Ok.. so what i'm trying to do seems like it should be easy ... but turns out its far harder than I thought .... All I want to be able to do, is create a new palette to use in MMF2.
I have tried importing a palette via an image, although that scrambles all the colors up because the colors come into MMF2 in the order they are listed in the gif or bmp's color index. So my real question then... is how do I create my own custom color index for an image?
I've tried photoshop. which when saving for web has various options, the most promising option seemed to be the ability to use a custom swatch set as the color index table for your image. However, I just get an error message when I try and use my own custom swatches. All other options in 'save for web' don't keep the colors in the order I would like.
Anyhow...
Has anyone found any workaround whatsoever for getting your own nicely organised custom palette into MMF???
I think I had had the same problem with tgf. After hours of pulling my hair out, I just gave up and used tfg's default palette. While I was disappointed at first, it's really not a bad palette at all. Most of the colors are very close to the colors I would have waited to use in a custom one. I know it's not that answer you're looking for, but try it and it might grow on you. At least you won't have any headaches wondering if the colors you used in your bmp will match those in the game.
Yeah I understand your veiw, I do actually quite like the palette in MMF, and have been using it for many years.. Its my next main project however that is causing my need for a new palette. The current palette doesnt have what I need. I'd also like to be able to load in seperate palettes on different frames to change the look of the same objects.
I'll try out the Click and Create Palette tonight and see if it suits the project. Keep the suggestions coming guys! I've been doing a bunch of research on the side and I'm making some headway in terms of making your own custom palettes and importing them nicely, if it works out I'll make a tutorial If not... well hopefully someone out there still has an answer!
Export your palette as a .png (or other format) with colours arranged as you like. Import into MMF as an object. Whenever you need a colour, just edit the object and use the colour picker to get it. It's a tedious method, but it's the only way I know of that lets you use your own arrangement.
Managed to get the CCA working, the palette is pretty good, far better range of browns etc. Still keen to sort this process out. I've made some great progress, I reckon I'll have a custom cleanly importable palette tonight using some nifty photoshop stuff I've figured out. I'll be sure to make a tutorial about this afterwards and upload my palettes Sounds like it could save you some time as well Adam
Originally Posted by Rox Flame Managed to get the CCA working, the palette is pretty good, far better range of browns etc. Still keen to sort this process out. I've made some great progress, I reckon I'll have a custom cleanly importable palette tonight using some nifty photoshop stuff I've figured out. I'll be sure to make a tutorial about this afterwards and upload my palettes Sounds like it could save you some time as well Adam
That would be awesome. Though I should point out that my method of palette insertion was because I opted to use only 48 colours (NES palette) instead of 256, and MMF would have none of that. None!
OK massive progress now. In fact, I have found a solution!
Heres the basic steps...
PS. you will need photoshop (I used CS3)
1: load defpal.bmp from the data folder in your MMF installation folder in MS PAINT
2: save it as a GIF somewhere
3: download this: http://www.agentur-simon.de/pedit/setup-pedit.exe
4: open PEdit and choose 'load palette' from the menu and load your saved gif
5: double click any colours you want to change and you get the windows colour picker.
6: once your done editing, save the palette as adobe ACT file
7: load photoshop and start a new image (any kind is fine)
8: choose 'save for web'
9: Set it to GIF, 256 colors, no transpareny.
10: to the right top corner of the palette area, click the small arrow and Pick 'load colour table' from the drop down list.
11: load your saved ACT file/palette. If the loaded palette looks scrambled, then pick 'unsorted' from the same drop down menu.
12: save for web and load the newly created file into MMF from the frame properties in the settings tab.
BOOOM!!!
hope that all makes sense!!!
I plan to further research this and hopefully find easier ways if possible
1: Download PRO MOTION v6 for free.
2: In Pro Motion's Colors Menu, you can load palettes or edit them.
3: Once you've found or created a palette you like Pick 'save palette' from the colors menu, be sure to save it as type 'PAL - Microsoft Palette' If this wont load up in later steps then try re-saving it as another PAL type.
4: continue from step 7 in my previous post but load your new pal file in place of the ACT file.
Here's an example of a palette I've prepared (not a joke, the colour table of that picture contains 256 unique colours, almost all of which aren't used in the picture)
Try importing this image into MMF as a Palette from the frame options > settings tab. You will get the default palette from pro motion v6
OK THIS HAS BEEN A LONG SEARCH! But I have now found a way of completely customising, editing, creating and exporting palettes for use in MMF with only FREE software now!!! I'll be making a super sweet tutorial on all this in a few days. As a hint it requires use of the 2 free software packages mentioned above, and no use of photoshop anymore! (and for those who use photoshop, I'll add in a section on importing those palettes as swatch sets so you can use the same colour sets in photoshop!).
EDIT - Can all be done with just 1 piece of software now this tutorial will be sweet.