Anna's Skin Workshop - Smaller Skin projects, Skin resources, and Skin-related work

[AnnaShade017]

I've thought about making this thread for a while, mainly because there are some skins that I feel are not big enough projects that I want to devote a whole thread to them. But I still want those skins accessible to those who prefer to search for skins first on the skin forums and there are other skin-related things I'd like to share, so I thought it would be more concise to wrap them all up in a single thread. Similar to a shipyard, I will use this thread to display and give out images/files related to skins and skinning, as well as post some smaller skin projects, and possibly WIP skins.

I don't have a lot on here yet (Just wanted to get this started), but here are some ready made faces that anyone can utilize for their skins. I plan to make more (hopefully tomorrow) but here's some finished ones.

Faces

Spoiler: Faces: Part 1

Faces are one of my favorite parts of skinning, and changing the face is an easy way to make a skin more personal. These faces are done, no extra shading required, HOWEVER I did not apply a boarder around the faces/necks to account for bleed. This is because I wanted to be as easy as possible to copy and paste in, whether you like using the Dave skin as a template, the skinning template, or both. So these faces are the exact same size as Dave's.
You may download this image and use any of these faces in your own skins. I will be posting more soon; expect to see various skin tones and overall variety!

More Female Faces: http://starmadedock.net/threads/ann...ources-and-skin-related-work.1805/#post-26464


Dave Racial Variations Pack 1: http://starmadedock.net/threads/ann...ources-and-skin-related-work.1805/#post-60223


Bleed makes a difference!
I recommend adding a 2-pixel boarder around the edges of the skin . (The bleed zone/area on the player template)

Spoiler: What is "bleed", and what do you mean by "bleed zone"?

"Bleed" in this context refers to texture bleed. Texture bleed is due to mipmapping/MIP mapping (MIP maps are intended to increase rendering speed, and decrease aliasing artifacts).

When you log into the game, the game compresses your skin, making it "bleed" and blur a bit in order to increase rendering speed, and so on. If you did not put a 1-2 pixel boarder of the desired color around the edges of your skin, you may find unwanted colors on the edges of your skin in game.



There happens to be a mip mapping option in StarMade's advanced settings (on theConnection Setup Window).

Spoiler: What happens if I turn off the Mip mapping options?

Glorious, Pixel-perfect skins with no blurriness! (Turned off 2D compression and 2D Mipmapping)

________________

More to come!

 

[AnnaShade017]

- Reserved -

 

[Boba_Fett]

Nice! I don't know whether to "like" or "creative" this!

 

[Fuyuko]

I don't understand the "mip-mapping" , I'm not really good in english , and here I just understand five words ...
Boba_Fett : you should rate "useful"

 

[AnnaShade017]

I don't understand the "mip-mapping" , I'm not really good in english , and here I just understand five words ...
Boba_Fett : you should rate "useful"

I'm a bit new to the term as well, but I will try my best to explain as I understand it. ^_^

Mip maps are lower resolution images (the image halved in size each time) this halving of the texture(s) is called mipmapping.

In the context of StarMade: Mipmapping occurs when StarMade takes your skin files/images and re-sizes them smaller and smaller (halving the image size each time). It should be the same, perfect, quality up close, but at further distances (where you wouldn't be able to see as much detail, realistically) it uses smaller versions/images which take less time to render.

But if you notice, StarMade skins (currently) are blurry up-close, and this likely not intentional. What may be happening is: StarMade makes the mipmaps, then compresses the mipmaps and the skin images together, and that compression may not be as intelligent as how Photoshop might compress an image, and this 'bad compression' may be creating a blurry image/skin.

______________
Links:
Mipmap: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mipmap

More on Pixel Bleed: http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f189-modding-tutorials/90244-pixel-bleeding.html

 

[Fuyuko]

And how to delete mip-mapping ? How to don't have this ugly blur ?

 

[AnnaShade017]

And how to delete mip-mapping ? How to don't have this ugly blur ?

Open your StarMade Launcher, click "Start Game" (Connection Setup window opens), Under "Settings" at the top click "Show Advanced Settings". Next scroll down to the bottom of the Connection Setup window, and turn off the 2D texture compression AND texture 2D MipMap.

Here is an image to help:
Edit: Updated Image below in my replied comment!

Spoiler: Why I also suggest turning off texture compression:

When you leave 2D texture compression on, discoloration issues and pixel bleed problems remain. This doesn't look as bad when the skin already looks a little blurry, but when you take away that blur, it becomes VERY obvious.
This is with 2D compression on, 2D MipMap off:

 

[AnnaShade017]

Open your StarMade Launcher, click "Start Game" (Connection Setup window opens), Under "Settings" at the top click "Show Advanced Settings". Next scroll down to the bottom of the Connection Setup window, and turn off the texture compression options AND the mipmapping options.

Here is an image to help:
View attachment 2405

Spoiler: Why I suggest also turning off texture compression:

When you leave texture compression on, discoloration issues and pixel bleed problems remain. This doesn't look as bad when the skin already looks a little blurry, but when you take away that blur, it becomes VERY obvious.
This is with both compression options on:
View attachment 2406

Sorry for the Double-post, but I discovered after more testing that it is specifically the 2D texture compression and texture 2D MipMap options that cause the blurriness and discoloration/graphical artifacts.

Here is an updated image detailing where you can turn off those options:

I have updated the above comment to reduce confusion. Also keep in mind, turning off these options could potentially effect performance.

 

[AnnaShade017]

Hey guys, here's a new group of face skins, this group is all female skins, and the two female skins given before are also in here to hopefully make things easier to find in the future. While I want to make new responses to this post so those watching will know when there's an update, I also want to update the thread at the top so people coming back or looking for the first time can find all the updates listed at the top.


As I said, this group is all female faces, a group of male faces is on the way. If you have any suggestions for faces you'd like to see or any questions, leave a comment and let me know!

Spoiler: Faces - More Female faces

Some faces here are new and some are variations, I made more variations of the one with curly hair as I liked how her hair turned out. But if you want a specific variation of one here, let me know. ^_^

 

[Krosulhah]

These are rather good!

 

[Fuyuko]

You have change your avatar ! Nice faces . I wont use it for my skin , but stills nice !

 

[AnnaShade017]

You have change your avatar ! Nice faces . I wont use it for my skin , but stills nice !

Thank you! ^_^ I've been trying to change it for a while (I just couldn't make something I liked enough), but I finally did. And you have changed your avatar as well! :D

Also glad you like the faces, I likely won't use them in my own skins (as I'll make new unique faces for those) but I wanted something like this available to people, whether they're making their own skin or just looking to put a new face on a skin. That way, perhaps some people may have the same skin/armor but have their own unique faces. Besides I get more practice with faces and I've learned how to make some female hairstyles look better which I'm quite happy about. :D

 

[AnnaShade017]

Here's a sort of 'preview' to what I've been working on lately, all WIP:

Spoiler: Current Projects

I've been working out how to do facial hair that I like the look of, on the male faces, which is why that's taking some time. The Skin in the middle-top is a small skin project I did a while ago to test a female skin overlay I'm working on. (The overlay is a bit rough, I'm working to get better with shading so I can make an overlay I can be proud of.) Which leads me to that female scifi armor-plated-skin in the lower left, I added some shading and the left-most one will give you an idea of what I want the whole skin to look like when finished. I may do a male version, I haven't decided yet. I started with an image of an armor image I found online, and while making that armor, I got an idea for this armor.
Of course, on the right is the Imperial Stormtrooper. I've been very careful while working on this, to try to get the details correct.

 

[Syleiel]

I am looking forward to seeing your finished stormtrooper skin!

 

[BiGEdge]

most people ive seen got a potato or a plain white skin, this tutorial is very useful, thanks for that

 

[testkil]

Good job Anna

 

[AnnaShade017]

*small update*

Sorry for falling off the grid for a bit guys, due to RL complications I had to step away from StarMade for a short time to recover. I'm working on getting myself back into skinning without hindering recovery, do bear with me, and I apologize for the delays.

Due to the creation of THIS THREAD I made a pack of various versions of Dave with different skin tones, facial hair, and so on. A female pack is planned as well. http://starmadedock.net/content/dave-racial-variations-pack-1.1585/

 

[Azurite]

Question: What's the ETA on my hipster mustachioed Dave and will he wear thick-rimmed glasses as well?
I need this.