Topic: Work begins on Nightsoft Paintmachine

[Raven Night]

Nightsoft has started negotiations with New Breed Software to have a completely original paint program designed for the modding community. The program will be called the Paintmachine, and will contain about half of the filters and options that PSP contains. The program will sit around 10 MB and will focus on texture generation. We are still unsure as to whether we will charge for the program, but it is unlikely..........it will probably be open source if it is free.

What we need from the three communities is a list of vital options and filters that would be needed to mod your particular program. This program will be used to make textures, but not install them, so what we need is just the tools and options needed, file types, plug-ins, etc.

You can post your suggestions here.

 

[Raven Night]

Ok, keep the suggestions coming. The list in the communities is growing. This is a program for you guys, so let me know what you need.

And thanks for the kind comments.

Keep the suggestions coming.

[WickedZombie45]

-A polarization filter - Essentially, a plugin that can make circular hull aztec patterns from a basic 'flat' image. I think Photoshop has this included already and there are plugins out for PSP that do the same thing.

-A circular text option - This seems to be the 2nd most asked about technique from new modders next to the polarization.

There are bound to be more on the list but I think these are the most needed when it comes to basic texturing.  

[zaniwhoop2]

Heightmap to normal map would be nice, but not required.  

[anduril]

Cool!

Is this going to come concurrently with the Borg Exodus or after it?

[manitoba]

how about a hull texture plugin to make sure u have hull coloring for all races and parts. like have the TMP warp colors and lines as a part of the plugin and that sort of stuff.  cause i would love to be able to do my own textures on ships but nobody seems to be able to tell me how to make a texture, they just say use psp or some other program.  so anything like that would be fantastic. ps thanxs for this wondeful program when u get it done  

[Lord Schtupp]

Directional smudge/blur would aid in the creation of weathering effects or better yet, a filter that adds different weathering effects at edges of active selection with user able to control color(rust, oil, etc.) , "patcheyness" (oily, dry-scratchy), direction of smudgeing, strength of smudgeing.

Panel line embossing, aztec/hull plate presets and tiling features, Text along path (a'la wicked zomby), basic vector line and shape tools...

ummmm....

import: illustrator *.ai, photoshop *.psd (with layers )

Great idea. If done with a wide enough scope,  could be used for any type of real world modeling. Sign me up to beta test if you like Raven....

May your bugs be few (preferably none)


   

[atheorhaven]

I have one for the list.. a quick illumination map maker.

ie: one button click to grey scale, then a set brightness/contrast adjustment to darken down the base texture, and bring out the windows/etc.

I'll give you a quick example using some pictures.

Original texture:



Same texture, grey scaled, -58 brightness, +68 contrast in PSP 7



This'd be a great time saver, and life saver for people that don't (or didn't) know how to create illumination maps.  And if it then had the ability to convert it back to High color and add colored tints to selected sections, it'd be a snap to do really complex perfectly aligned illumination maps super quickly.



Don't know if anyone else had thought of this possibility..

[Raven Night]

Thanks for the input guys, keep it coming.

It is vital I get a full suggestion list from this community, because the program has to directly support texture creation for models that will be used for Bridge Commander, Elite Force, and of course, Starfleet Command.

Your suggestions will be directly added to the whitepaper we provide for the development of the product.

We intend to release this product before and independant of Exodus, as a component of the Modmachine. the Modelmachine project is still in the planning stages.

It looks as though the Paintmachine will be free. At the very least it will be shareware, but I am not too fond of that idea. I personally think that all components of the Modmachine, with the exception of the Modelmachine should be free.

[DookeyKing]

This needs to stay on the first page.  BUMP!!

Scott  

[Raven Night]

Thanks for the bump........keep the suggestions coming guys, there have been lots of views, but only a small amount of replies. This program is for your use, so give us suggestions based on frustrations with current programs (like the illum map issue mentioned above......one of my personel pet peves and DEFINITELY destined to be a part of the machine).

This program will not be as useful for general pic work like PSP or Photoshop, due to it's concentration on texture generation, but it will still have limited picture generation and manipulation capabilities.

[zaniwhoop2]

For manipulation, a feature that takes four textures, and arranges them into one for use with the CV section combiner.  

[InterMech]

Transparent layering would be nice.    

[Mackie]

one thing it certainly HAS to HAVE is a LWO (lightwave) plugin.    

[Raven Night]

Thanks guys, keep the suggestions flowing.

[Major A Payne]

Dam its been a while since I posted. Anyway, Raven Night. Is this program likely to save using TGA format?? If so how about dual layering which has texture as primary and lightmap as secondary, and savable in 32bit colour and uncompressed. With this addition it might help the Star Trek Armada community modellers like me who use Paint shop pro.  

[Raven Night]

We are looking at the native picture/texture formats for Starfleet Command, Bridge Commander and Elite Force. It is our intention to have the program save in the aformentioned formats, as well as a few standard formats. We do not want to overload the program with a bunch of save as formats that will not be used.

BTW, I use PSP as well The rest of the office uses Photoshop, and they look at me as an oddball.......but then that is nothing new.

[Raven Night]

bump