Atomic Dude

is it?" "Uncle Dan, why are you doing an Uncle Dan review again? You did one a couple of reviews ago!" "That's true, Shirley, but I've been gone for quite a while, and the folks at home havn't seen us do our thing for quite a bit. Plus, today's file is just PERFECT for a slideshow. Speaking of which: Billy, can you get the slide projector out of the back room? Thanks, Billy, now turn it on... right, there you go! Let's get down to business." *click* "Oooh! That's pretty, Uncle Dan!" "It sure is, Katie. What we have here is the flat texture that the author used for the hands of his model -- all three model colors, at that. I've taken it directly from the .pk3. As you can see, it's definitely a pretty texture, if a little garish, and it tiles beautifully! The only problem, kids, is that it doesn't conform at all to the lines of the actual hands of the model. Sometimes you can get away with that, but in this case, you really can't. Next slide, Billy!" *click* "Uncle Dan, I think the projector's broken. That's the same slide you just showed us!" "No, it isn't, Jamie; this is the texture for the legs that the author used. But you're right in one way: the texture, aside from how it's used on the model, is exactly the same as the arm texture. Can any of you guess what the torso texture is like before we switch to it? Yes, Jimmy?" "The same thing, Uncle Dan?" "Good boy, Jimmy! That's right, the torso texture is exactly the same as the two textures you just saw, only twice as wide. Like I said a couple of minutes ago, the base texture DOES tile beautifully! Billy, next slide." *click* "Allright, here's the front of the model. As you can see, the face is an MSPaint type of creation with some gradients thrown in for good measure; nothing really outstanding. It's been slapped right onto a backing of -- you guessed it -- the same texture used for everything else! Say what you will about this file's author, he sure is consistent! Billy, you can shut off the slide projector and turn on the lights now." *whrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr* "Now, does anyone have any questions? Jamie?" "Uncle Dan, why did you show us this slideshow?" "I want to enforce to you all a very important point. ALl of you kids are aspiring to be skinners, and I think that's just wonderful, but you have to remember that effort is a HUGE part of the job! If you're going to skin something, put as much effort into it as you can! Allright, that's all for me, kids; have a great one, and I'll see you next time!" "Bye, Uncle Dan!" [b]The Bottom Line[/b] Let's break away from the Uncle Dan thing for a moment; I want to really stress something. A lot of you readers either are skinners or are aspiring to BE skinners. Please, PLEASE heed the following words: chances are, your first attempt isn't going to be all that. Not even your second attempt, or your third. Hell, you could go a hundred times and still not create a top-notch skin; that's normal. It's called learning, and a ton of it is trial and error. But here's the key. Don't submit your first skins. Or your second skins. Or even your fiftieth skins. Don't do it unless you can honestly compare your skin to the ones that came with Jedi Knight 2 and say to yourself: "I did a damn good job." it doesn't have to be official JK2 material... doesn't even have to be close. But the idea is that you really want to put some serious effort into your work. If you don't, three things will happen. First, you'll get some mean words from some assinine reviewer who just loves to cut into poor jobs. Second, you'll get some mean words from a public that doesn't appreciate your wasting its time. But third and most importantly of all, you'll create a bad image for yourself. A bad image is NOT something you want when you're trying to get your work out onto the hard drives of as many people as possible, because people will remember your past efforts. Which is more impressive: someone who submits a hundred skins, and three are pretty damn good, or someone who MAKES a hundred skins, and SUBMITS three that are petty damn good? In the end, the latter will get more respect, because he may work slowly, but the public knows that when he produces, it'll be worth their time and bandbidth to download. So put some effort into your skins, and only submit what you feel is an example of your absolutel best possible work. Then learn from what folks talk about it, and set out to start all over again. In the end, you'll get pretty damned good at skinning. Bot Support: Yes Team Colors: Yes New Sounds: Yes - Dan "ViperEye" Tennant
"Hello, boys and girls! Uncle Dan's back! Yes, I know, it's been quite a while since our last get-together, and I am sorry for that. Still, better late than never, right? Oh, yes, Shirley, what