Colorizer in Art & Sound

ID:194949
 
Sep 28 2007, 6:17 pm
Well, this isn't exactly a pixel art creation, but I think it's pretty darn neat. I'm working on a program that can take a base icon, and recolor it for you from a large selection of color ramps.

The single suit of armor at the top is the base image, and the program creates all the other ones from a little icon full of color ramps.

My current selection of color ramps suck, since I just had the computer generate them. There are a few on the bottom left corner that I set up that look pretty good. The program can use colors ramps of any length up to 32 steps, though that would limit how many ramps you could use to 32. With four color ramps, you get a selection of 256 ramps.

What I'd like to do is set up a pallet with a good quality selection of grouped ramps. You will be able to select sections of the pallet to use, so you could have a group of ramps for 'metals', one for 'skin tones', one for 'neons', etc. You will also be able to load your own pallet icon, if you don't like mine. ;)

#1 Sep 28 2007, 8:18 pm
Added a few better ramps. I'll have to try and come up with some three and five step ramps as well.
#2 Sep 28 2007, 8:44 pm
In response to Flick (#1)
That is pretty neat =)
#3 Sep 28 2007, 8:54 pm
This could be used in so many ways. If you want to make a forrest of the same trees look slightly different you could use this to change their hue slightly so they all don't blend together. Or for buildings, or rocks, or just about anything.
#4 Sep 29 2007, 9:15 am
In response to Body (#3)
Well also this is useful since it is a program. Cause in code people have done this for a long time, but if it is done for us then it would be easier xD And since you can change the color ramp you can make it look even better than just changing the hue.
#5 Sep 29 2007, 12:20 pm
In response to Pat666 (#4)
Pat666 wrote:
And since you can change the color ramp you can make it look even better than just changing the hue.

Exactly! For example, these couldn't be done with the standard
var/icon/I = new('someicon.dmi')
I.Blend("[someColor]", ICON_MULTIPLY)


because the hue changes from the dark to the light values. Well, you could do it if you made your base change hue, but then you could ONLY do icons that changed hues like that as well.

I'm working on some color ramps at them moment. I'd like to set up ramps for various categorys. Things like:
  • Skin tones
  • Stone
  • Metals
  • Fabric
  • etc.

    We'll see how it works out. :)
#6 Sep 29 2007, 3:58 pm
In response to Flick (#5)
Keep us informed on that if you can.
#7 Sep 29 2007, 5:22 pm
In response to Flick (#5)
Really cool idea for a utlity, Flick!
#8 Sep 29 2007, 8:55 pm
Hope you don't mind if I ask a small question. Being a programmer first, artist second, I'm curious about what language this is being done in. Mind sharing? Also, open or closed-source?

Hiead
#9 Sep 30 2007, 8:58 am
Yay! This should make life easier those pixel artist that have to make different colored versions of the same icon, and that it takes forever doing it by hand.
#10 Sep 30 2007, 1:52 pm
In response to Maggeh (#9)
Definitely. I know itl help me out ALOT. Would this also work for hair coloring aswell?
#11 Sep 30 2007, 2:52 pm
In response to Hiead (#8)
It's being done in DM. That means it will be a bit slower than something done in C++, etc., but DM is what I program in. It's not all that slow though. Making a full set of 256 icons with four step ramps takes about 5 seconds. I have had problems with DS occasionally just silently vanishing. Not sure what is causing that, but I'll get Tom or Lummox to fix it once I figure it out. ;)

It will be closed source, and I'm considering making some of the more advanced options such as groups, and pallet editing subscription only. Before anyone panics though, I'll be asking for beta-testers here and granting full access to those who helped with testing. If I go that route at all. We'll see.
#12 Oct 1 2007, 9:50 pm
In response to Flick (#11)
Wow, very cool idea. Keep us updated!
#13 Oct 4 2007, 12:32 pm
Here are a few screen shots of what I've got so far. You can create a pallet, using any .dmi file you'd like. Generally you'd like one with a bunch of color ramps, but you can use whatever you want. ;) You decide how many steps per ramp you would like, then choose a selection of ramps to make into a group. You can make as many groups as you want. You select your base icon, and then can colorize it with the selected ramps.



Once you generate the colored icons, you can click on a little dummy object in the list of them to preview that icon at 1x, 2x, or 4x size.




At this point, you can't save the icon, but soon. I just haven't got around to it yet. You will also be able to generate your selected states, than delete those you aren't happy with before actually writing the icon.

Next thing I'll be working on is editing the actual pallet icon. Changing colors and moving ramps around to organize them how you'd like.
#14 Oct 4 2007, 5:33 pm
In response to Flick (#13)
It's looking great so far. Keep up the good work.