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ff3:ff3us:tutorial:sprites [2017/08/12 16:19] madsiur [9. Conclusion] |
ff3:ff3us:tutorial:sprites [2019/02/12 11:12] |
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- | ===== Character Sprites and Portraits Editing ===== | ||
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- | **Author:** madsiur\\ | ||
- | **Last modified:** 08/ | ||
- | **Credits: | ||
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- | ==== 1. Introduction ==== | ||
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- | The character sprites in FF6 can be modified in various ways based on exactly what you want to do. Edits like "//I want to change Terra' | ||
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- | Spriting with FF6 limitations is harder than simply editing a sprite image but not so far from it when you know and get used to the limitations and specifications. There are three utilities that are made for FF6 sprite work and at least one general GFX utility that can be used to edit sprites and portraits. They will not be covered in-depth here as they are relatively straightforward when you know the basics to the exception maybe of YY-CHR that will be covered in depth in a future tutorial. | ||
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- | You'll notice I mainly refer to the generic //FF6// name. //FF6// shall be understand as SNES FF3us 1.0 or 1.1 but a lot of element discussed here can be applied to the GBA versions. However not all differences will be covered or even mentioned. Utilities discussed apply only to FF3us unless mentioned otherwise. Offsets given all all Hi-ROM offsets. | ||
- | ==== 2. Understanding Sprites ==== | ||
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- | **Skip this section if you don't want to read about the technical side of sprites. However references to these explanation in simpler ways will be made in the tutorial.** | ||
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- | SNES sprites are the combination of two elements: graphic data (GFX) and a palette. First the GFX can have a different maximum number of colors, which is called the graphic format. Most SNES graphics are 4bpp (4 bits per pixel), meaning they can have a maximum of 16 colors (transparency color + 15 colors). There is only 16 number possibilities with 4 bits (0 to 15) and they are in binary 0000, 0001, 0010, 0011, 0100, 0101, 0110, 0111, 1000, 1001, 1010, 1011, 1100, 1101, 1110 and 1111. However there are game GFX that can be 3bpp (8 colors maximum) like some monsters or 2bpp (4 colors maximum) like the fonts. | ||
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- | {{ ff3: | ||
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- | To easily picture a GFX, imagine in the case of a 8x8 4bpp graphic a 8x8 array or table where each pixel is represented by a number from 0 to 15. Since we are in 4bpp, one byte (8 bits) can hold 2 x 4 bits, so 2 pixels per byte. Instead on an array of 64 bytes (where GFX format would be one color per byte), you GFX is 32 bytes since 2 pixels fits on one bytes. As an example a byte such as 00000010 is the combination of 0000 (0) and 0010 (2). This byte contains therefore a pixel of color 0 and a pixel of color 2. Don't worry if you struggle with this, this is the detailed technical side and mastering it is not required at all to sprite. Same goes for the coming palette description. | ||
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- | Palettes are a sequence of color data that is " | ||
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- | A SNES Color is in 15 bits RGB format. In short, this mean each color can stand on 2 bytes (16 bits). Each channel value (R, G or B) is 5 bits and the first bit is always 0. The specific format on 2 bytes is **0BBBBBGG GGGRRRRR**. A 5 bits number can be between 0 and 31 meaning there are 32 767 possible colors on SNES (32 x 32 x 32). More modern color formats like 24 bits RGB and above (1 byte per channel) have a 0-255 range for each color channel. Translated in 24 bits RGB, a SNES color will always end by 0 or 8 and 1 on a 1-31 scale is 8 on a 0-255 scale. If we take the hex color notation, a valid SNES color could be 18,20,18 (sort of black) but the 24 bits RGB hex color 18,19,18 has no SNES equivalent (0x19 cannot be set on a 0-31 scale because 0x19 divided by 8 equals either 0x18 + 0x01 or 0x20 - 0x07). To be the closest possible, this color should be set as 18,18,18 so in other word 3,3,3 in SNES palette editing programs. Most if not all spriting utilities does the color // | ||
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- | {{ ff3: | ||
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- | So we know a SNES color fit on 2 bytes, therefore a 16 colors palette is 32 bytes in the ROM. This is valid for all SNES games. As quickly mentioned previously, transparency is a color, there is no alpha channel in the 15 bits RGB format. The game determine which color is transparency. In the case of FF6, it is often color 0. So this color on the palette will have a RGB value but it will be //masked// by the game to show transparency instead. | ||
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- | This cover basically the technical side of colors, palettes and GFX. Little of what explained is mandatory as an example for editing a sprite in FF3usME but I think it is good to understand the byte level working of these elements. If you are using an utility that let you import images (.png, .bmp, .gif, .jpg, etc.) you should work in your image editor such as Gimp in format indexed 16 for 4bpp graphic. //Indexed// mean the image data is an array of color ID like SNES GFX and //16// is maximum number of colors. Depending of what you use, the all purpose image editor maybe have //Indexed// format only and you set the maximum number of colors yourself. This is always a safer approach than editing an image in 32bpp ARGB format and adding too much colors or even transparency. | ||
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- | ==== 3. Editing Tiles (YY-CHR) ==== | ||
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- | If you wish to do simple tile edits, YY-CHR can be a solution. There is a {{ff3: | ||
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- | Character sprite are located at $D50000 ($D50200 with header). You can either {{ff3: | ||
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- | If you want the right colors, //i.e. the right palette//, you can import the {{ff3: | ||
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- | There different tile arrangements available. Since we are dealing with 16x24 sprites poses for characters, a more convenient way to view the tiles would be {{ff3: | ||
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- | {{ ff3: | ||
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- | To summarize this section, YY-CHR can do some basic job but for complex sprite editing, FF3usME, FF3SpriteEd or FF3SE are a lot more convivial and allow a faster working pace. | ||
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- | ==== 4. Editing Sprites ==== | ||
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- | This section will cover the FF6 spriting utilities features and way to edit sprites using FF3usME, FF3SpriteEd or FF3SE. | ||
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- | === A. FF3SE (no longer developed) === | ||
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- | First {{ff3: | ||
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- | {{ ff3: | ||
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- | === B. FF3SpriteEd (merged with FF3usME) === | ||
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- | Second come {{ff3: | ||
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- | {{ ff3: | ||
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- | === C. FF3usME (still being developed) === | ||
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- | Finally there is [[ff3: | ||
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- | {{ ff3: | ||
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- | To conclude this section, I'll talk about the spritesheet formats. FF3SE export the sprite sheet in the //old// format, meaning they have no riding and dead pose included. It is also the only format it can import. FF3usME use a close but newer format that include the dead and riding poses. Lord J's editor can import / export in the //old// or //new// format making FF3usME more versatile than FF3SE or FF3SpriteEd that only has binary import / export. | ||
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- | {{ff3: | ||
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- | ==== 5. Sprite Animations and Poses ==== | ||
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- | Each character sprite in [[ff3: | ||
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- | {{ff3: | ||
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- | [[ff3: | ||
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- | [[ff3: | ||
- | [[ff3: | ||
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- | For a short description of each pose ID, refer to the [[ff3: | ||
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- | The possible animations and pose patterns are used mainly in the event code (as well as battle module and world map module). For events, you can call a pose in an action queue of a character or NPC (event commands $00-$35). Walking combinations have their own [[ff3: | ||
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- | There is an " | ||
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- | If we come back to spriting, is it important to make sure all the edited poses work correctly with the sprites animations shown in FF3usME. Editing a tile can sometime have an effect on a pose we did not suspected at first glance. Get used to the tile sharing of the sprite poses, that is the same if we look at all sprite sheets of the same size. | ||
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- | ==== 6. Editing Palettes ==== | ||
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- | One of the biggest puzzle for those who have sprite with different palette is making sure everything fit together. Why? Because sprite share palettes! As an example, if you change Celes hair color to blue, Sabin, Edgar and Leo's hair will be blue. | ||
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- | {{ ff3: | ||
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- | Also there are two 16 colors palettes assigned for each character, one palette for battle and one for maps and overworld. Most of the time they match but they are exceptions. There are 8 battle palettes (located at $ED6300) and 32 overworld palettes (located at $E68000). Here are the first 7 of each type: | ||
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- | {{ff3: | ||
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- | They are both assigned in a different way. The battle palette | ||
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- | This {{ff3: | ||
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- | While there are many overworld palettes all regular characters and //character NPCs// use a palette ID between 0 and 5, with exception of Esper Terra that use overworld palette 8 and battle palette 6. The reason for you being unable to use 6 and 7 is due to those palettes not being able compatible with save/ | ||
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- | **Overworld palette** | ||
- | | Palette ID |Sprites using the palette| | ||
- | | 00 |Edgar, Sabin, Celes, Imp, Leo, Ghost, generic elder, generic man, Maria, Rachel| | ||
- | | 01 |Locke, Imperial, Merchant, Scholar, Returner, Clyde, generic woman, generic boy, generic girl, Narshe guard, sailor| | ||
- | | 02 |Terra, waitress, Figaro Sergent, Figaro Guard, Katarin, Darryl| | ||
- | | 03 |Strago, Relm, Gau, Gogo, Banon, Kefka, Gestahl, Gau (suit), Cid, generic thief| | ||
- | | 04 |Cyan, Shadow, Setzer, Interceptor, | ||
- | | 05 |Mog, Umaro, Ultros, Chupon| | ||
- | | 08 |Esper Terra| | ||
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- | **Battle Palette** | ||
- | | Palette ID |Sprites using the palette| | ||
- | | 00 |Edgar, Sabin, Celes, Imp, Leo, Ghost, generic elder, generic man, Interceptor| | ||
- | | 01 |Locke, Imperial, Merchant| | ||
- | | 02 |Terra| | ||
- | | 03 |Strago, Relm, Gau, Gogo, Banon, Kefka, Gestahl| | ||
- | | 04 |Cyan, Shadow, Setzer| | ||
- | | 05 |Mog, Umaro| | ||
- | | 06 |Esper Terra| | ||
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- | Finally when you edit your sprite and colors, there is an order to respect. One of the reason is explained in next section and also why you can only use the first 12 colors for a battle sprite: | ||
- | | Color ID |Description | ||
- | | 00 |transparent | ||
- | | 01 |outline (black) | ||
- | | 02 |eyes | | ||
- | | 03 |pupils | ||
- | | 04 |hair (lighter shade) | ||
- | | 05 |hair (darker shade) | ||
- | | 06 |skin (lighter tone) | | ||
- | | 07 |skin (darker tone) | | ||
- | | 08 |outfit 1 (lighter shade) | ||
- | | 09 |outfit 1 (darker shade) | ||
- | | 10 |outfit 2 (lighter shade) | ||
- | | 11 |outfit 2 (darker shade) | ||
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- | ==== 7. Other Specifications ==== | ||
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- | === A) You can set different sprite for battle and overworld === | ||
- | While the vanilla game has same sprite for battle and NPC or overworld PC, you could set a different sprite for battle. The game get a sprite GFX index for each battle sprite in a pointer table at $C2CE43. Each entry is 3 bytes and there are 24 entries. As for NPCs, this is also in the NPC data which can be edited with FF6LE. Finally playable characters get their GFX set with an event command in the same way the palette is assigned, except it is with event command $37. | ||
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- | === B) Color changes in battle === | ||
- | One thing you must keep in mind and be made aware of is battle sprites have color changes during battle. To be more specific, the outer line of characters glows from effects such as Haste, Protect, etc, and their skin tone changes due to Poison, Zombie, etc. These change the colors of the specified number on the palette: | ||
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- | {{ff3: | ||
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- | #1 is what's used for the outline of magical effects around the character, and #2 and #3 are what's used for skin color changes like Poison, Zombie, etc. Please note if you use the skin color for clothing or draw black outlines around your eyes, this will make them change color with the above. Personally, I don't think it's super noticeable, so please don't worry too much. | ||
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- | === C) Color changes in battle === | ||
- | The total number of colors usable for battle sprites isn't 16 actually, but 12. Out of the 16 colors, 4 are masked via the system colors used (finger cursor, damage font color, etc). Since they do not appear in battle, those last 4 colors can be used for NPCs without worring. There is however a [[https:// | ||
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- | However using this hack will make characters on palette 4 and 5 display the last 4 colors save/ | ||
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- | ==== 8. Portraits ==== | ||
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- | Portraits are 40x40 with a palette of 16 colors. Each portrait has its own palette. The easiest way to edit portraits and import custom ones is with FF3SE. Note that the {{ff3: | ||
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- | {{ff3: | ||
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- | If you ever edit directly in the ROM with as an example YY-CHR, the tile order is as follow: | ||
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- | {{ff3: | ||
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- | ==== 9. Conclusion ==== | ||
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- | Becoming a good FF6 spriter require to take a lot in consideration. However many started from nothing and became good with time. It's more a matter of practice and knowing the basics, specifications and exceptions before starting for real. This is what I tried to do with this tutorial. I might revise it a bit but I covered most of the content I wanted to cover. | ||
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- | If you want to read more on the artistic part of Pixel Art, there is a bunch of external tutorial links available on this {{ff3: | ||
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- | === Tools used === | ||
- | {{ff3: | ||
- | {{ff3: | ||
- | {{ff3: | ||
- | {{ff3: | ||
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