Yet another recoloring tutorial (graphics, beware)

[MH-Razen]

Dak
Hi, it's me, DaK. Here's another tutorial on recoloring, and some tips on how to get around the difficulties encountered while recoloring. I'm relatively new to photoshop so bear with me.

Materials-
-Photoshop (I'm not sure if versions below CS2 will work with this method)
-Mouse
-At least 20 minutes
-Some patience
-Keyboard (optional)

Note: You can save as .PSD or .PDD for all the files that you need to save as .bmp for backup. Also, always keep a copy of the sys folder for backup.

1.) First off, open the sprite you want to use. For this purpose, I chose Bat.



2.) To make your work easier, we're going to zoom in a bit.



3.) If there is any burning or frozen frames, scroll near them. You'll see why later.



4.) Go to Edit>Adjustments>Replace Color



5.) Now, pick the color you want to replace by clicking on it on the sprite sheet (not the little box). ONLY CLICK ON ONE FOR NOW.



6.) Play around with the settings on the bottom until you're satisfied with the color.



7.) If you want to add more color (to shaded spots/skin/hair/etc.) hold SHIFT and click on the basic colors you want shaded.

8.) There will be some pixels that stand out. Don't click on them, since the color in the bitmap is limited and you might modify other parts of the sprite sheet. Instead, increase the fuzziness for a wider spread, but don't increase it so far as to fill the entire image. If it spreads too far (onto hair, skin, clothes, etc. that you don't want colored) you reduce the fuzziness.

9.) Here's the important bit-SAVE. It saves you a lot of time and trouble without having to write down all the values again.



10.) Repeat steps 3~9 if you want to replace more colors.

11.) Go onto the other sprites you want to recolor and go to Edit>Adjustments>Replace Color and load the recoloring IN THE ORDER THAT YOU SAVED THEM. Make some adjustments if you must.


This is a general way of recoloring sprites. It automatically replaces all colors detected on the bitmap, and you don't need to go through the work of selecting each location that you want to recolor. RBG is good for basic colors, but sometimes this will affect other locations where you don't want the color to change. However, there are still problems that arise. (If you find any more than the ones listed, PM me or post the problem here)


1.) Glow
This is a bit annoying. When you see this-


It becomes-

Now, this is a major problem. It's acceptable, but the section of the hair that is glowing still looks brown. And when you try to change the color of the sword-

AAHH!! That's not what we want! The glow's color isn't identical to the light reflected in his hair, which is still red. What's more, we learned that his SKIN and MOUTH (O_o) is actually identical to the glow of the sword! (That will be covered in the next problem) In here, we're going to try to fix the coloring. This is the most time-consuming part of the recoloring, but with patience we get a more genuine glow. (Realize that I'm randomly picking the hue vaule, so it might not be the same as before.)

Before this, make sure all the clothes have already been replaced (like in the picture before the purple monster)

Steps 1~3 is a basic way of converting your file into 24/16-bit. You can use paint if you have to.
1.) Copy everything inside the bitmap you want to recolor.
2.) Go to File>New and press 'OK.' If the dimensions don't match the bitmap, adjust them.
3.) Paste the image into the new file, and save as a .bmp over the original file. Select 16bit, 24bit, or 32bit according to the version of your Lf2. Save.

Info: The reason we're doing this is because in 8-bit, the colors are extremely limited, and it does not allow you to recolor specific locations of the image. All identical colors in the image must be replaced in 8-bit.

4.) Zoom into a frame which contains the glow effect.

5.) Take out the lasso tool, and circle the locations that have the glow effect. You don't need to be too precise, because the animation in the game causes the eye to skip over some of the coloring errors. Keep in mind that the black background is unaffected by hue or saturation, but will be affected by lightness.





6.) Do this with all frames that contain the glow effect. Be sure to hold SHIFT so that everything is still selected with the lasso.
7.) Pull out the color replacement window, and replace the color.



: D You did it! (hopefully)
Of course, this is a bit tedious, but with some fast handwork, you can finish the 2~3 sprite sheets in a few minutes.

Onto our next problem, the one that resulted in the purpleness-
2.) Identical colors
This is very similar to the glow problem. More basic, and requires less time to fix. At this point, I would like to note how many times people open their mouths in Lf2 to scream something, or to show pain, or whatever. This gets many people upset when recoloring. Here's a classic example-



I think you know what's going to happen next.



OH NOZ RUN AWAY
Well, the solution to the problem is simple, but you don't need the lasso for this.
1.) Take out your Rectangular Marquee (above lasso) and select ALL the mouths in the bitmap.



2.) Right click and select 'Select Inverse.' Now, it looks like nothing happened, but what it actually did was select everything that WASN'T selected, therefore deselecting all the mouths.
3.) Now colorize, and voila. : D

One more thing, when I said this-
Quote
3.) If there is any burning or frozen frames, scroll near them. You'll see why later.

It's to make sure that when replacing colors, these don't get messed up. This happens a lot to Firen and Freeze for obvious reasons : P Be careful of any other problems in color that might arise.

Remember to have backups for all photoshopped images and Color Replacement settings!

[/the end]

Okay, so this is my first tutorial, I might add more to it later when more problems arise and more people have questions/suggestions.

^_^

-DaK.