Rework dev/wip/spout to make water wider and more visible. Also adjust the

color to better match the sea arch set.  Add a reference layer of a sea tile
to spout.xcf.  Convert all the .png files to indexed mode to reduce size.
Update README with methods used to produce the graphics and remove comments
about issues with the original revision.  The .arc files have been modified
to add 'map_layer item' to prevent wall pieces from disappearing when these
archs are placed on top of them.


git-svn-id: svn+ssh://svn.code.sf.net/p/crossfire/code/arch/trunk@8161 282e977c-c81d-0410-88c4-b93c2d0d6712

CHANGES

@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 Changes for SVN top of tree:
 
+Rework dev/wip/spout to make water wider and more visible.  Also adjust the
+color to better match the sea arch set.  Add a reference layer of a sea tile
+to spout.xcf.  Convert all the .png files to indexed mode to reduce size.
+Update README with methods used to produce the graphics and remove comments
+about issues with the original revision.  The .arc files have been modified
+to add 'map_layer item' to prevent wall pieces from disappearing when these
+archs are placed on top of them.
+Kevin Bulgrien 2007-01-09
+
 Add a set of "overlay" archs that are designed to sit on top of walls to form
 a spout with water pouring out.  The art is designed to separate the liquid
 and spout to allow spout and fluid variations.  The archs are WIP because they

dev/wip/spout/README

@@ -18,57 +18,73 @@ pour_h2o.base.112.png
 pour_h2o.base.113.png
 pour_h2o.base.114.png   : Animated pouring water to be placed over top of
                           the pour spout.  This arch and associated graphics
-                          are not quite perfected.  The water is a bit to
-                          dark for sea tiles, though might work for the
-                          darker river water.
+                          are not quite perfected.  The water color is suited
+                          for pouring into sea arch tiles.
 
 ===============================================================================
 GRAPHICS
 ===============================================================================
 
 The spout.xcf contains many individual layers of components used to create the
-above artwork.  Note that the water design was quite easy.  A single color
-water was drawn, then GIMP's Filters | Noise | HSV Noise... was used to vary
-the color.  The effect of the filter is somewhat random, so it was a simple
-matter to generate variants of the water to make the water look like it was
-flowing.
+above artwork.  Included are various wall styles and a sea tile for reference.
+Note that the water design was quite easy.  A single color of water was drawn,
+then GIMP's Filters | Noise | HSV Noise... was used to vary the color.  The
+effect of the filter is somewhat random, so it was a simple matter to generate
+variants of the water to make the water look like it was flowing.  The filter
+was applied, undone, and applied repeatedly until each frame had a good mix of
+colors with few dark pixels.  Further, the animation frames were each checked
+to be sure the sequence looked like water falling.
 
 HSV Noise settings that seemed reasonable were as follows:
 
-  Holdness:    2
-  Hue:         3
-  Saturation: 63
-  Value:      63
+  Holdness:    8
+  Hue:         8
+  Saturation: 80
+  Value:      160
 
-The water is too dark to match the sea tiles, but might match the river water
-colors.
+The flowing water is visible on 32x32 tiles but if pixel size is small, it is
+not very obvious.  It is possible that picking a few more lighter color pixels
+might improve that, but the water looks pretty good at 64x64 bits in jxclient.
 
-The flowing  water needs to be wider to show up the animation on 32x32 tiles.
-It is even a bit hard to see at 64x64 in jxclient.
+The graphics in spout.xcf are in RGB format instead of INDEXED form, so they
+are not compressed as well as they could be.  This is partly because there is
+no point to converting to indexed while various layers have art not part of
+either the spout or water.
 
-The graphics are still in RGB format instead of INDEXED form, so they are not
-compressed as well as they could be.  The conversion to INDEXED should be done
-before releasing the graphics.
+To minimize file size, when exporting the the graphics to .png files, save
+each frame to a .png.  Close the .xcf, then open each .png and convert it to
+indexed mode, resave, and close it.  This ensures that each graphic's pallete
+can be as small as possible.
 
-===============================================================================
+Furthermore, when saving, use Save As so that you get the Save as PNG dialog
+which lets you choose the compression level and option.  Uncheck all options
+and select maximum compression before saving the .png.
+
+===============================================================================P
 POSSIBILITIES
 ===============================================================================
 
-The possibilities of modular overlays becomes more evident if one concsiders
+The possibilities of modular overlays becomes more evident if one considers
 things like the following.
 
   Use the same pour_spout.arc on any "tall" wall for a number of variations
   on the wall/spout theme.
 
-  Now, increase the variability by writing new replacement for pour_h2o.arc
+  Create a few more spout styles that eject fluid in the same place to add
+  even more variety.
+
+  Then, increase the variability by creating new replacements for the water
   along the lines of pour_blood.arc, pour_sewage.arc, pour_fire.arc, etc.
 
 ===============================================================================
-PROBLEMS
+MAP CONSIDERATIONS
 ===============================================================================
 
-Presently pour_spout.arc and/or pour_h2o.arc cause a wall piece placed below
-them to disappear.  Only the floor graphic is visible.  This is probably a
-map layer issue, so some experimentation will have to be done to figure out
-how to get the wall piece to stay visible below the spout and animated water.
+The pour_spout.arc and pour_h2o.arc are no_pick 1 and will be placed by default
+onn a no_pick layer.  For some reason this causes the a wall piece under the
+spout and pouring water to disappear, showing only the floor piece underneath.
+For the wall to not disappear, the spout and water need to be on the items
+layer.  This can be done in a map file with `map_layer item`, but has been set
+in the pour_spout.arc and pour_h20.arc files so mapmakers will not have to be
+aware of this.
 

dev/wip/spout/pour_h2o.arc

@@ -12,5 +12,6 @@ is_animated 1
 magicmap blue
 no_pick 1
 anim_speed 2
+map_layer item
 client_anim_random 1
 end

dev/wip/spout/pour_spout.arc

@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@ face pour_spout.111
 type 79
 magicmap blue
 no_pick 1
+map_layer items
 end