture once more.

In the Bitmaps Parameters makes sure Mono Channel Output is set to Alpha, and Alpha Source is set to Image Alpha.

Now click on File -> Save and save it as a .max file. Do that for both rider and mount. That will keep it from having those black lines around the shield and some other parts.



Next you will want to open each .max file and pose it. You can find the animations in a pack file in RTW\Data\Animations. You will have to unpack it with the Unpacker first. Choose a suitable ainimation and load it for the unit. You can use the horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen to make the unit move through each frame of the animation to find the one you like best. You can also pose individual parts by selecting a joint, then using the rotate button to turn it one way or another.

You can also save a step by doing this at the same time you remove the alpha channel parts, I just listed it separately to make things more clear.

Again, File -> Save when you are done.

Now join your rider and mount. Open your horse .max file and select the entire model. Now use the scale tool to reduce it in size slightly (RTW scales up the horses, so they look too big if you do not). Now click on File -> Merge and select your rider. It will appear below the horse and will be automatically selected. Click on the movement tool and move it up so it sits atop the horse. Now do a File - Save and save it under a new name.


Now you put it all together.

I am assuming you have the unit card template. If not, hunt around a bit in the Downloads and I believe you should find it. Open the unit card tempate .max file. Click on ok to continue through all the missing .dll file messages. When all that is done click on File -> Merge, and select your rider/mount .max file. Rescale it and move it to the position you want in the unit card. Then press F9 to save your picture.