PixelMapper
polycounter lvl 18
I had a few requests to make my own thread for this thing, so I will.
What I'm doing here is essentially using photoshop as a method for editing a 3d tile-driven environment, something akin to oldschool RPG's or Final Fantasy Tactics.
Here's the low-down, for those who don't watch WAYWO
First, I got the idea it would be cool to read an image and build pixel art in 3d.
At one point I build a rigid body collection and did some hilarious simulations of mario exploding into a mass of 3d pixels. I may revisit that later...
BTW, All the code is in Python, which uses COM to send maxscript to Max.
I've always had a soft spot for oldschool RPG pixel art, so I thought it would be really neat to use photoshop as a tile editing tool. Load a small (16x16) image and build 3d tiles based on their color index.
Right now these tiles are all based on the grass and sand tiles from secret of mana. I nabbed those and edited them just as quick programmer art.
(a bit of irony.. I'm an artist pretending to be a programmer, and I made programmer art.)
Here was the first test:
After that, I added heightmap support. (not in the alpha, but a seperate image. Was just easier that way). Also, side faces get their own texture.
after that I quickly got model support added. So you can drop in rocks or whatever (trees, bushes, alien spacecraft).
The coolest thing about this is just how easy it is to use.. You just paint pixels on a tiny image, press a button and your world is built.
Things to do: Add a cleanup pass which will cull interior faces and merge faces that are similar.
also, since i feel like this thread is lacking content, here's a (kind of) related thing I wrote a while ago. the start of a tile-based advancewars-like game.
CLICK FOR VIDEO
What I'm doing here is essentially using photoshop as a method for editing a 3d tile-driven environment, something akin to oldschool RPG's or Final Fantasy Tactics.
Here's the low-down, for those who don't watch WAYWO
First, I got the idea it would be cool to read an image and build pixel art in 3d.
At one point I build a rigid body collection and did some hilarious simulations of mario exploding into a mass of 3d pixels. I may revisit that later...
BTW, All the code is in Python, which uses COM to send maxscript to Max.
I've always had a soft spot for oldschool RPG pixel art, so I thought it would be really neat to use photoshop as a tile editing tool. Load a small (16x16) image and build 3d tiles based on their color index.
Right now these tiles are all based on the grass and sand tiles from secret of mana. I nabbed those and edited them just as quick programmer art.
(a bit of irony.. I'm an artist pretending to be a programmer, and I made programmer art.)
Here was the first test:
After that, I added heightmap support. (not in the alpha, but a seperate image. Was just easier that way). Also, side faces get their own texture.
after that I quickly got model support added. So you can drop in rocks or whatever (trees, bushes, alien spacecraft).
The coolest thing about this is just how easy it is to use.. You just paint pixels on a tiny image, press a button and your world is built.
Things to do: Add a cleanup pass which will cull interior faces and merge faces that are similar.
also, since i feel like this thread is lacking content, here's a (kind of) related thing I wrote a while ago. the start of a tile-based advancewars-like game.
CLICK FOR VIDEO
Replies
Tho this may not work at all with height, you'de need some sort of smarter solution there.
Cool project slum!
http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=30
some technical thoughts:
you could analyze the bitmap and calculate it's unique color types (e.g if a image just consists of 4 colors it will calculate an array with 4 values).
Once that list is generated a table view would let you setup options for that particular color or assign a custom mesh.
nice stuff so far