With thanks to Brian in the comments of the last thread, I give you a Mind Flayer type of squid head:

It was such a good idea I jumped on drawing it before realizing that this isn't really an "animal" head. So I put it in the Head slot's "Aliens" set. Where it sits as the only current member, and which won't get any more fully developed until I get the rest of the "Standard" slots filled. Which is unfortunate. So, I share it here so you can at least see how cool it is, because come on -- that's cool looking.
Incidentally, this is what it looks like while I'm actually in the source Flash files drawing these things. I have the default body template grayed out in the background so I can make sure everything is where it's supposed to be and that it looks good on the figure. The light gray area is color1, the dark gray area is color2, and obviously the black lines are the lineart. The white and red are uncolorable areas, which you're typically going to only see on things like these all-in-one heads, spots that are going to be the same color 99% of the time but which aren't covered by one of the main three color areas.
Hmm, brains. Not just for zombies anymore!
Since color is being mentioned, it is nice to be able to make color1 *or* color2 transparent (aka, 100% alpha). In that way (for now at least?), one “color” can have a pattern but not the other. It is a nifty effect.
Example of the “one color patterned” idea mentioned above —
(Edited by Jeff with correct url)
Violodon’s image.
(it is the ‘cape’ & ‘shoulder cape’ items, two items stacked to give the appeal depicted)
This was a really good idea and I agree with Violodon about the colours.
can we have earrings?
one idea for the colors, it will be easyer and there woldnt be problems with 3 diferents color if you could color things like in spore.
also i have alot of trouble posting things it might be because of links.
also can you put a helmet like thor`s but with no wings?, and another version of it with out the top part, so we can also have hair
Jeff,
I like how you left the eyes blank so you can put any eyes behind it. That is what I would like to see for all the animal heads. Only because you can’t color them separate than from what the 2 colors of the head are.
Thanks Paul. I’d like to hear from other people what they think of doing that for all the animal heads.
R.E. the animal heads – yeah, very good idea to leave the eyes blank. Thumbs up!
And the ‘mind flayer’ head is awesome.
@jeff you rock, much cooler looking that what I had in mind. Wonder if the head, mouth and tentacles could be separate elements? I like leaving the eyes empty and using the eye tool.
Love the new head, and love the idea of blank eyes though i wonder if you could make a set of eyes for the individual animal/alien/other type of heads though.
Off topic: i was looking through some marvel files for the right feel for something, i was just wondering if you could make more of a cybernetic body style
http://www.marvel.com/universe/Image:Cable05.jpg
Like cables but all around and what not.
I love it. I also really like the coloring idea of having the whold head one color (including tentacles) and having the second color be something like a desing, tattoos or splotches, etc., that can change color or become invisible.
Also, the more head parts like this the better. More Outlandish alien head parts, please.
Lastly, I’m a big fan of leaving the eyes blank, as long as eventually we get more eye options, you know, with different shapes of pupils, etc.
Keep it coming. This is great so far.
That Mind Flayer head is sick Jeff! I love it. I’m curious to see what other alien heads you can cook up 😀
Alien vs. Predator heads perhaps?
@Jeff it’s not in the slot you mentioned.
Off topic: I would like to see a reptillian body style.
@redvector: You lost me, what’s not in which slot?
is there a way to remove the red colour in the mouths of some animals? i dont like it at all
would be ok for me to leave one other colour out (make it the same or one depending on the other)
(great work as always, but i want to put my own colour in the mouths!… please)
PyHy
the mind flayer head is not in head-Aliens in fact that slot doesn’t exist but the animals slot does btw they are awesome. the mind flayer is not yet available . the Mind flayer is copyright Wizards of the Coast.
@Andemas: There is no Head-Aliens set yet. That’s what I’ve been saying. I just have the squid-guy head in there, but it’s not published yet.
If a mind flayer is a copyrighted creature then this isn’t a mind flayer, it’s a squid-being from the Planet Xenophon. Nasty creatures. Superficial resemblance, yes, but as you can see the squid-beings have much nastier teeth. and a totally different mouth assembly.
Oh, and what’s the general feeling on tongue colors, leave them pre-set or make them part of one of the other regular colors?
I say leave them pre-set
I’m not sure that an always red tongue will work that well on a squid head. I know if I was doing a Cthulhu rip-off, for example, I wouldn’t want a red tongue…
thats why i posted the idea of changing the way ppl add color to the character, using a sistem like in spore or the “fill with color” from paint. just a sugesstion.
@ jeff eyes blank yes tongue not all ways red and a bat head please
@hofter: I don’t know how spore does coloring of object, but if you are suggesting a paint Fill bucket type system I for one would vote NO on that idea ,, the Marvel version of HM on there website used that kind of coloring system and I hated it, as it was very hard to paint anything small with it without accidently painting in areas you did not mean to. I say leave the HM color system alone and either leave the tongues pre-set or have it set to one of the two normal colors. It’s not like you couldn’t mask another Tongue, or tongue looking object over the pre-set one, or use photoshop to alter the tongue color if you needed too
you know after reading all the suggestions about color and what not i had a thought:
Ok i understand how hard it is to work with flash as i am just learning it but would there be any way possible to add a 3rd color slot for the tongues or what ever extra bits may be added?
1 – Eyes – yes leave them cut out, but I agree with people that you still need some more eyes.. cat’s eyes for example
2 – the Heads – Excellent work. I would prefer if some, like the squid head, were split into parts, like you did with the skull… for this I’d say separate tentacles, mouth and top of head… 3 items. Leave the full one too.. easy if someone just wants to add a squid head and customizable enough for people that want a rainbow colored squid head 😉
3 – Color – Leave it alone… I’ve never had problems with your system and actually have found that changing the color of the outline creates all sorts of weird and awesome effects. no Fill Bucket please!
otherwise keep up the good work. I love this more and more each day.
Jeff can we have a mask that coveres half the head like a certian ex gotham Da’s face
Good feedback everyone, thank you. With everything that’s been said, I’ll almost definitely go back and take out the animal eyes. I think once I finish up HeadgearStandard (which should be in the next day or two) I’ll probably do a bit of backtracking and take out all the animal head eyes. Then I’ll add in a bunch of new eyes that are animal-acious, plus some for masks and such.
Oh, I need to remember to add a set of plain cloth-covered ears too, to mesh with the masks.
As to the general issue of colors — they can’t be done any differently. We’re stuck with two main color areas and the line color. Those are pre-determined and hard-coded, they can’t be easily changed. I don’t have a clue how Spore works, but this ain’t Spore; it’s one of those fundamental design choices that was made long ago and can’t be changed without having to rip out the guts of the whole thing. So we’re stuck with them the way they are.
yeah, i tried the marvel Fill Bucket one it wasnt as good as i thought.
Third color was added by allowing “Line Color” to be used.
Fixed colors, such as red or white, create a fixation on how an item is to be used. Really like the items which have Color1 and Color2 for use which increases the conceivable genre options for the item to be placed. Think of it as the re-watch or sequel potential. 🙂
For example in the HM2 set good 2 color items:
• Headgear > Aliens > ant
• Headgear > Aliens > hammer
• Headgear > Animal > lizard
• Headgear > Animal > lizard2
• Headgear > Animal > kimono
• Headgear > Animal > serpent1
• Headgear > Fantasy > demonhorns
• Headgear > Fantasy > dragon
• Headgear > Fantasy > fin
My $0.02
bat head
nanananananan bathead bathead nnnananananan bathead!!!!!!!!!
sorry couldn’t help it 😉
funny man
My feeling for tongue color is to leave it set to red, since generally speaking that’s what we’ll be wanting it as, BUT, add the tongue as an item as well, so we can color it seperately and overlay it on the mouth. It also gives the extra feature of being able to use those tongues seperately in different mouths entirely.
btw, here’s the URL of a hero I made a while back that I used a similar concept with the right leg’s item. Wanted teh pouch on his right leg green, but that made the clips green, which I wanted grey like the clips everywhere else, so I used the clip item and overlayed it on it.
oops, the URL:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=466126542&albumID=581966&imageID=2550936
@Jason (#34): Dude, that’s a great idea.
The URL you sent, though, doesn’t work. I think maybe the person clicking it has to be a MySpace member? It came up with an “invalid friend” type of message when I tried to go there.
Oops, yeah, myspace only. I’ll e-mail it to you.
btw, is this squid head being put in as a whole item, or seperated into sections? I’d love to be able to use those tenticles seperately with some of the other zombie items.