MCD Edit by volutar

[volutar]

You may click the image itself(whichever you want to change) and choose pck from the selection sheet. Transparent images are just mean "as previous". You can change them to creating "key frame".

[jackstraw2323]

For some reason selecting the frame in the mcd and then clicking the pck frame I want to use doesn't work, but I'm running in wine on OS X so that might be why. At least I can manually assign the number below. I might try running in virtualbox to see if it's better.

[robin]

I have some questions about the PCK Edit part:
- is there a way to draw straight lines? IE in Photoshop you can hold the Shift key to do so.
- the "paint bucket" tool functionality is intended to be replaced by "select color" + push around "Color group"/"Color light".. right?

[volutar]

- no. Straight lines tool within 32x40 sprite doesn't make too much sense. Lines are better to be drawn by hand, with antialiasing-like technique. All automatically drawn lines look ugly.
- there is no paint bucket tool. It's tricky because this small sprites have different kind of "area" selection. 4 connected or 8 connected, with or without tolerance. I thought that there are not such big areas to bother with implementing tricky tools which anyways will require pixel-by-pixel tuning after. Color and group change is palette level tool for quick modifying of any selected areas, not only color-picked. If you want to fill selection just press Ins. It works like Del, but filling with foreground (LMB) color.

[volutar]

I could make the line drawing, but I don't know how to deal with line widths, and aliasing.
Sometimes I felt kind of need of "magic wand" thing, but still, this 4/8 connections things... There's need of bucket. It's just selecting and filling with pen color with Insert key.

[jackstraw2323]

if there was a line tool I think 1 pixel width would be enough for now. I wouldn't do anti-aliasing, at least in the way that adobe does it. at this scale aliasing has unintended visual effects sometimes.

[volutar]

Yellow is how photoshop drawing line with 3/9 angle. It's not really isometric-friendly type of line.
Red is one which is actually preferred, but I really need to make some study about that.

I noticed photoshop has this weird straight line when shift is down. Is it really needed? I think robin mentioned exactly that mode, not shift->click line.

And what about "magic-wand" type? Is it needed, and which mode - 4 or 8?

[robin]

By straight lines I meant horizontal and vertical; this is what photoshop draws if you: click, then hold shift, then drag the mouse: the main direction of your motion is "detected" and the line is drawn perfectly vertical or horizontal.

I think it's useful, walls for examples use vertical lines, even though you're using the mouse instead of the pen (I use a tablet with photoshop, so the whole functionality is even more useful and natural).

[volutar]

Ok I got that. What about the rest?

[jackstraw2323]

Magic wand would be nice, but being able to invert selected pixels might be easier and pretty useful. Not sure about what you mean on 4 vs 8 on magic wand

[volutar]

Basically with 8-connected algorithm it can jump through diagonals, with 4 - it can't.
https://derek.dkit.ie/graphics/regionFilling/regionFilling.html

I didn't hear the thoughts about the rest.
1. Straight | or -- with shift down - needed
2. Shift-Click (from the last drawn point) - ? And what about issue from the image of reply #66.
3. Area selection - ?

[robin]

2. Shift+click, as you said, the line drawn is "wrong looking"; the only reliable angle for shift+click are 45° and.. if you click carefully you can also get the correct line for the tile angle (26.6° should be?). But I almost always draw lines with that angle by hand, because it's easy to get a "wrong" line so I just draw it. I wouldn't miss this functionality; I think that it could be left out if it requires effort to implement, unless there's an explicit demand for it.

3. If by area selection you mean the "Select colors" tool in contiguous mode, then it could be useful. I think it shouldn't jump diagonals because that is the behavior I'm used to (provided I understand the thing correctly).


But don't listen to me alone, a lot of my feedback is "I use photshop in this manner so it should be the same", which isn't exactly the best thing.
We should really page XOps because he uses more software and knows photoshop better than me, and Ryskeliini who is a better pixel artist than me (I cheat).

[jackstraw2323]

Basically with 8-connected algorithm it can jump through diagonals, with 4 - it can't.
https://derek.dkit.ie/graphics/regionFilling/regionFilling.html

I didn't hear the thoughts about the rest.
1. Straight | or -- with shift down - needed
2. Shift-Click (from the last drawn point) - ? And what about issue from the image of reply #66.
3. Area selection - ?

1 I'd say useful to have
2 I have been using this behavior to make 45 degree pattern fills in photoshop so I say yes. i.e. i draw one point, hold down control and the next place it tries to draw a straight line. I don't think it has to conform necessarily to xcom perspective. The artist may not want it that way.
3. Area selection would be nice, 4 way probably more than 8, but if it could be toggled that would be ideal.

[volutar]

1. instead of straight lines, i will make it work in "additional" layer mode (like as it pasted), with rollback ability (not immediate drawing), plus, i would like ot detect angles: straight, diagonals, and 2:1 (isometric), draw will be applied on mouse release.
2. won't do.
3. will try to make 4neighbour fill selection.

added to todo.

[volutar]

Updated to 1.17a.
What's new

Download page

Instead of click with shift for diagonals - this line mode is work with fixed angles. Straight or diagonals or isometric (1:2).
Hope you'll like it.