ANNOUNCE: Face By Numbers Face Generator Update

[Cuss16]

i'll also volunteer myself to help, if you need any images.

[lefty_hurler]

Creating Facepacks for use with Face By Numbers does require some knowlege in graphics applications such as Adobe Photoshop or Paintshop Pro, but not tremendously so. If you know how to cut and paste, create and modify selections and have a little bit of drawing ability, you can easily create your own facepacks.

And think, even with just a limited set of only three each of eyes, noses and mouths per FacePack, you'll have a ton of combinations ensuring that no two faces look alike. And when you can generate your own skin tones, uniform and accessory colors...

Below are the six steps required to create a facepack:



STEP ONE: Create your initial, black-and-white line drawing.
In this case, I simply "borrowed" one from the clipart that ships with Microsoft Office I can't, for obvious reasons, distribute a facepack like this with the program but there's nothing stopping you from doing it!
Your drawing should be 90 pixels wide by 135 pixels high in order to work with OOTP but the program will be able to acommodate any size graphic.

Creating this graphic took me less than five minutes.

STEP TWO: Create transparent areas
You'll want to make the background transparent so you can insert your own background layer. To do this, fill the background with Fuschia (128,0,128). Any parts of any of the layers that include this color will be transparent.

This took me less than one minute.

STEP THREE: Figure out the "Color Zones"
The program allows for a limitless number of Color Zones that can be manipulated manually or automatically at any time. The program uses a floodfill approach, filling an area with the specified color until it reaches an unlike color. In the picture above, I cut a one-pixel-wide hole in between the neck and forearm so the floodfill would "drip" down into the forearm. I could have just as easily created a seperate Color Zone for the right forearm but chose not to do so for the sake of brevity. In this example, there are only 4 Color Zones. You note an X,Y coordinate of a white pixel within each Color Zone. Save this for later.

This took me about two minutes.

STEP FOUR: Coloration
Once each Color Zone is mapped out and saved to a special .INI file that will accompany the FacePack, the end-user can easily change the colors of each zone to anything of his/her choosing.

STEP FIVE: Accessories
I call all layers other than the base layer and background layer Accessories. This can include (but isn't limited to) different eyes, noses, mouths, mustaches, earrings, logos... The list goes on and on and the program can handle a limitless number of Accessory types.

This will take a variable amount of time, depending on the number of Accessories and their complexities.

STEP SIX: Backgrounds
This is pretty self explanatory. All backgrounds must have the same dimensions as the original artwork.

That's all there is to it! Feel free to ask me any questions.

[lefty_hurler]

Attached is a sample FacePack that will work the the upcoming version of the program. A Readme.txt is enclosed in the .zip

[lefty_hurler]

FBN title screen:



And the interface is in the middle of getting a facelift. I have a slew of other graphic niceties in mind for the program, including drop shadows, the ability to add text to photos, the ability to add a "baseball card" effect and the ability to add film grain to make it look like an aged, black and white photo. The present interface simply did not allow for making future additions.

[Ktulu]

Lookin good. Any idea when it will be ready to go?

[suurimonster]

Originally posted by lefty_hurler

However, you can (batch) generate x random players, pre-assign the colors and have only the facial attributes change. You could therefore create a team with all players having the same uniform colors but each having different facial features and skin tones.

[/B]

I'm totally sold .

[lefty_hurler]

Lookin good. Any idea when it will be ready to go?

If all goes according to plan, by the end of this month. I plan on starting the beginning stages of beta testing next week. The program is basically complete. Right now it's receiving some dressing-up and the addition of some nifty graphic tools.

[GForce22]

now this is outstanding. I really admire you graphic guys. My stuff is all math, formulas and research. Your stuff takes a lot more skill than the roster stuff does. Very impressive.

GH

[lefty_hurler]

now this is outstanding. I really admire you graphic guys. My stuff is all math, formulas and research. Your stuff takes a lot more skill than the roster stuff does.

Thanks, GeForce. But try telling me that when I'm going nuts trying to help my 9-year-old out with his math homework and I can't figure the dern thing out.

[Vida Blue]

Great work! Thanks.

[Henry]

lefty,

If you need another beta tester

Henry

[JWay]

I'd test also but i can't draw at all. But I can't wait to throw these things together. I'm very expierenced in Fireworks 4 So I shouldn't have problems there

J-Way

[lefty_hurler]

Henry, you're already on the list

JWay,

That's just the thing -- you don't need to draw, you could use others' FacePacks. Or you could add an accessory as simple as a goatee (see the sample FacePack above). I use Fireworks as well. I like it a lot more than PhotoShop. I think it's much more user-friendly.

[Cuss16]

there's beta testing!? hey no fair!
ps. i can draw.

[Shorty]

Just saw this - lefty, this is fantastic..

[Kurtis R.]

This will be great.. can't wait to try this out.

Kurtis

[albatross11]

Lefty...this is some great stuff. My hat is off to all the "graphic" people, also. OK, the "math" people too.

[JWay]

hey, if i dont have to draw faces, i'm game

[Killebrew]

Bump-a-roonie

Did I miss an update about this utility?

[Rockpile]

I've been waiting for this too!