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STE'86
Registered: Jul 2009
Posts: 274 |
how to draw C64 on a pc?
On lemon recently a few of us have been advising someone who wanted to try c64 art on how to go about doing it on a PC.
this lead me to thinking that I too wanted to know this info last year so why not do a thread on it which hopefully many current c64 artists will contribute to and then maybe we will have a very useful "kickstart" to anyone interested in starting or returning to c64 graphics.
there is one oldschooler who shall remain nameless atm who i spent some of yesterday trying to coerce back into the saddle :)
so i'll kick it off, theres are bound to be additional steps i have forgotten but here goes: |
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JCB
Account closed
Registered: Jun 2002
Posts: 241 |
Just found out how to draw in GIMP in 2:1 AR
When creating a new image, in the dialog where you set the size, choose 160 x 200 THEN open the advanced options + section below and change the X res to 50 and Y to 100 (don't think it matters if it's pixel per inch or cm/mm etc).
Then OK that.
Once your squashed image is displayed go to View on the top menu and deselect "Dot for Dot" The image will now expand to the correct size. Now you're working in 2:1 AR :) If you want a char grid set it to 4x8
Save your image, convert with something like P1 and untick "keep aspect"
*edit*
not sure if that's what enthusi was talking about with disabling dot to dot for "preview", as it's not a preview doing it like this it's a live drawable 2:1 screen..
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Archmage
Registered: Aug 2006
Posts: 185 |
Valuable thread with some good contributions, this. @PAL: Scene survival rule number 1: never mind the grumpy bastards. They invest all their energy into grumpyness instead of creativity. In the end it is their loss.
For what it is worth, this is my habitual workflow: First I do a mockup in Photoshop. I use a tablet and just make a raw sketch to get an idea of what I want. I then reduce the picture to monochrome so that I get the basic shapes and import these into Project One. I then start filling the chars with single colours so that I get a really lo-res image with lighting and colourscheme. After that the real work begins. I keep on pounding those pixels in until they look sexy.
There are of course instances when I can't use P1. Previously I have used Promotion for these things, but it is not freeware, not cheap and I'm no pirate so I found what I think is a very good alternative: Grafx2. As I am a DPaint user of old, I find this to be a really a neat and easy program. Recommended! |
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Hein
Registered: Apr 2004
Posts: 933 |
Usually:
Photoshop for mockup -> Timanthes for detailing -> Native c64 tools (or own converter thingy) to get the gfx in a painfull format to be used in my code.
But other PC tools I find handy:
Spritepad is quick and fresh for single sprite animations.
DPaint PC for doing bigger (sprite) animations. Converting them to c64 format can be done with Timanthes.
Cadaver's PC tools are great for doing level maps.
For orthodox Koala pixeling I'd recommend OxPaint. |
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Mirage
Registered: Jan 2003
Posts: 113 |
I load a picture into timanthes, press convert and upload to csdb. |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11116 |
mmmh you use photoshop and then have to notice that promotion isnt free? =D
one thing i dont see mentioned yet is aspect ratio ... ie if you are drawing anything where proportions matter, you gotta keep in mind that unlike on a pc, pixels on the c64 are not square. so a perfect circle drawn in photoshop will look slightly vertically stretched on the real thing.
so pc pic vs real thing looks like this:
 vs
and if you ever wondered why certain gfx made by usa ppl looks a bit strange, this is why:
 vs
probably not trivial to adress this problem in a crossdev environment, except at conversion time. atleast i havent seen any app that considers non square pixels for preview. (some video editing software might? =P)
one of my favourite examples on how this matters is the "earth" picture by jhm here in correct ntsc aspect ratio, and here the same picture displayed in pal. yuck! =) |
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Hein
Registered: Apr 2004
Posts: 933 |
piss off, coder, this is not the math corner, this is the art corner. ;) |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11116 |
yeah, eggheads ftw ! =)
(and as for the grumpy part: talking about graphics tools has *zero* to do with art =P) |
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Archmage
Registered: Aug 2006
Posts: 185 |
Quoting Groepazmmmh you use photoshop and then have to notice that promotion isnt free? =D
If that was addressed to me, my Photoshop licence is paid for. :) |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11116 |
thats why i found it funny... because promotion isnt really all that expensive compared to photoshop :) (i was suprised how much it costs now though.... i payed 29.95 ... ok, if they really fixed all the annyoing bugs and crashes my old version has, then its probably still a good deal =P) |
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JCB
Account closed
Registered: Jun 2002
Posts: 241 |
GIMP will allow for different pixel AR display using the same method I posted about to get 2:1, you just have to work out an x/y pair instead of the 50/100 I used. Of course it's limited by the host resolution and the scale factor of the window you're drawing/viewing in as to how it looks. |
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