Arms Race! [Quenched]

oaktown · Post by **oaktown** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:09 pm

nice animation... very War Games.

I invite you to post this in the General Discussion map thread... it could use a bump anyway.

http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32474

WidowMakers · Post by **WidowMakers** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:17 pm

pepperonibread wrote:
gimil wrote:Unfortunatly i dont like how the animation runs on my comp, its fairly annoying after a while. Also i dont like the way the GIF is making it grainy with hte lack of a decent color palette.

I would realy like to see the animation work on this map but to honest id rather it didnt happen looknig at the quality at the moment.
I agree, it gets annoying. Maybe you could make it not a loop, so it only goes around once. That way, it could sweep the board once after you make a move, and show your current position. Also, I don't mind the limited colors, it makes it look more radar-ish.

I like this idea. Once we all agree upon naming and territory location I will try make the animation smoother and file size smaller. Plus the single sweep idea is great. It gives the map the radar feel but does not become an eyesore.

WM

Herakilla · Post by **Herakilla** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:08 pm

make one of the american spies 007

Keredrex · Post by **Keredrex** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:36 pm

Herakilla wrote:make one of the american spies 007

007 is a BRITISH Spy

gimil · Post by **gimil** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:25 pm

Keredrex wrote:
Herakilla wrote:make one of the american spies 007
007 is a BRITISH Spy

lol, not everything great is american

Herakilla · Post by **Herakilla** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:04 pm

Keredrex wrote:
Herakilla wrote:make one of the american spies 007
007 is a BRITISH Spy

do you see britain on the map? i dont... and besides america made him famous! you just splitting hairs!

yeti_c · Post by **yeti_c** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:59 pm

Herakilla wrote:
Keredrex wrote:
Herakilla wrote:make one of the american spies 007
007 is a BRITISH Spy
do you see britain on the map? i dont... and besides america made him famous! you just splitting hairs!

WHAT?

C.

yeti_c · Post by **yeti_c** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:00 am

WidowMakers wrote:
pepperonibread wrote:
gimil wrote:Unfortunatly i dont like how the animation runs on my comp, its fairly annoying after a while. Also i dont like the way the GIF is making it grainy with hte lack of a decent color palette.

I would realy like to see the animation work on this map but to honest id rather it didnt happen looknig at the quality at the moment.
I agree, it gets annoying. Maybe you could make it not a loop, so it only goes around once. That way, it could sweep the board once after you make a move, and show your current position. Also, I don't mind the limited colors, it makes it look more radar-ish.
I like this idea. Once we all agree upon naming and territory location I will try make the animation smoother and file size smaller. Plus the single sweep idea is great. It gives the map the radar feel but does not become an eyesore.

WM

Yeah love the single sweep...

Gimil - the grainy look isn't due to the GIF - it's cos Wid made it grainy...

C.

Incandenza · Post by **Incandenza** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:20 am

yeti_c wrote:Gimil - the grainy look isn't due to the GIF - it's cos Wid made it grainy...

C.

But it's not just the screens that are grainy (which works). The control panel looks grainy as well, which doesn't quite work as well. And personally, if given a choice between an animated map and a crisp map, I'd always vote for the latter.

yeti_c · Post by **yeti_c** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 1:18 am

Incandenza wrote:And personally, if given a choice between an animated map and a crisp map, I'd always vote for the latter.

Concur.

C.

WidowMakers · Post by **WidowMakers** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:19 am

Herakilla wrote:
Keredrex wrote:
Herakilla wrote:make one of the american spies 007
007 is a BRITISH Spy
do you see britain on the map? i dont... and besides america made him famous! you just splitting hairs!

NO!!!!!!!!! 007, i.e. James Bond, i.e. a British secret service agent, i.e. NOT AN AMERICAN, will not be used as an American spy!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/007

wikipedia wrote: James Bond 007 is a fictional British agent........

Plus it would then require that an icon be assigned to the spies. There is not enough room to do that. I will be keeping the spies black circles and Spy 1 & 2 for reach country.

================================================

yeti_c wrote:Gimil - the grainy look isn't due to the GIF - it's cos Wid made it grainy...

C.

Actually it is a little of both. Mostly because of gif but also I played with the settings of the gif compression to get the best looking grain. But if it is animated, then it will be grainy. But we will come to that later.

Are there any other issues people have with territory layout/position/bonuses/etc?

Thanks
WM

yeti_c · Post by **yeti_c** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:28 am

WidowMakers wrote:
Herakilla wrote:
Keredrex wrote:
Herakilla wrote:make one of the american spies 007
007 is a BRITISH Spy
do you see britain on the map? i dont... and besides america made him famous! you just splitting hairs!
NO!!!!!!!!! 007, i.e. James Bond, i.e. a British secret service agent, i.e. NOT AN AMERICAN, will not be used as an American spy!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/007
wikipedia wrote: James Bond 007 is a fictional British agent........
Plus it would then require that an icon be assigned to the spies. There is not enough room to do that. I will be keeping the spies black circles and Spy 1 & 2 for reach country.

================================================
yeti_c wrote:Gimil - the grainy look isn't due to the GIF - it's cos Wid made it grainy...

C.
Actually it is a little of both. Mostly because of gif but also I played with the settings of the gif compression to get the best looking grain. But if it is animated, then it will be grainy. But we will come to that later.

Are there any other issues people have with territory layout/position/bonuses/etc?

Thanks
WM

Actually - if you're gonna name the spies... then you need to put the American Spies - in Russia and vice versa...

Or you can have 1 in each - and that could create a link?

C.

mibi · Post by **mibi** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:19 pm

Here is another animation... its 9 frames, with a 3 second delay on the first frame and 10ms on the other frames... the radar moves at 20 degree intervals

its only 359kb which means I can probably double the frame count and still keep it under WidowMakers version... muahaha!

full 250 colors with full dithering and no loss

Night Strike · Post by **Night Strike** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:21 pm

Now it doesn't seem like a real radar because of the large delay for the beam to come back off the other half circle.

mibi · Post by **mibi** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:32 pm

Night Strike wrote:Now it doesn't seem like a real radar because of the large delay for the beam to come back off the other half circle.

the particulars can be changed down the road...it was more of an excersize in file size

Keredrex · Post by **Keredrex** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 10:38 pm

looking good... I like the single sweep animation so far
one small suggestion .... above the Nukes you have a red starburst ...
I guess to represent an explosion...
why not make it look more like the mushroom shape blast of a nuke
You could make it to fit around those words above it .. just a thought

hulmey · Post by **hulmey** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:48 am

fanatastic map....

Well done!!

yeti_c · Post by **yeti_c** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:06 am

mibi wrote:Here is another animation... its 9 frames, with a 3 second delay on the first frame and 10ms on the other frames... the radar moves at 20 degree intervals

its only 359kb which means I can probably double the frame count and still keep it under WidowMakers version... muahaha!

full 250 colors with full dithering and no loss

Loving that Mibster...

That's exactly what I meant earlier in the thread... like you say - the sweep can be properly timed...

Remember though the sweep isn't actually half - the origin point is beyond the display...

C.

MrBenn · Post by **MrBenn** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:16 am

The 'USSR' title in the bottom screen should be made granular to a similar effect as 'USA' in the top one.

Have you considered adding a fade after the sweep? The green/orange lines could fade slightly, and then come back bright again after the sweep?
It will probably look rubbish, might might be worth a try!

mibi · Post by **mibi** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:44 am

yeti_c wrote:
mibi wrote:Here is another animation... its 9 frames, with a 3 second delay on the first frame and 10ms on the other frames... the radar moves at 20 degree intervals

its only 359kb which means I can probably double the frame count and still keep it under WidowMakers version... muahaha!

full 250 colors with full dithering and no loss

Loving that Mibster...

That's exactly what I meant earlier in the thread... like you say - the sweep can be properly timed...

Remember though the sweep isn't actually half - the origin point is beyond the display...

C.

your right, but my brain is working properly enough to figure out the exact timing. Maybe you can do better. Each frame is currently 10ms apart and 20 degrees different at angle. But the finished one will most likely me 10-15 degrees. So what is the proper delay before the sweep would 'come back on screen'?

MrBenn · Post by **MrBenn** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:33 am

Your sweep is a half circle (180 degrees)...

With delay, d and the angle a, the formaula for the final delay is: 180/a*d

delay= 10ms; angle = 20°
180/20*10=90ms

delay = 10ms; angle= 15°
180/15*10=120ms

delay = 10ms; angle=10°
180/10*10=180ms

Please feel free to correct my maths!

yeti_c · Post by **yeti_c** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:40 am

The problem is that the sweep isn't a half circle...

i.e. the sweep starts - - - - - - - ->

And the map border starts here ->

C.

mibi · Post by **mibi** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:21 am

yeti_c wrote:The problem is that the sweep isn't a half circle...

i.e. the sweep starts - - - - - - - ->

And the map border starts here ->

C.

I know... its about 160 degrees or so.

Coleman · Post by **Coleman** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:25 am

Change the particulars and I'm sold on the latest animation.

MrBenn · Post by **MrBenn** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:34 am

n = number of sweeps
a = angle
d = delay between sweeps

n = 8
a = 20
d = 10ms

angle traversed = n*a = 8*20 = 160
angle missing (m) = 360 - (n*a) = 200
missing sweeps = m/a = 200/20 = 10
additional time (t) = (m/a)*d = 10*10 = 100ms

Using my revised calculations, you need to change the initial delay from 3 secs to 100ms

Again, my maths is probably way out - please feel free to correct it!