Making graphics

[Maragil]

Related to my new factory chain post, i'm wondering how to make vehicles etc for simutrans..

[vilvoh]

It's loong to explain, but you can start drawing the eight views needed (S, SE,E,NE,N,NW,W and SW) then we can talk about the dat file. Have a look at the SVN or graphics.simutrans.com for more examples.

[The Hood]

as vilvoh says, you need to end up with a png and a dat for the vehicle as in the examples on SVN.  Two main methods to do the images:

1. 3D model rendered 8 ways (e.g. blender) - I do my stuff this way because it doesn't require any drawing skill and allows detail quite easily.

2. Pixel paint (i.e. draw in a paint program pixel by pixel).

[dantedarkstar]

The one drawback of rendering method is that you can't get the "player colors" on the model easily (am I right, or is there a trick for that ?). That applies only to vehicles and stations of course - industries and city buildings don't need "player colors".

[The Hood]

@dantedarkstar - player colours are not easy in rendering - you will notice pakBritain doesn't have them, there is a reason for that

[VS]

Raven used to render in black+blue and then reduce palette to Simutrans specials+grayscale. It worked great.