Entry 87
Alright, here goes... This is something I threw together in about 5 minutes (with the exception of making Tahuri's mask). It was just a test to see how quick it takes to recolor a full matoran from the new kit I am working on:
If you know how to use Flash, it is really, really easy. However, many BZKorans do not have flash. Before I officially send out the first full release version of this kit (which I have not-so-creatively dubbed "New RZ", more on that below) I plan to figure out an easier method of recoloring / posing characters in Photoshop (I assume it should be just as easy in GIMP). That should not be to tough a task, I will probably just release the kit with videos showcasing the simplest ways of doing this. The easiest way to make poses will be through Photoshop as well, I will make a video on that too.
I have decided to call this kit New RZ, for one crucial reason; the style is still RZMIK. Rahi Zaku's original drawings, way before he made the kit, looked very similar to the way I designed the kit, which in turn is very similar to the movie matoran from MOL. When creating the first front body version of this, which I did many months ago for my Jaller, Captain of the Guard wallpaper, I literally traced over the original bitmap sprites. This is still RZ, end of story .
I will not release the first version kit until I have done a few things: First, is the frontal poses, which I have technically already finished, as you may have seen early last week, however I have to clean them up a bit. This simply means, the front, 3/4 front, and side views. I will not make the back views yet because I never really used them in my comics, and I am a little bit bored of working on bodies at the moment, haha. Next, it needs some masks to at least make it usable, so I will start by making the original 12 masks first, and then I will spoil some friends, making Tahuri's, MK's, and Dlakii's mask in the three frontal views.
When I do release the kit, I will probably make a topic. The kit will (most likely) include a zip file with the .fla file, a sample .psd, and the video instruction plus .txt files with the same instructions. It will be an open source kit, like just about every kit on BZP, meaning I welcome anyone to add to the kit, or modify its bits to make it simpler to use and better to look at, but I will go into more detail on that when I formally release it. Hmm, other than that, I will simply ask that if anyone makes a modification to it, or adds to it, they simply PM me with the additions/ modifications they make so I can update the main file and add their username to the included credits/ contributers list. The kit will be found in my Brickshelf gallery, here on my blog, in the topic, and probably in the comic land wiki.
Oh, and I will also try to make as many pre-made hand gestures as I can, because they are rather difficult to rearrange right now.
Umm... That's all folks. For today.