(SOLVED)Program Request(Sprite Generator)

[Jon Bon 43]

I would like to request that someone with programming skills make me sprite generator. My intent is to have a program that functions much like character maker xp, only made efficiently and reliably. After creation I would like the end results to remain a free product, and ideally only be accessible on this website. I have separated my request into basic and ideal functions, in case some one lacks the skill to meet the full demand but can still begin and complete the basic idea. I am unsure of limitations due to programming etc, but am more than open to suggestions.

 

Basic Functions

Allow:

• uploading of 128x192 png type picture files
  
• category assignement for each file which then applies it to the corresponding layer
  
• assignment of layers based on a dropdown box which has each file assigned to that category.
  
• Display window(128x192) showing current assigned clothing.
  
• Reset button to assign nothing to current layer
  
• Assign button to assign current selection to layer.
  
• Exporting of a png file type with all displayed layers
  

Category/Layers Order (Top to bottom)

 

 

Extra 3-Top most layer

Head

Hair

Facial Hair

Eyes

Extra 2

Torso

Hands

Legs

Feet

Extra 1

Skin-Bottom Most layer

 

 

 

Ideal Additional Functions

 

 

Allow:

• uploading any file size, and multiple picture file types
  
• transparency in picture files.
  
• user to move the layers arround manually at any time
  
• Exporting file into different desired picture file extensions
  
• Preview window(128x192) showing current selected clothing(selected in dropdown, but not yet assigned by button press)
  
• user to choose between transparent background or color background.
  
• user to 'draw' background color onto the picture as a top layer.
  
• Allow 'Skin' graphic to assign which other graphics are available from each layer. Example: Skin is named 'maleskin' then torso piece is called 'Red Shirt_maleskin' since it has male skin at the end when the male skin is selected and only when it is selected the red shirt would become available. Alternately, anything without a skin tag after it would be available for any skin.
  

 

 

 

Picture Mock Up

The below picture mock up is a to scale representation of one possible layout for the program.

 

 

 

 

 

Terms

I would definitely like this as soon as possible as it would cut down the time it takes me to make things immensely, but at the same time I understand the reality of how long it may take. I am willing to pay currency of your choosing, provided you have a portfolio etc of completed work I can reference. We can negotiate price, or I will pay based on your price structure if existent.

In any event I would like this to be a free product for the community to use.

 

Feel free to post here, message me or contact me directly by email at boninkcreations@hotmail.com

Edited February 23, 2012 by Jon Bon

[Joko 1]

I know this isn't really what you wanted but it may get you by (or give you ideas) .

sorry if it isn't that helpful for you :S http://www.famitsu.com/freegame/tool/chibi/index1.html

I've personally used it and liked it. Also on a side note a long time ago i had a char making program but as i remember it wasn't very easy to use for me personally. I'm assuming you have already but if not put some more research into it.

[Moonpearl 32]

This is not exactly what you're asking for, but i'm working on a RGSS charset maker. This acts as a RMXP script of which purpose is to generate image files from a combination of "parts", so of course you could include whatever "parts" you like by simply adding the image file to the Graphics/Pictures folder - thus this could be a collaborative project with a growing resources library. Let me know if you're interested.

[Jon Bon 43]

I know this isn't really what you wanted but it may get you by (or give you ideas) .

sorry if it isn't that helpful for you :S http://www.famitsu.c...ibi/index1.html

I've personally used it and liked it. Also on a side note a long time ago i had a char making program but as i remember it wasn't very easy to use for me personally. I'm assuming you have already but if not put some more research into it.

 

Hey thanks man, yeah any help is help. I am fairly certain that is the generator I verbally helped on at another site which name escapes me at the moment. The guy actually deleted the entire thread once the generator was done. Looked exactly the same with same pieces just less of them. Now I know where it went lol.

Yeah I have checked every generator out there, character maker xp by far has the most intractability, but is not stable and forces you to cycle through every option to reach the last one.

The real issue is I need a generator that allows me to use my own pieces.

 

This is not exactly what you're asking for, but i'm working on a RGSS charset maker. This acts as a RMXP script of which purpose is to generate image files from a combination of "parts", so of course you could include whatever "parts" you like by simply adding the image file to the Graphics/Pictures folder - thus this could be a collaborative project with a growing resources library. Let me know if you're interested.

 

I have been mulling this idea over for a few months, and it originally started as a script request, but I decided that because of my lack of knowledge I wasn't sure if RGSS could even achieve what I wanted.

I am definitely interested in helping add resources to your script, because it seems you are designing what I would need/want.

My only real request for the script is that it is efficient, and does not slow down char creation much like character maker xp does. I am curious what kind of interface your script will have, or will it be much like others where I edit raw code in the script editor?

[Moonpearl 32]

My only real request for the script is that it is efficient, and does not slow down char creation much like character maker xp does.

Never used character maker XP. In what extent is it not efficient?

 

I am curious what kind of interface your script will have, or will it be much like others where I edit raw code in the script editor?

Oh, my goodness, no, no raw code. Basically you'll have a menu in which you can select parts to edit, and for each, which picture to load. A window to the right will display the result, i.e. the parts layered in order to form the final picture which you can then export as an image file (and even test live since you're in RMXP). Possible features include hue changing for each part, pixelwise position adjustement, layers order changing, stuff like that.

[kare3 0]

Character maker xp has a glitch where when you export stuff, it exports as a blank or weird-looking picture.

[Moonpearl 32]

Pretty lame for a program that's supposed to generate pictures.

[Jon Bon 43]

Never used character maker XP. In what extent is it not efficient?

 

 

Oh, my goodness, no, no raw code. Basically you'll have a menu in which you can select parts to edit, and for each, which picture to load. A window to the right will display the result, i.e. the parts layered in order to form the final picture which you can then export as an image file (and even test live since you're in RMXP). Possible features include hue changing for each part, pixelwise position adjustement, layers order changing, stuff like that.

 

Awesome, sounds like you have an excellent script on the go. The one thing I would like to request is, if possible. two display windows, one as a preview area and one as a 'selected' area. The purpose is so you can quickly and easily compare between two pairs of pants, or shirts, or perhaps a hat and shoes, and quickly decide which pieces look best combined. With only one display window you have to cycle back and forth between pieces and remember what they look like, or go ahead and create two sprites and compare them, then change and compare etc. Two windows cuts the creation time down drastically.

 

Yeah character maker xp(available on this site) would be an amazing resource, if it were reliable. I have had numerous weird errors with the program. It wont even work on my laptop. It lacks efficiency in the aspect that you 'cycle' through selections with a left or right arrow. So if I had 145 shirts to pick from and wanted to use shirt 125 I would have to click the 'right button' 125 times. If I then picked my pants, and went back to shirts, and now wanted to try say shirt 126 I would have to click the 'right button' 126 times to get back to where I was. The program requires no installation you should grab it and take a look.

[Moonpearl 32]

With only one display window you have to cycle back and forth between pieces and remember what they look like, or go ahead and create two sprites and compare them, then change and compare etc. Two windows cuts the creation time down drastically.

Okay, I get your point. I hadn't thought of that at all. How would you make a difference between both windows, though? I mean, my windows updates in real-time according to the parts that are being selected at the moment, so you would need to "lock" another view or something, right?

 

It lacks efficiency in the aspect that you 'cycle' through selections with a left or right arrow. So if I had 145 shirts to pick from and wanted to use shirt 125 I would have to click the 'right button' 125 times.

I also had a "cycling" architecture in mind. However, I agree that it's not suitable for a large number of parts. How would you handle the selection?

 

If I then picked my pants, and went back to shirts, and now wanted to try say shirt 126 I would have to click the 'right button' 126 times to get back to where I was.

That, however, wouldn't happen. My program remembers which picture was selected for each part (wouldn't be able to display it otherwise).

[Moonpearl 32]

I mean, my windows updates in real-time according to the parts that are being selected at the moment, so you would need to "lock" another view or something, right?

Replying to myself ('cause a little thinking doesn't hurt after all) I got it: you want a window that shows a preview before changing the selected parts, and another with a preview using the picture you're currently browsing, right?

[Jon Bon 43]

I also had a "cycling" architecture in mind. However, I agree that it's not suitable for a large number of parts. How would you handle the selection?

 

The simplest idea would be to add both a 'cycle by 10' and 'cycle by 25' button to cut down the time. My idea was instead use a 'dropdown box' for each layer and select the piece by name rather than graphic. Using the two displays you would be able to see the graphic before actually picking it as well.

 

Replying to myself ('cause a little thinking doesn't hurt after all) I got it: you want a window that shows a preview before changing the selected parts, and another with a preview using the picture you're currently browsing, right?

 

The way I envisioned it was you clicked the drop down box for say layer 4, then selected an option by left clicking it, the drop down box would close and the image would appear in the 'preview' window. If you then selected the 'assign' button beside that layer it would apply the same graphic seen in the preview window into the 'assigned' window. After having the graphic assigned you could then go back into layer 4's dropdown box and pick a different graphic which would then be displayed in the 'preview' window and you could compare the new graphic with the first graphic.

 

In other words the preview window would always show whatever is selected currently in the layer system(like you have it now), but the assigned window would only display what was from the preview window if you pressed a button specific for each layer. I believe what you described in you reply to yourself is exactly what I wanted, and the best way to do it is with a button for each layer.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Jon Bon

[Moonpearl 32]

My idea was instead use a 'dropdown box' for each layer and select the piece by name rather than graphic.

I figured as much myself, the problem is that using only RGSS buttons you can't do anything but cycle through the different pictures. However the buttons may be held down to fast forward, and I can also include a "cycle by 10" feature.

 

I'm awaiting some material to finish my script if you don't mind since i'm really too lazy to separate some characters' layers myself. That way I can also see for myself whether everyting's fit to the way your organized the different parts.

[Jon Bon 43]

Holding down the button, and adding a cycle by 10, plus memory of last selection should cut down inefficiency for sure.

A lot of the reason a layer may have 100+ options is because of variations on one graphic, you could have 1 shirt, with 3 variations(long sleeves, short sleeves, no sleeves) and then have 6 colors for the shirt and all of a sudden you have 18 different graphics for 1 mere shirt. If you were to upload these files they would be named something like 'fancy shirt blue', 'fancy short shirt red', 'fancy long shirt green' etc.

 

I had an idea where instead you would name all the shirts 'fancy shirt_00', 'fancy shirt_01', 'fancy shirt_02' etc. then when cycling through the options, it would only show 'fancy shirt_00' and to see any fancy shirt 01-99(if that many exist) you would keep hitting a 'shift/variations' button that would then cycle through the different numbers for that shirt. This way you could have many variations on one graphic and it wouldn't add so many to cycle through. This way you pick based on graphic, then hit a button to change the style/color, rather than cycling through every graphic variation for one shirt, pants, glove, shoes etc, since a lot of those graphics can come tucked and untucked.

The user can then decide if they want all shirts to be a separate graphic or if they want variations linked together, or colors linked together etc. or add no extension at all and all the graphics would just be in there. Is this possible?

[Moonpearl 32]

My script scans the folders for image files and allows to cycle through those files using left and right arrows. To keep things simple; what I could do is have, say a bunch of shirts named shirt00, shirt01, shirt02... along with coats named coat00, coat01, coat02... together as "outfit" variations, and be able to use a button which will automatically search for the first "coat" graphic when a shirt is being selected, and vice-versa. If materials are well-organized, you could then cycle through "kinds" of pieces, then look for the appropriate one using the standard arrows. This could keep the search relevant, while remaining easy and clean in a scriptwise perspective, since the script would just need to search for a file that doesn't match the naming pattern of the one being viewed.

 

Regarding color change, I've already included the possibility to change each layer's hue. So what I suggest is have all basic graphics in a standard color (say red for hue = 0), that you could then change at will with no need to look for a different piece. Making all graphics into a standard color seems important to me since it will allow users to cycle through features while keeping the hue they've selected. Say you want a character with blue hair, you first adjust the hue of any piece of hair to blue, then if all hair pieces have the same basic color, they will all be displayed as blue when you cycle through them. However, I suggest including darker and/or lighter variations, at least for hair, because originally blond hair won't turn brown by adjusting hue, but orange instead.

 

Other than what we're discussing right now, my script's all set and only awaits your materials to go.