PREPPING AN IMAGE FOR RPG MAKER 2000/2003

A tutorial on how to create a true to color/true to resolution image for RPG Maker 2000/2003

PREPPING AN IMAGE FOR RPG MAKER 2000/2003


INTRODUCTION
Wow! Two articles in one day! I must be on a roll. Actually for this tutorial I have to give a lot of thanks to kentona but I thought I'd share some of his knowledge with everyone else too!


TUTORIAL
Ever create a high resolution image for RPG Maker and then lose color depth/resolution when importing it? I had been using MS Paint to convert my files for a while and they LOOKED LIKE CRAP. Fortunately I had a great idea to ask someone whose images always look great: kentona.

The main reason for this is that RPG Maker 2000/2003 doesn't handle 24-bit true color depth so you must whittle down the color profile to an 8-bit 256-color bitmap. RPG Maker only reads BMP and PNG files at RGB/8-bit. It will also read an XYZ format but I've never worked with one before.

If you use MS Paint and notice the crappiness in quality afterward, that's because when you save it as a 256-color bitmap file in MS Paint, it will discard the color information you already have and then fill it with the nearest color in its defaulted 36 color palette. We don't want this. SO LET'S BEGIN!


WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO KNOW
-Adobe Photoshop (almost any version)
-Adobe Illustrator (not required, but it's nice to maintain high resolution)


SET UP
Alright first you will want to create your image. For anyone who doesn't know, all photo rendering programs like Photoshop or Corel Painter use what's called bitmapping to create their images, meaning that all images created in Photoshop or Corel and other programs use little bits or pixels in a quasi-pointallism manner to create a picture by blending dots. This also means that if you zoom up too close to the image, it will lose resolution and you will begin to see all the little pixels that compose the image. This is unclean and undesired (unless it's the look you're going for).

Adobe Illustrator is unique in that it uses a vector program. It uses a mathematical formula to create lines that conform to a mathematical curve. This basically means that in Illustrator, you can zoom as close as you want and not see dots making up the picture (BECAUSE THERE ARE NO PIXELS!) This is useful for creating images that are high resolution.

If you don't have Illustrator or if you already have a relatively high res image, you can skip this step. In illlustrator take your .jpeg image or whatever and live trace it to the Color 16 preset. This will 'vectorize' your image and create curves with local color fills. Add the text that you want and then djust it as needed. Now scale it down to a smaller format that will transfer more easily into Photoshop. Save this file as a PDF, it doesn't matter what version you use since it's not going live.

Now import your image into Photoshop. Open the PDF with Photoshop or copy your high res image into a new file. With your image in Photoshop, go to Layer and flatten the image. Then save this as a Bitmap 24 file with 24-bit color depth. This will narrow the color profile and make it easier for you to convert into a 256-color.

Reopen your Bitmap 24 file in Photoshop and go over to the Image drop box and choose the first option, Mode. In Mode you will find all the different color profiles. Choose Indexed color. Leave the first option on Exact and then make sure your colors are defaulted to 256. Play around with the dithering if you wish (I only recommend doing this for images that fill the entire screen like titles or panoramas) as it can cause unnecessary pixels to pop up in say a sprite sheet.

Now save your file as a PNG and import it to Photoshop.


SIMPLE TERMS
Create your image; bring it to Photoshop; save it as a Bitmap 24; open your Bitmap 24 image in Photoshop; Image>Mode>Indexed Color; save.


FOOTNOTE
If you're using RPG Maker XP or VX you don't have this problem since the programs use higher quality images than RPG Maker 2000/2003.


I hope this helps someone!

Posts

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All my artwork is done in MS Paint and I've had the same problem before downgrading it to 256 colours, is it possible to draw on paint then export to photoshop the edit it then?
To Phex:

I think what you're experiencing is information loss. When images are saved as files like bmp or jpeg, the computer compresses it to a useable size. This means that every time you save--no matter what you do, your image will lose resolution and information. MS Paint is a notoriously bad program in that it loses a ton of info. What you want is the most crisp image as possible before you convert the color-palate to 256 colors so try to make it a habit of working in Photoshop or Painter strictly.

But to answer your question more directly, yes, it is possible to create an image in paint and move it to Photoshop. Just save it as a file that Photoshop will recognize before you go through all the steps in the article.
Oh and a step I skipped out on explaining. If you're using photoshop to create a 'Picture' file for RPG Maker, then you have to set the transparent background color. To do this, you have to go to the Image dropbox once more, go to 'Mode' and drop down to the 'Color Table' option. Then use the eye dropper tool in the dialogue box and select the color to be transparent. Then when you import this into RPG Maker, you must make sure to double click on the color in the preview box to set the transparent color again. You know this has worked when the color begins to blink.
Not sure if anyone's still paying attention to this essay, but... Any way to do this in Paint Shop Pro 10? I don't use Photoshop.
comment=39028
Not sure if anyone's still paying attention to this essay, but... Any way to do this in Paint Shop Pro 10? I don't use Photoshop.


Hey Zytharros, sorry for the late reply. I'll get back to you on that as soon as I take a look at Paint Shop.
comment=41958
Hey Zytharros, sorry for the late reply. I'll get back to you on that as soon as I take a look at Paint Shop.

Thanks. I'd like to know so I can overcome the obvious graphical limitations of my engine of choice (RPGM2k3).

EDIT: I didn't realize you could double-click to set the transparent colour! Makes part of the problem a ton easier.
Is there some kind of like program where it'll take your resources and edit them so that there perfect for RM2K(3)? Cause this method is really tedious.
author=thepurplearchmage
Is there some kind of like program where it'll take your resources and edit them so that there perfect for RM2K(3)? Cause this method is really tedious.


For awhile now, I have been using Paint.net Download Here and opening MS Paint pictures and saving them in Paint.net as a Bit Depth of 8 which keeps the colours from you MS Paint file and allows you to upload to RM2K(3)
author=Phex
author=thepurplearchmage
Is there some kind of like program where it'll take your resources and edit them so that there perfect for RM2K(3)? Cause this method is really tedious.
For awhile now, I have been using Paint.net Download Here and opening MS Paint pictures and saving them in Paint.net as a Bit Depth of 8 which keeps the colours from you MS Paint file and allows you to upload to RM2K(3)


I know that, but I think there should some kind of thing where if you import your materials into the game then the engine should resize, format, change the color bit, change the audio type, and things along those lines so people don't need to resize, format, change the color bit, and change the audio type just to make it usable for RM2K(3). But that's just my opinion.
If it were that easy, this forum would explode or cease to exist!
author=Phex
If it were that easy, this forum would explode or cease to exist!


True dat. But at least in RM2K3 if you import an RM2K background or something that's the size of it then it'll add a black part below it so you know how big it has to be resized.
im useing fire alpaca. any help with that?
oh great i just realized how old this is. great!
That is an easy way to create a true resolution image. I always different photo editing techniques to edit photos perfectly.
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