AuthorTopic: Official Off-Topic Thread  (Read 1004329 times)

Offline ptoing

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Re: Official Off-Topic Thread

Reply #2200 on: November 03, 2011, 10:40:55 pm
Oh fudge! It's almost that time of the year again. I dunno if I will have time, it's quite a bit of work.

Any volunteers?
There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours.

Offline Atnas

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Re: Official Off-Topic Thread

Reply #2201 on: November 04, 2011, 12:49:24 pm
I'd love to give it a go. c:

Been looking at past ones, and while it does look like a lot of work, I'd enjoy it quite a bit I think. So if nobody else can do it, hit me up!

Offline Tourist

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Re: Official Off-Topic Thread

Reply #2202 on: November 05, 2011, 03:31:38 am
Cross-stitch is a kind of hand-crafted embroidery.  Strands of string are hand-stitched in small X patterns on a larger piece of fabric.  The kind of stuff your grandmother has hanging on the wall.  The patterns are laid out on a basic grid pattern, and typically try and use a minimal number of colors.  It's also easier to stitch in small clumps, dare I say clusters, of color rather than widely scattered individual spots.  Does this sound familiar?





Images linked from  www.artecy.com which sells the patterns pictured, among others..  There are several sites which sell these patterns, at a typical price of $5-10 US per copy, depending on size, subject, complexity, and so forth.  Most of these sites either have public domain artwork converted to pixels, er, patterns, or some crummy pixel-ish art.  I don't know how large this market is, but I think there may an opportunity for talented pixel artists to make a few bucks.

Or one could just turn their pixel art into some embroidered Xmas gifts.  ;D

Edit: Holy crud, I found something else too.  PixelHobby looks like small plastic bits that get mounted on a plastic baseboard.  10 dpi if I'm doing my math correct, and they claim 312 colors.  They actually call their plastic bits 'pixels' as if this is some new thing.  Customers buy a pattern and plastic build and assemble the artwork themselves.  Looks like patterns sell for about $10 for each 40x50 tile + pixels.  The link goes to an Australian site but there are links to distributors in Europe and the US.  This .. this is actually a thing.

No obvious links for selling your own patterns but you could always buy the materials and set up your own site.  I imagine the cross-stitch is a larger market though since it can be applied to clothing and pillows and whatnot.

Tourist
« Last Edit: November 05, 2011, 04:11:19 am by Tourist »

Offline Kasumi

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Re: Official Off-Topic Thread

Reply #2203 on: November 05, 2011, 02:00:44 pm
I tried cross stitching pixel art, and it is VERY time consuming. So time consuming I don't think people would want to pay the price I'd want to set for the time lost.

PixelHobby looks totally neat, though. And it's square, unlike bead art. Not to take away from bead art's coolness because it is still totally cool. The linked thread even has some 3D voxel type bead stuff on the third page.
I make actual NES games. Thus, I'm the unofficial forum dealer of too much information about the NES

Offline ptoing

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Re: Official Off-Topic Thread

Reply #2204 on: November 05, 2011, 03:03:32 pm
Yeah, I started a cross stitch earlier this year which I still have to finish and mail Helm.

It takes forever:

There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours.

Offline Tourist

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Re: Official Off-Topic Thread

Reply #2205 on: November 05, 2011, 03:55:50 pm
That's good to know.  Cancel my idea of trying out cross-stitch. 

The pixelhobby thing is neat, but expensive.  I've seen the beads before, but they were rather large, 2-3 dpi or so.  The main problem I see with both of those is that they don't connect to anything of practical use.  It would be faster and cheaper to simply print your pixel art out at 10x and mount it on a stiff backing. 

I think the real opportunity for the members here is to sell the patterns to the cross-stitch folks.  Dust off the old pixel art you have in your gallery, adjust the colors a bit to match the available string colors, and sell it for $5-10 a copy.  Or maybe half that if you use one of the existing web sites selling these things.

Tourist

Offline Rosse

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Re: Official Off-Topic Thread

Reply #2206 on: November 06, 2011, 11:27:40 am
I'd like to share some thoughts about Cosmigo ProMotion.

I bought the V5.1 in July 2007 and used it ever since (no upgrade). These days I bought a new Computer (Asus EEE EP121 Slate) with Win7 64bit and 4GB of Rams. After installing ProMotion, I couldn't open a file or create a new one.
So I wrote an Email to Jan Zimmermann and asked if that is a known error and if there is a solution. He told me that this has to to with my memory and that the old v5.1 doesn't support more than 3GB. Now, do you know what? Normally, a Developer would suggest to buy an update to solve this problem (~40$). But no, he sent me a Patch to solve this problem, letting me use my old version on the new computer, for free.
I'm amazed by his support and like to let the world know about this great piece of software. If you're undecided between ProMotion and e.g. GraphicsGale, I suggest ProMotion. The amazing support makes the bigger price more than worth.
To show my gratitude to Jan, I'll upgrade to the newest Version soon, even though I can use the old now without problems.

I hope it was helpful to some of you. Thanks for reading.

Offline surt

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Re: Official Off-Topic Thread

Reply #2207 on: November 07, 2011, 02:10:40 pm
Cross-stitch game (sort of) art: http://nifflas.ni2.se/?page=Miscellaneous (go down to Six Shots of Whiskey)

Offline Atnas

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Re: Official Off-Topic Thread

Reply #2208 on: November 07, 2011, 09:27:37 pm
@Rosse: That's awesome! For comparison: I sent an email to Humanbalance about a feature suggestion for gale a few days ago:

Quote
Hello,

I've been using Graphics Gale for close to 6 years now, and use it for my job. I love this program.

I have a suggestion if you'd like to include it in the next beta: Enable changing the pen tile with shortcuts (going up or down the list). This way it would be easier to switch between a big brush or little brush.

Thank you!

The response:

Quote
Dear Clement.

Thanks for your advice.

Best regards,
 HUMAN BALANCE

The language barrier may be getting in the way, but the difference is that Humanbalance is a company and Jan seems to manage the whole product himself. Been thinking about getting ProMotion, as both ProMotion and GraphicsGale do things the other can't, and in different ways.

Offline Atnas

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Re: Official Off-Topic Thread

Reply #2209 on: November 09, 2011, 03:31:21 pm


Well that's... interesting. From videos it doesn't seem to have pressure sensitivity.