shading?

[phillip1756]

Basically i'm trying to make resources for my game but i suck at shading and was wondering if there's any software (preferably free but can pay if i need to) that can handle shading for me so i just draw the image and the colours and then it shades it

[KK20]

The only program I can think of that does such a thing is one that lists pixel artists seeking work.

IOW, you're asking for the impossible when working in the realm of 2D images.

[phillip1756]

The only program I can think of that does such a thing is one that lists pixel artists seeking work.

IOW, you're asking for the impossible when working in the realm of 2D images.

there must be one i think i found one on kickstarter but i don't think it's released yet and not sure if it's been fully funded

[ForeverZer0]

Yeah, there is really no such thing as what you are asking, at least something that does it to the degree I am sure you need. If pixel art is not your thing, either practice until you can, have someone else do it for you, or use existing resources on the Internet.

[R.A.V.S.O]

Shading is something that applies to 3D game development, your use of the term shading is either wrongly applied or perhaps you mistook it for
another function (considering we're still talking about 2D Rpg Maker here)

shaders are only handled afaik on 3D graphics software (3DS max, maya, blender etc...) (and just if you're curious enough blender is the free-ish one)

now if you want to do 2D resources, there's loads of programs available,

-paint tool sai
-gimp
-paint.net
-photoshop
etc...

or you could brave up, and pop out good ol' MS Paint like I did
(it's actually a good way to make simple minimalistic HUD's, minus transparency)

[KK20]

By shading he means this:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Giving 2D objects a 3D appearance.

If you can find that kickstarter page, I'd really like to see how the creators were able to define light sources, what pixels are closer to the screen or in the back, etc.

[phillip1756]

By shading he means this:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Giving 2D objects a 3D appearance.

If you can find that kickstarter page, I'd really like to see how the creators were able to define light sources, what pixels are closer to the screen or in the back, etc.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/finnmorgan/sprite-lamp-dynamic-lighting-for-2d-art it's a dynamic lighting sprite lamp for 2d images

[KK20]

That's pretty interesting and helpful for an artist.

> for an artist

Did you read how the program even works?

Sprite Lamp requires the artist to draw several images. For the zombie above, five images were used. First, the artist draws an outline of the zombie, and colours it without any shading. This is called the diffuse map...
Sprite Lamp currently creates normal maps, depth maps, ambient occlusion maps, and anisotropy maps. The first three all stem from what I call 'lighting profiles'. These are created by imagining that the subject of your picture is made out of white plaster, and then drawing them with lights shining on them from different angles. For this zombie example, four lighting profiles were used.

In other words, you can't just input a flat 2D image and then just shine a light on it to automatically shade for you. The program requires multiple images and spits out different kinds of maps. Maps, not PNGs or GIFs of a completed, shaded image.

What has been discussed previously still stands. What you are asking for is impossible, so you either get better or hire an artist.

[winkio]

Well technically it's not impossible, but it is something that hasn't been done before, to my knowledge.  The main challenge is coming up with 3D geometry from a 2D image, which requires some pretty cutting edge computer vision techniques.  I wouldn't expect it to happen any time in the next decade, but I could see such a program existing in 20 or 30 years.

[KK20]

Still, that requires knowledge of 3D geometry or knowing how shadows and light should be portrayed on a flat sprite (like how the kickstarter program works). OP sounds like he wants to just have a flat colored image made in Paint, throw it in a program, and have it spit out a shaded image.

[winkio]

I can't tell if you understood me or not, but I was talking about a program where you just throw a 2D image in with flat coloring, click OK, and it generates 3D geometry and then applies a shader.

[KK20]

Yeah, I misunderstood. I kinda read that a bit too fast.

You'd have to apply some kind of rules to the image for the program to know what is higher/closer than another, and it can't really be based off of colors alone. For something simple like a sphere, I can totally see that working no problem. But for something complex, like a human face... I feel the user should have some level of control where they say "I expect this region to be darker than this region" with a lasso-esque tool.

I guess it really just depends on how advanced technology (mainly AI) becomes in the next couple of decades.

[phillip1756]

basically i'm looking for a way to like say make the images look more like rtp style graphics rather than like idk pacman style graphics maybe

[ForeverZer0]

Yeah, there is really no such thing as what you are asking, at least something that does it to the degree I am sure you need. If pixel art is not your thing, either practice until you can, have someone else do it for you, or use existing resources on the Internet.

[Zexion]

Just learn pixel art m8. That is literally :v going to be the only way. XP uses a certain shade of purple a lot for shading. You can find it on the shadow from any rtp tree. Using that color with some opacity and proper shading technique can make it look close enough to rtp. There is no special program that is going to do it though. Otherwise my game wouldn't be so non existant lol

[Blizzard]

Even I learned some pixel art to make a few sprites for my game back in the day. And I am primarily a scripter.

[chaucer]

I'd suggest taking a look here, http://finalbossblues.com/pixel-tutorials/ it has a good tutorial on getting started on pixel art, I'm pretty sure an auto shading doesnt exist exactly as you want it, I know most decent image software(photoshop/gimp/etc.) have a gradient type tool, which could be kind of used for shading i guess, as long as it's a circle or a block, but as stated above complex shapes are just out of the question as of right now. hope the link helps though.