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Great program! I’m really enjoying working with it. Here are a few ideas that might make the experience even better!
1. Add more photo-realistic elements. Some of the Season 2 skins are quite nice in this regard. I’m not a big fan of items that look cartoonish, though. I understand that some users like them, so I am not suggesting replacements; I am asking for photo-realistic additions–especially when it comes to faces and hair.
2. Separate color-changeable sections on items: For example, if there is a leather boot that has gold trim, separate the gold element and the leather elements so that the gold trim doesn’t change color when I use the color wheel to change the color of the boot (meaning that I also lose the gold color). Maybe a “Don’t change the secondary color” switch or checkbox would do, to prevent one element from being modified ?
3. Add a Contrast and/or Brightness slide-level function: With the available backgrounds, created characters often get lost in the picture due to lack of contrast. Please, give users a tool to lighten backgrounds and individual character items. The addition of lighter and brighter backgrounds might be a quicker fix.
4. New poses: I know that this would require a LOT of time to do, due to creating all new items to fit the new poses, but this would be a tremendous boost! Think new arm positions for spellcasters and warriors swinging a sword, for example. If nothing else, new hands (fingers extended, pointing, hands open, etc.) would also be great additions.
Just my “2 cents.” Thanks for your consideration!
– Doug K.
Hi Doug,
Thank you very much for your feedback and suggestions, I’m happy to hear you like the software so far!
1: Season #1 and #2 are all 3D models with rendered textures and are heavily post-worked so they look as they do. We tried to achieve a certain level of reality that isn’t available at any other 2D character generators, but making them photorealistic is a whole different topic. In Season #3, some packs were made using photo bashing techniques, so they might better suit your needs. 🙂 If we added photorealistic items or backgrounds or clothes, they’d diverge too much from the current character styles, you won’t be able to use them. So on this front, if we were to explore this direction more, I’m confident they would come as new packs.
2: Multi-color items came up a lot as a suggestion in the past, and could be something we’ll look into in future packages. If we were to develop it, I don’t think we’ll be able to add it to older packages though, since at this stage, we only have the exported images, and without having the original geometry, it would be a tremendous effort to tag different parts of the images for separate coloring. However, if you own the PSD Exporter pack, you can export items in separate layers and can customize them in any way you want, adding multiple colors should not be an issue there.
3: This pretty much goes hand in hand with the first topic, when creating the items and backgrounds, we aimed to provide a tool that can produce good quality images in an easy way, where the images look good as they come out. If we added too many customization options for contrast or brightness, for example, it could very easily be a case where you unintentionally mess up the image and will have subpar results. This can also be something you can further customize by exporting the characters in PSD and fine-tune these details in either GIMP or Photoshop.
4: We have this implemented and already experimented with the Season #2: Throne packages – they have multiple hand positions. For future packs, we also plan on expanding this idea and provide even more variety.
I hope this helps, but please feel free to share additional ideas if you have more. 🙂
Thank you! I greatly appreciate you taking time to consider the ideas and give a quick, detailed response.
Your PSD export idea would indeed offer greater flexibility, and I had forgotten about that–but I will definitely add that option to my account in the near future. I guess I was thinking more of an all-in-one, “one-stop shop” kind of mechanic, especially for novice graphics users.
Keep up the great work!
– D
Absolutely, we are aiming to create a good user experience while also trying to provide a good amount of configuration options. But there are so many things that could be configured, that we need to find a good balance between ease of use and available customization options.
The PSD Exporter comes really handy for more advanced users, who reached the limits of the software but want to keep developing their characters further. For D&D sessions, chances are you can snap together a character with ease on your phone, while if you are creating characters as illustrations for your writing or for your game projects, you’d need the extra tools anyways – and having the option to export in PSD will make post-work a whole lot easier.
Hey Doug, welcome aboard !
Postwork will set you free,
As a workaround and while waiting for that PSD exporter, you can export successive PNGs, then reassemble them as layers in GIMP or Photoshop. It works just fine. ^_^
Enjoy yourself !
Thank you for the welcome!
Yes, stacking PNGs would work, but I’m going to pay for the exporter, because I want to compensate the creators for their product–and hopefully give them a little more incentive to continue creating and improving.
Being an independent game designer, I know how much an extra few dollars can mean sometimes, so I’m happy to contribute. 🙂
I would be delighted if you’d like to check out some of my work!
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/champions-of-arvaydea-tm
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/hardcore-sex-a-game-of-sexual-exploration
Thanks!
– D
PNGs and the PSD exporter are not mutually exclusive ^_^
If, for instance, I want to add a gradient to the whole pic in postwork, I’d rather work out of a PNG than out of tons of layers that I’d have to merge anyway.
Now ofc, such a project would most prolly use layers on top of that but that’s another issue ^_^
Had a look at your games.
Good luck with your ventures!
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