Welcome back! Here's my newest piece and some old artworks I found rotting on my HDD...still waiting for final touches (euphemistically speaking). May you have any comments, please share your thoughts!

Cross Triangle Cross: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/76933.htm.


Unfinished X. Trying Something New II.


Big Iron (Unfinished),


Miss Endorphin (Unfinished).

hi there folks!

i've just placed the last pixel in this here piece, and thought I would share it with you!



pixeljoint: http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/50243.htm

steps:






any feedback is always welcome!

have a nice day,
s.

been doodling yesterday's evening, nothing specific here really.


(please refresh)

not yet error-checked, will look nice against the black "hardware" border when I get it working on a C64 format.

I will later ask someone to take a picture of it running on the real thing.

any suggestions?

Hi there!

I've just bought the full retail version of Pro Motion 6 and, I must tell you, I'm quite satisfied with it -- really, it works faster now, and a good number of some nasty bugs is now gone (like the inacurate reposition feature, problems witch undo while trying to get back to the previously resized version and such), except one thing. . .

Mainly, the alpha layer.

The thing is like this.  I'm currently working on a commercial project, as the tile artist -- so what I basically do is tilesets.  The problem is, however, that while making some natural flora elements---like, say, the trees or a variety of bushes---I need to have some transparent shadow layer underneath them -- so that they actually fit in every type of ground, soil, grass and whatnot.  This issue is, in theory, solved by introducing the alpha channel.

While working with indexed images, Pro Motion stores it in a separate file, as an additional layer.  It's not the case with some former graphics (done my an other artist), I mean, the ones that were used in the previous game the engine we're currently working with was built for.  There, the images are still indexed but the alpha channel is just another "slider value" following RGB -- and every color has its own alpha value (except the basic Red, Green and Blue variables, of course).

I don't like, then, how PM6 handles things -- it wouldn't be so much of a problem for me, but I'm afraid my employers won't be happy with it -- as that would probably require them to rewrite the program code of a ready engine just for the sake of matching this quirky restriction.

I've figured out that with the True Color images (we're still on the .PNG format), the alpha layer is saved within the image file (but not the palette, which is stored in a separate file).  My sets have to be 8-bit, though, so there's no chance of passing it by as a 24-bit image.

Is there any solution to that?  Is there a way to force Pro Motion to spit out proper images?

edit:

As it turns out, the question is solved within the range of my company's responsibilities.  They use some kind of a trick which is in turn connected with the ability of PNG images to contain RGBA values.  I've also spoken with Jan Zimmermann, the Pro Motion 6 creator, and he says there's some output filter that actually allows you to crate such an optimized palette in an indexed file.  I might edit this post again and provide you with the further solution if I obtain any,

and then the moderators may lock this thread up, I suppose.

Thank you!

The idea popped up yesterday morning.  Sneaking ninja chick.  Great, but that sounds kinda overused, doesn't it?  Okay, maybe not that much, but still.  Triangles.  Two hundred.  Why not making a sneaking ninja chick out of two hundred triangles?  Okay. . .  Or wait.  Why not making a sneaking ninja chick out of two hundred traingles in two colors, say monochrome; say the C64 HiRes mode?  Anyone?  No?  Right on, I'll do it.  Let's hit it!

So basically I had this: and this: -- originally planning to use 100 of each type, then gone wild and forgotten about the rule (which would make the work a real PAIN in the ass, I guess!).  Nevermind.  It wasn't easy either -- because I wanted to electrify the character with an emotional charge.



Try zooming out.  It really looks like a tiptoeing woman.  If you don't get what's that all about (pixel-placement isn't random), check IT!!! out, as that may shed some light.

Here's the reference: CLICK!  Or maybe was it this: CLICK! ?

Yeah, I know I could use different colors and all that, but I didn't want to.  This is everything fresh I can pull out of the Ptoing & Helm's chunk style.  I'm still thinking of something more "revolutional" (probably there isn't much more to do with it, but still).

Please tell me what do you think!  *Any* comment or a word of critique is warmly welcomed!  I may do some minor fixes, but we'll see if there's anything to fix.  Ptoing, if you're reading this, might you maybe check how the thing works on the real C64?  Here's the compiled .PRG.  I'm curious if the shapes still will be easy to distinguish.


If you want to pick up the gaunlet, I may set a challenge.  Random canvas dimensions.  100 triangles.  50/50 smaller/bigger ratio (an 8x8 square counts as 2 big or 4 smaller ones) -- make whatever you want.  If you can't think of anything, let it be an exploding robot (give away the emotions!), or your favorite comic/cartoon hero.  Mine would be Ren from "Ren & Stimpy", or Bender from "Futurama".  Thas "Kiss my shiny metal ass!" dude, you know.

PS:  If you're able to count all the triangles found in my work, I owe you a bottle of some brand whisky!



Also, keep in mind. . .

NINJA CAT STRIKES FROM ABOVE!