Changes

Getting Down To The Basics... Learning .tga

==Getting Down To The Basics... Learning .tga==

Editing image files...

==Editing image files...==

Now is the time to make an Arena skin! For now, we will start with something simple. Let’s say that you don’t want any color in your arena. Kind of like an old 30’s look.

Now is the time to make an Arena skin! For now, we will start with something simple. Let’s say that you don’t want any color in your arena. Kind of like an old 30’s look.

At this stage, you can pretty much draw, edit, and do whatever you want to these files. But for now, we are simply going to gray scale everything; tga files, pngs, bmps, everything. Go ahead and press Ctrl+Shift+G or go to “Adjustments” and select “Black and White.” Just like it says, the currently viewed image should now be in black and white. Simply switch between images by selecting them above, and repeat the same process until you are finished with each of them.

At this stage, you can pretty much draw, edit, and do whatever you want to these files. But for now, we are simply going to gray scale everything; tga files, pngs, bmps, everything. Go ahead and press Ctrl+Shift+G or go to “Adjustments” and select “Black and White.” Just like it says, the currently viewed image should now be in black and white. Simply switch between images by selecting them above, and repeat the same process until you are finished with each of them.

Saving Correctly...

==Saving Correctly...==

Easy isn’t it? Now comes the fun part. You COULD save each image independently, but this way is ten times as fast. Close Paint.Net. That’s right, X out of the program. But don’t worry, a save box should suddenly popup asking if you would want to save all of your files in the list. Click “Save.”

Easy isn’t it? Now comes the fun part. You COULD save each image independently, but this way is ten times as fast. Close Paint.Net. That’s right, X out of the program. But don’t worry, a save box should suddenly popup asking if you would want to save all of your files in the list. Click “Save.”

After that a Save Configuration screen will popup, asking you on what type of bits you should save your image. Robot Arena 2 mostly uses either 24 or 32 bit images for their maps, and it is the only settings that will work properly in-game, so select 24 bit and 32 bit, or basically, anything underneath the Auto Detect option. DO NOT SELECT AUTO DETECT!

After that a Save Configuration screen will popup, asking you on what type of bits you should save your image. Robot Arena 2 mostly uses either 24 or 32 bit images for their maps, and it is the only settings that will work properly in-game, so select 24 bit and 32 bit, or basically, anything underneath the Auto Detect option. DO NOT SELECT AUTO DETECT!

Finishing Touches...

==Finishing Touches...==

Ok, your arena is just about finished! But you just have one more thing to do, load up RA2 and select your new arena in exhibition mode. This is now a good time to make some screen shots! After you saved your images, open up Paint.Net one last time and select that _preview.bmp file within the arena folder. Then click Open again and select that image you took in the "Screenshots" folder. Simply select, Open, Copy, and Paste in on the preview image and save. If it asks you if you want to resize the image (if it’s too big) just keep the canvas size. Your will be able to resize it anyway if need be. Another way to make the new _preview.bmp image is to use the Print Screen button and paste it over the image.

Ok, your arena is just about finished! But you just have one more thing to do, load up RA2 and select your new arena in exhibition mode. This is now a good time to make some screen shots! After you saved your images, open up Paint.Net one last time and select that _preview.bmp file within the arena folder. Then click Open again and select that image you took in the "Screenshots" folder. Simply select, Open, Copy, and Paste in on the preview image and save. If it asks you if you want to resize the image (if it’s too big) just keep the canvas size. Your will be able to resize it anyway if need be. Another way to make the new _preview.bmp image is to use the Print Screen button and paste it over the image.

And that’s it! You should now have a newly skinned arena complete with a new preview selection in exhibition mode. Enjoy!

And that’s it! You should now have a newly skinned arena complete with a new preview selection in exhibition mode. Enjoy!