Sprite editting and auras?

[~Genetic~]

I'm working on a sig for a friend that wants a 99 aura on one of the characters. Taking a screen and trying to edit one out looks REALLY bad even after touching it up. I remember seeing some sigs a LOOOOOONG time ago that had the aura on a character, but can't remember much about them. Anyone have any ideas about how to go about it?

[Silbear]

<_< im not one for making effects/sprites myself since im really nub at it, but i remember [trying... really hard] to make an aura for a sig i made for blueneess a long time ago i think

i tried making it by hand with a buncha different colors of blue and then using the smudge tool to spread it out to make it look like an aura, and put one behind the char and one a little transparentish in front of the char [layer-wise i mean]

might as well try it until someone who knows what theyre doing posts here!

[Xellie]

I drew my auras by hand too, they're really annoying. x_X I never was able to figure out a way to get them I also used the smudge tool. I did it by um, haiving a blue filled circle under the char, then on a later behind the sprite, drew the aura and smudge it, then repeated on a layer infront of the character. made it about 30% opaque.

I'll see if I can find the picture if it helps.

[~Genetic~]

Found this in the grf:
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/1651/lightbangaoy3.png

And came up with this:
http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/690/togcopygm1.gif
If anyone can come up with a better way....

[Silbear]

... again until someone more knowledgeable responds to your current question!

i suggest you stretch it out <--thisaways--> since it looks kinda small, and then split that aura into 2 pieces. one piece cut a circle/oval shape from the bottom of the aura up to the feet, but below the shins or something, and bring that part to the front, and put the rest of the aura behind the char.

i dunno if that made any sense at all, but basically you want part of the aura behind the char and part in front, since the person is standing in the middle of the aura, not behind it

edit: also you can smudge that one a little bit to make the aura look more airy than jagged, instead of leaving it just... magic wanded or whatever that tool is called

[Bluedreams]

Just for sil, since I still have it after all this time!

[Tigre]

(These instructions work with Photoshop, not sure about the other programs, but if they have a "multiply/screen/etc." dropdown, it should be the same)

If you put the aura on the black background on a layer with the "multiply" option selected, I believe the black should blend back into whatever background you have without leaving a jaggedy border around it. :D

[Ahina Reyoh]

"Multiply" looks like it does the opposite, and makes the brighter parts transparent. <_< I did some fiddling though and it looks like... "Lighten", "Screen", "Color Dodge", and "Linear Dodge" work on making the black turn transparent. "Screen" and "Linear Dodge" work better then the others too. (These should be under a dropdown menu in the layers window, at least in the version I have. Should be set to "Normal" by default.)

I tried using the 3D transform to make two curved versions of the aura thing, but that turned out pretty badly. :P Isn't there another file for the aura though, for the bottom part?

[Mistukian]

I've tried to do it, the best I do is using 4 layers. Back layer is the background color you want the sprite in front of, second layer and third layer are this MS draw-over of the aura affect, and the top layer is the character sprite. All layers are transparent where the sprites aren't.

On the second layer from the back, I use (In PSP not Photoshop, so not sure if the specifics are gonna help) the smudge tool, size 12 hardness 50 and density 59, and sort of expand the general shape of the MS cutout (Which sits in front on layer 3 and adds some definition to the aura).

MS Paint cut-out thing: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/Mistukian/RO%20edits/Aura.png

What it looks like: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/Mistukian/RO%20edits/AuraExple.png

[~Genetic~]

I think this is the bottom layer of the aura: http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4922/pikapika2dp7.png

I'll try the Screen and Linear Dodge ones sometime over the weekend and see how that works.

[Xxelos]

I think this is the bottom layer of the aura: http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4922/pikapika2dp7.png


I think that is First Aid. :dum:

[Ahina Reyoh]

It looks pretty similar though. I wouldn't be surprised if Gravity recycled the First Aid effect for the 99 Aura, but dunno.

[Nuhasna]

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4922/pikapika2dp7.png

This is definitely the bottom of the aura, cept theres 2 of them. Which are placed to cover the gaps between the star points. And then they pulse in an alternating fashion.

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/1651/lightbangaoy3.png

Then this one is the part of the aura that circles around. Again I believe theres 2 of these, both circling at different rates.

The problem though is.. to edit these into a signature? would be damn hard cause the game manipulates them to certain angles and such ~.~

[~Genetic~]

Well I tried the Screen & Linear Dodge option and it came out a LOT better, I haven't messed around with the bottom section of the aura yet but this is how is came out:

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/497/togcopyij1.gif
Compared to the other picture:
http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/690/togcopygm1.gif

Side Note: Screen works fine on dark backgrounds, but Linear Dodge makes the effect stand out more on both dark and light backgrounds. LoV effect tests below.

Screen:
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/5452/screencf8.gif

Linear Dodge:
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4139/lineardodgegt4.gif