I got a shortcut for my textures using the Buttonz and Tilez program, now I''m wondering if anyone knows of any shortcuts to making nice looking sprites.. of a human character 1 frame of standing still 16 movement frames(2 for each possible moving direction) and 16 attack frames(2 for each possible direction faced).. Is there any tips on how to easily start one of these off(for a person who has troubles properly drawing a stickman, even on paper). Maybe also some shortcuts to making the frames of animation easier(other than flipping the image horizontally to make right-left animations easier)?

no other shortcuts? I''ve been drawing my sprite in GIMP and it''s taking forever.. That method could work though, how hard is it to make 3D models?

It has been said that creating sprites via 3D modelling->rendering is far easier to do for the non-artist than trying to draw them by hand, and I wholeheartedly agree. I have neglected my artistic skills since I was in high school, though recently I have begun to regain some of them. Creating character, monster, and item sprites and animations for my game has been significantly faster and easier using Blender than my past attempts at drawing them by hand, frame by frame. Not to mention, the results are far more satisfactory than my previous blurry masses of pixels.

The problem with drawing by hand--aside from the phenomenal amount of grunt work required--is that factors such as realistic shading, proportioning and perspective can only be achieved through due dedication in the pursuit of artistic skills. Such things are handled easily by default in 3D modelling due to the paradigm of modelling, and so the burdens of these responsibilities are removed from the artist (or, rather, technician, for modelling is more of a technical skill than an artistic one) and placed upon the modelling package. Any fool can model a sphere, and render it correctly shaded. It takes practice to do the same by hand.

Many professional studios use this method for creating the bulk of their assets, reserving traditional 2D artistic methods for concept sketches, story-boarding, touching up sprite renders, etc... Everything from animation sprites to interface components can be modelled, then rendered to your graphic file format of choice for inclusion into your game.

But, like the AP above said, it is going to take lots of work either way. It is just that the results may be more realistic with less artistic skill using the 3D approach.

Josh
vertexnormal AT linuxmail DOT org

Check out Golem: Lands of Shadow, an isometrically rendered hack-and-slash inspired equally by Nethack and Diablo.

Is it just me, or is Anim8or the easiest 3d rendering program for this kind of thing?