Warrior Mini mask update

I had planned to start drawing items for the Warrior Mini first thing this morning, but I got caught up in building the "masking" part of the applet.

And I'm glad I did, because it rocks.

Here's a screen grab of a very simple masking effect. I added two lightning bolt insignias, colored the same and rotated to face each other at an angle. I masked one with the Body to get a Lightning Lad effect. I had to duplicate the Body to serve as a mask for the second lightning bolt insignia, but it came out really neat:

masking-sample.png

This feature is a little bit complicated, but I think it's going to be totally awesome. You can make all new uniform effects by, for example, choosing an insignia shape like a chevron or circle or square, and masking it with the body shape. That gives you a form-fitting uniform element like (for instance) a big half-circle colored shape on the top half of the figure.

Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have enough items, and the code in good enough shape, for you all to play with. I am very excited by the way this is turning out! This is another one of the key HM3 features that I've been sweating, and now that I know how to do it, it should be (relatively speaking) a piece of cake to implement for that version.

14 Responses to Warrior Mini mask update

  1. Dude says:

    That’s awesome. Keep up the good work

  2. Kingr4jjr says:

    Jeff, will you be able to flip the insignia mirror image? That way for example, the lightning bolts above would both be the proper orientation. Just curious.

  3. Jeff Hebert says:

    King, that’s the plan. Still on the “to do” list are Enhanced Layering (change the layer in relation to all the other items in Body, then if it’s at either the top or bottom, change the layer order of the entire Body clip); Flipping and Mirroring; and patterns.

  4. Rick says:

    Thanks, Jeff. Kingr4jjr is me. I just signed up for the forums with that name.

  5. Frankie says:

    Looking cool.

  6. Danny Beaty says:

    Jeff, this is looking awesome! I want to be you when I grow up.

  7. The Imp says:

    That is damn cool.
    Man, I can’t wait for this to be done. But more than that, I can’t wait for HM3 to come out. Do you have a tentative release date for it yet, Jeff, or is it still too soon?

  8. Jeff Hebert says:

    Well, realistically speaking, if this mini is due out in early December, meaning I should have my part of it done in just a couple of weeks, then I should be able to start on HM3 in the next 3-4 weeks. Most of the really big scary lifting on the programming is done — I just have to figure out how to load in sets of items on demand when the user wants it. So I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that we could have it out maybe in January or February, at least a working beta of some sort.

    Don’t write that in stone, that’s just off the top of my head, looking at the schedule. It’s always possible another mini might come up in the mean time and throw everything off.

  9. TheNate says:

    If you want help beta-testing HM3, I’m sure most of us will be willing to help.

    ‘Till then, I’ll look forward to anything that allows for more customization, like the new feature you just talked about.

  10. DJ says:

    If he beta test I say all those who have one twice on caption should get to be the testers. šŸ™‚

  11. DJ says:

    If he beta tests it I saw all those who have won* twice on the caption contest should get to be the beta testers.

    I fail at double checking what I type.

  12. Yusuf Mumtaz says:

    I would like to be a beta tester. How do I join up?

  13. Whit says:

    I like how that shows what kind of effect you can get when you can colour the outlines.

  14. Jeff Hebert says:

    The beta would be open to anyone, I would think, just a link I’ll put in a blog post.