I’m trying to find a decent program to make sprites, backgrounds, etc. I can’t afford Photoshop and really dislike Gimp. Anyone using something else? [import]uid: 8434 topic_id: 1786 reply_id: 301786[/import]
Current favorite is http://seashore.sourceforge.net/The_Seashore_Project/About.html It’s free but a little buggy when running multiple instances of the program.
http://skitch.com/ is free and great for web collaboration. Read this blog post of how Skitch is used in their workflow. http://taptaptap.com/blog/the-design-session/
http://zwoptexapp.com/ for sprites and spritesheets.
http://opensword.org/Pixen/ another Graphics editor and http://opensword.org/reptile/ a map editor, both from same company and free.
http://likethought.com/opacity/express/ Not free, very professional vectors and bitmap editing. but hard to figure out without the manual
I like Seashore the most for bit editing. it’s so intuitive. No manual is needed.
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Thanks tokyodan! I’m going to give them a try. [import]uid: 8434 topic_id: 1786 reply_id: 5449[/import]
My wife and I both do graphics for our games, whoever is directing a particular title will do most of the graphics for it. This is our setup:
Hardware:
- Wacom Cintiq Graphics Tablet
- Windows 7 Laptop
- MacBook (White)
Software:
- Photoshop CS4 and Corel Paint Shop Pro X2
- Corel Painter Sketchpad
…
For most of our graphics, we draw it out with the Wacom using Corel Painter Sketchpad … then we import it into Photoshop CS4 (me) or Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 (Biffy) and do the resizing, touching up, and sharpening, etc. from there.
We also have experience with Vector graphics programs like Adobe Illustrator (and the Open Source alternative, Inkscape), but we’re not as used to that so it’s quicker for us to manually draw things out by hand. We plan on doing more vector graphics in the future though.
Already mentioned above, but http://zwoptexapp.com/ is what I use for spritesheets if I need to use them (right now spritesheets seem to be a little buggy in Game Edition, so I use movieclips when I can).
…
I understand the above setup isn’t very “low budget” but we didn’t always have the above setup (which is an accumulation of years of upgrading, learning, and adapting). Here’s what we did to produce the same quality graphics BEFORE we had the above setup and budget:
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Use good old fashioned pencil/paper (instead of the Wacom) and scan it into the computer (before we had a scanner, we’d even take a PHOTO of the sketch with a digital camera or camera phone)
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Learn how to use the FREE vector program, Inkscape, to create a vectorized version of your sketch. Be patient and go through free online tutorials and videos out there. You can really turn a simple sketch (scanned in with a camera phone!) and produce a pretty brilliant vector piece.
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Instead of Photoshop, learn to use Gimp (free, open source) OR purchase the relatively low-priced Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 (might be in X3 now) which is just about as powerful as Photoshop for a fraction of the price.
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Fireworks is a good alternative for a number of reasons
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The png you create keeps the original vector embedded so you can go back and edit any game graphic. The PNG a preview (what corona loads) and also contains the vector. For final build I would optimise the PNGs but for development it lets you edit all your graphics easily
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Its both bitmap and vector and the engine is pixel based. What you see is what you get.
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For working with PNG files its second to none
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It will load and use lots of photoshop plugins
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The workflow is much better than Photoshop which was hacked by Adobe to try and get it as featured as Fireworks. However due to the nature of Photoshop, Fireworks remains better for vector editing, animation and slicing images.
Each to their own though. I personally use Photoshop for editing and “photoshopping” images, Fireworks for creating textures / sprites etc… Poser 3D for character animation and Lightwave for 3D models, environments etc… [import]uid: 5354 topic_id: 1786 reply_id: 5652[/import]
I made a post with a bunch of good, high quality, and inexpensive (some free) Mac apps here:
http://developer.anscamobile.com/forum/2010/10/01/essential-mac-apps-corona-development
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