Portrait techincal questions

[LindseyFan]

'ello!

I had a couple questions about portraits that I couldn't find perfect answers on.

One was the resolution (number of pixels) that they appear in 5e on. I know there are recommendations and all that, but I was looking for the actual size. Unless of course they vary by theme... that would be interesting to note if so!

The second was if there any issues that could develop (memory wise I suppose?) if someone changes their portrait a lot. Like say 20-30 times in a session?

In factoring all this, assume the user is graphic design master and can keep 200x200 portraits at 10k with magic tricks. :)

Thanks ahead of time!

[Trenloe]

In theory it could be theme based - as there are various mask files used in graphics\portraits. But, assuming there isn't much change, the largest token mask in the CoreRPG ruleset (which is used by 5E, etc.) is 90x90 pixels, so there is no point in having a portrait .PNG file larger than that. As an FYI, the resulting token that is created when a portrait is added to a character is 63x63 pixels.

There shouldn't be any issues if someone changes their portrait a lot of times in a session.

[Zacchaeus]

I don't know if there is an official size or not but most of the ones I have seem to be 63x63. (You can find the portraits in the portraits folder in the FG appdata as .pkk files. You can copy and change the extension to .zip and extract them).

There should be no memory problems with portraits unless you have thousands of them. But from what you are saying it sounds like the players have access to these so that could be a problem if you have shared a bunch with them. Generally don;t share stuff like this with players - they just cause trouble. And if someone is changing it multiple times I would certainly remove them from the players. It can't be good although I can't say for sure if it will cause a problem.

[Trenloe]

Second FYI - portraits are not shared by the GM (that's tokens). Portraits are available based off what is stored on each individual players/GM's local hard drive in the <FG app data>\portraits directory. There is no sharing of portraits, you only see what you have installed on your own computer.

[LindseyFan]

Thank you for answering my questions, you two! This is a tremendous help actually. I guess I can reveal my idea now... I didn't say it at first because I didn't want to sound silly if it was impossible.

I was thinking of creating portrait packs for players that have the same person with a variety of emotions. The player can then set themselves to look angry, sad, happy, roaring for battle, etc...

This would definitely have to be player side, as it could clog up a GM with two many shared options.

Anyways, am I crazy?

[Trenloe]

Anyways, am I crazy?
Yes.

But I think it's a great idea.

:D

[Trenloe]

One potential gotcha is that the auto generated token (made when you select a portrait) will cascade through to the CT and the PC token on the map. But, I'm guessing you'd be OK with that as it will show the change in mood on the map also.

[Bidmaron]

This is a great idea, Lindsay, but the portraits I think will just have to be facial in order to do what you want as a result of the poor resolution.

In the ideal world, you would set this up so that when someone used the chat mood, their portrait would automatically switch to match that mood. Alternatively, if you changed your portrait mood, the chat mood would follow. Better yet, both...

[LindseyFan]

That actually was my hope, Trenloe, as I would want it to work that way for me. However, I can see that a portrait series wouldn't be compatible with some minis.

Yes, Bidmaron, that is kind of what I dream of! But hopefully everyone will be happy with manually adjusting themselves... At least until Dulux-Oz comes along and makes the necessary mod for us!

I will probably keep the portraits in a numbering system with moods corresponding to certain file numbers. Just in case someone takes my idea a step further.

Hopefully I can have a test PC ready tomorrow for you all.

[Bidmaron]

If you wanted an extension to do it, we'd need a standard table of mood names and the integers correlating to those for purposes of doing the lookups.

[LindseyFan]

Okay, will keep that in mind as I complete the first test images. And then make a structure like that.

[LindseyFan]

Well here is a trial rendering. I wish I had more than 90 pixels to play with vertical, but I will take what I can get. :) This is just random poses for a test, all stuff into one image.


17905

Click it to see the whole thing.

[Bidmaron]

Lindsey, this is really cool. I'd like to help with the extension for this, but I am just finishing my workday (man I'm hating my job, but at least it lets me sustain my hobby), and I haven't been able to spend any time on the project vodokar and i are working on. If no one else helps you by the time I finish vodkar's stuff, I'll help you link it up to the chat moods (I think this can be done if I remember the chat hooks correctly) and vice versa.

[LindseyFan]

That sounds awesome! I of course have to figure out the list of emotions I want to convey, and then make sets of them for different iconic PCs. So I will need a lot of time to get ready myself. :)