The GC Modular Infantry System

[GaryChildress]

For anyone interested, I'm thinking of creating a series of stand alone renderings of various infantrymen in various poses using the 3D modeling program called Poser which I have. For those who have good photo editing programs you could use these single stand alone renderings to compose your own infantry teams for Panzer Corps. Below is a sample of what I'm talking about:

[GaryChildress]

And here is the final result after the images are all combined and shrunk to the appropriate size:

[GaryChildress]

And here's a quick pic of the unit in game. Obviously I need to work on darkening the color a bit for game purpose but what do others think of having the ability to make your own infantry units using templates I will provide?

[GaryChildress]

Here's a darkened version, basically all I did was photoshop the original images I made without using Poser again. All I did was darken them so they appear better in game. Basically anyone can do this with a half decent image editing program. No need to mess with 3D modeling programs, just a little touching up here and there.

[Mark50]

It would be excellent. One could make various styles of infantry units (various sizes, various number of troops in unit, different equipment composition etc.) as he needs to. It could fit well with most mods available. That said, are you willing to make graphics for other nations than the big 4 (Germany, UK, US and USSR)? I`m so tired of everyone termed "minor" on each side sporting the same equipment and looking identical. Your german infantry looks great btw.

[GaryChildress]

Hi Mark50,

I have quite a few props and weapons to use. Plus I have the capacity and knowhow to make some of my own. I can probably create infantry for most "Minor" countries as well as the major ones. That is certainly my intent. There may be a few limits, for example I don't really have much in the way of a "great coat" to model French Infantry. But I may be able to find one out there somewhere at a later date. Basically this will be a work in progress as I slowly accumulate renders for all the different uniforms, weapons and poses of all the major and minor combatants of WW2. I could post the renders as I create them and then others can compile them using photo editing software into whatever they want.

[Mark50]

Well, you might create the definitive infantry units thread, much like bebro has done for aircraft. I think it`s a great idea to offer the poses separately and allow people to make their own unit versions. Hopefully they`ll also post their results for those who might struggle with Gimp and PS. Again, the first images are very impressive so I`m looking forward to finally seeing some variation when it comes to the nations` uniforms and equipment. Kudos to you for starting this!

[GaryChildress]

The pleasure is all mine (as they say). I hope others will take the effort to use these. If anyone does create a unit based on these, please feel free to either post it in this thread or start your own, whichever is more convenient.

Here is my third offering for the Germans. A standing rifleman.

[GaryChildress]

This may be an odd start but I already had a Chinese Rifleman all set and ready to go from modding Civ III so here is my first complete set. Chinese infantry in Winter great ready to take on the Japanese in Bebro's Pacific mods.

[GaryChildress]

Second half of the set. My advice when creating units with these is to darken them a little so that they don't show up like ghosts on the terrain. However, I've supplied them "as is" for now. As they stand now they are scale size for the "Big unit" pics. So you can make a big unit pic with them first and then shrink them to fit for the standard pic.

[GaryChildress]

The Chinese rifleman lends itself very well to a Japanese Rifleman so here are some Japanese.

[GaryChildress]

Remainder of the set.

[GaryChildress]

If anyone needs them, these are some templates to use to align the infantry to. There are two templates in Paint shop pro image format for anyone who can use them with layers. There are also two templates in PNG format for anyone who can't use Paint Shop Pro format files.

Enjoy...

[GaryChildress]

So here is the result of combining three of the Chinese riflemen into a unit. All I used was Paint Shop Pro.

The steps were as follows:

1. I selected three of the Chinese riflemen (facing right) from above and darkened each pic a little using the "Brightness and Contrast" setting in PSP.

2. Nest I used the file BIG TEMPLATE.pspimage and created two more layers on it.

3. On the first layer I created I put the rear most rifleman in the middle. Since he is in the back I want the other two riflemen to be in front overlapping his image a bit.

4. Next I placed the other two riflemen on the second layer which is actually in front of the rear rifleman's layer.

5. Finally I merged all the layers and deleted the template layers which had the guidelines on it. This left only the pics of the riflemen which I then saved as a PNG file. This now serves as the BIG IMAGE for the unit purchase screen.

6. Next I repeated all the same steps above to create a big image of the Chinese riflemen facing left.

7. I shrank each of the two riflemen teams (the one facing left and the one facing right) down by 50% and pasted them onto the file labeled TEMPLATE.pspimage to create the GAME FILE.

8. Again I deleted all the unnecessary layers in the TEMPLATE.pspimage file in order to save it as a single layer PNG file to use in the game.

9. I followed all the standard steps to incorporate the image into the game and VOILA!! The bottom image shows the unit in game.

EASY SQUEEZY!!

[asuser]

Hi Gary,

Great idea, your infantry troops looks very smooth!

Nearly the same technique i use for my Italian paratroopers: Take the big UI Picture and cut/set on different parts. Coloring and shrinking...


With your program is it possible, to make different poses like throwing a grenade, running and laying? The final big pictures I would coloring with the great DCS program and shrinking after, with that you can better control the camo uniforms before the shrinking process.

I would test some uniform styles with DCS...

[GaryChildress]

Thanks asuser! I can do pretty much any pose. Right now I'm just doing a few repeats with a pose I already conveniently have with an Arisaka rifle. I'll try to do some grenade throwing and laying poses as well in the future. For the laying pose I will probably reserve for light machine gunners.

Here is a new set of Japanese based on the same poses above.

[GaryChildress]

Second half of the set...

[T2_2112]

Please continue this one

[GaryChildress]

Hi T2_2112, I'd love to but I've sort of lost the will to (for now). I hope to pick it back up at a later point but we'll see. I sort of have other things on my mind right now that are taking up all my energy. But thank you for the vote!

[Mark50]

For what it`s worth I would have liked to see more of this too. Preferably the rarest units like Slovakian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Italian etc. which are so overlooked apart from some small adjustments of vanilla graphics (which in turn are identical for all non-german axis units). Maybe you`ll pick it up again at some point.