Does this have potential?
polycounter lvl 6
Hello everyone. I'm a programmer, and I'd like your opinion on this.
Some time ago I worked for a good while on a program, "Curver" I called it, which focuses on implementing a natural workflow for working with line art. Then I put it on hold in favor of other projects and some real life circumstances. Now I'm at the stage of finding a project to start/resume. With financial interest in mind, do you think this project has potential? What to add to it without complicating it too much? Would it generate a good user base?
Basically, what are your thoughts? Thanks in advance for any input
[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHZB5KTOH6Y"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHZB5KTOH6Y[/ame]
Some time ago I worked for a good while on a program, "Curver" I called it, which focuses on implementing a natural workflow for working with line art. Then I put it on hold in favor of other projects and some real life circumstances. Now I'm at the stage of finding a project to start/resume. With financial interest in mind, do you think this project has potential? What to add to it without complicating it too much? Would it generate a good user base?
Basically, what are your thoughts? Thanks in advance for any input
[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHZB5KTOH6Y"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHZB5KTOH6Y[/ame]
Replies
Could perhaps be very useful for programmer-inclined Indies and hobbyists to create art for 2D games, or even concept/UI art for a 3D game.
I don't know that I would expect it to be hugely successful, but it seems like it would be fairly unique and fill a solid niche.
One thing I think it could still use is an automatic snapping/intersecting of lines.
Is there a test version available to download and try ?
Same!
I would suggest hyper focusing on line art. Don't bother with painting, fills, blurs etc. If you do, you'll be competing with SAI, Manga Studio, Illustrator etc. which have teams of developers. Stick with line art and REALLY polish it. Then price it accordingly, e.g. $10.
Since doing line art in most programs, especially Photoshop and Illustrator kind of sucks, you can probably hit that niche. Staying small will ensure that no matter what software an artist uses, if yours does the line art part better and is affordable, they'll probably come to you.
Beyond that, I'd like to see some kind of a brush system so you can make "sketchy" lines, and make the output resolution independent (are lines handled as vector internally?) so if you decide to upscale your artwork,you can keep your lines nice and crisp by simply re-importing them.
At the time I started working in it, I remember doing some research and not finding something with similar functionality, but it appears a couple of programs now support a similar workflow (Manga Studio as mentioned here, and Toon Boom Studio).
I'm leaning towards what what Equanim is suggesting - instead of aiming for a complete package for everything, I will focus on producing a polished tool for a specific purpose and price it accordingly.
I will let you know as soon as it becomes testable by the public. Keep the input coming please, I really really really appreciate everyone's opinion and thoughts.
http://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/
What I mean by that is that by nature, traditional media has a much finer resolution than what any digital painting program offers ; and similarly, the "pressure sensitivity" of real-life tools is much finer than any tablet or Cintiq. Pretty much every artist who is used to the great subtleties of pencil work tends to be very frustrated by the relatively heavy hand and the lack of stroke precision that come with digital tools, which forces one to zoom in a lot - thus compromising the overall perception of the piece being worked on.
What I love about your video so far is that it seems like Curver totally embraces these limitations by starting with the worst kind of line and letting the user fix it later. I think this is a fantastic approach - drawing one line and touching it up seems more efficient to me that drawing a line, undoing it, and redrawing it over and over again until the right one happens (this is especially true on a Cintiq, where cursor calibration often causes precision issues). Considering all this, working with Curver seems to be a great process for people paying great attention to line quality and stroke economy at the same time.
Regarding feedback : I think you will get much better data by releasing a demo/test version, like Kamih did for LazyNezumi :
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125699
To those mentioning the existence of a similar feature in Manga Studio and ToonBoon : is there any video showing them in action ? I'd love to see this, that sounds very cool ...
I guess what I was subconsciously hoping for was a hugely encouraging reaction to put my worries of a mediocre success to rest when such a reaction can not be realistically expected simply from a video demonstrating an early prototype of the main concept instead of the planned final refined experience as a whole.
I just for the life of me, can't get the same stroke I get on paper with a Wacom, and I've been trying for over 20 years.
Looks dumb, but feels right
Does the app allow import of a number of images? If a timeline like flash can be added with a pencil tool for sketching ur images before doing lineart will be perfect. but then I have always felt cramming too much features into an app might ruin it. Then again,This could have huge potential for 2d animators.
When do u plan on releasing it?
If u decide to scrap it, it would be a waste imho.
I realise this is much harder than implementing it in your own program, but as some others have said I don't see many people using this as a seperate program when other programs have it included.
You might consider crowdfunding as a solution that solves both problems, if you feel you could do this for a crowdfunding-kind of sum of money.
The way it stands, you're competing in a difficult space if you release this, and I'm afraid you'll be doing something else before too long, leaving this to languish.
I don't say this to criticise, I say this because I don't want that that happen
You mean refine it some more, streamline the workflow, gather some user input by offering a testable demo, implement basic animation features while maintaining a simple but effective workflow to demonstrate in the pitch video, and prepare decent video clips that better represent the strength of the application, and then try my luck on Kickstarter?
Giving it a shot sounds like a good option.
I can't agree with you more! I seem to draw pretty well with a ball point pen and paper but when it comes to Wacom and PS I suddenly become a 2 year old with a crayon!