The TexturePacker Update Thread « cocos2d for iPhone

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The TexturePacker Update Thread

(96 posts) (33 voices)

Started 1 year ago by Andreas Loew
Latest reply from Andreas Loew

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Andreas Loew
Member
Hi,

since riq told me to collect my update messages in one single thread this will be the pace to look for TexturePacker update announcements!

Current release: 2.0.2

What's new?

TexturePackerEssential is the entry version of TexturePacker!

You can create basic textures up to 512x512 pixels for free! Including XCode integration, command line, automated updates, graphical user interface. You may use the tool for all kinds of applications: Payed and free!

New features for TexturePacker/TexturePackerPro
- Automated updates
- Enhanced support for pixel formats RGBA565, RGBA5551, BGRA8888
- Support for .pvr
- Support for .pvr.ccz (cocos development branch)
- UI fixes
- Windows version (experimental)
- Andreas
Posted 1 year ago #
abitofcode
Moderator

You had me all the way up until;

Windows version (experimental)

;)

I'll be giving this a try over the next month, still a command line junkie at heart.

Posted 1 year ago #
Robert Payne
Member

Weren't these already posted in your other thread? http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/10233 as well as this thread http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/10526/page/3 and they're also on the wiki: http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/wiki/doku.php/tips:zvt.

Posted 1 year ago #
Karl
Member

I think this is now the "official" thread.

Posted 1 year ago #
Robert Payne
Member

All I'm saying is all these features were available to be found in several other places and it seems odd that we're going to start creating "official" threads for marketing 3rd party apps to the cocos2d community. I could do it to but I prefer to keep most of that content on my blog / website and only tell cocos2d community when there are big changes that actually are inline with updates to cocos2d itself.

Posted 1 year ago #
Verisutha
Member

I'd prefer a solid thread here that you guys maintain.. Then I don't have to check web sites and what not.

Posted 1 year ago #
riq
Key Master

I'll remove the comparison chart between texture packer & zwoptex from the wiki page, ... it's in the cocos2d tips page, and it's not even a tip. Also it doesn't even mention the other free/opensource spritesheet generators. Also I'll remove the TP mentions from the Best Practice wiki page.

Update: I support what @CJ has said here:
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/10233/page/2#post-62732

Keep us informed about about the TP progress in this thread, but don't use this thread as the TP blog or TP forum. Just important news. Thanks.

Update 2: Ah... wait. Did you read this part: "But if he is not asking about your product, don't spam him" ?
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/10233/page/2#post-62719

If so, I was referring exactly to stop doing this.
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/11038#post-62853

Sorry man, but I'll mark your user as 'spammer'. I'll remove the 'spammer' tag in 1 week.

Posted 1 year ago #
Karl
Member

Whoa... isn't that a little harsh for someone who's making moves to comply?

Seriously, I didn't get from that message that merely posting a link to a program constitutes "spamming". At what point does posting a potential solution to someones problems cross the line into "spamming"? Is it alright if someone else posts a link to his program?

Heavy-handed approaches rarely end well...

Posted 1 year ago #
fonager
Member

Riq, I really love this place, the cocos2d community, the forum, the atmosphere - it has helped me a lot, and I hope I have helped other people too.

I have referred a few other Indies to Cocos2d as I believe it could help them, I have talked about Cocos2d in general and blogged about it.

In the same way, I have told many people about TexturePacker, I have blogged about it, and I know it has already helped people.

Is it such a "crime", that Andreas is doing the same for "his" product ?

I mean, it is a tool that goes hand in hand with "your" product, Cocos2d, and actually is a nice product which makes people (me) more efficient, he updates it several times a week (thanks), which benefits all of us.

(I think) he is a indie, like many of us, and reading thru the links you posted, I definitely does not see him as a spammer - I see him as a proud developer, who wants other people to have benefits from his tool.

And yes, he might make a few bucks now and then - I hope thats really not the issue here.

Anyway, my respects are still in for your decision as admin, but I think pinning Andreas as a spammer was wrong, and unfair to a guy who has invested so much time in helping others.

Have a nice day ;-)

Posted 1 year ago #
ImpresionesWeb
Member

Just my 2c here,

I use both Zwoptex and TexturePacker and I would love to see this post (and one from Robert) as "Sticky".
These tools just make Cocos2D even more awesome that it is by itself and "Sticky" posts could help me to use all the tools together better than I am already doing.

About marking Andreas as spammer I can understand, he is a very agressive seller, but sure we all are with our products, and he always helps others even if he is doing it through buying TP.
My support to him, to Zwoptex for its competition and to Riq that has to deal with us all ;)

Posted 1 year ago #
MikeSz
Member

Maybe just add a one big sticky thread to the forum, something along:

"Useful Cocos2d tools" and add links to various threads and blogs there

Posted 1 year ago #
Verisutha
Member

@riq : I'm with the others.. He was making progress to try and keep it down and comply with your request. Marking him as a spammer all of a sudden seems a little harsh. I'm with the others. I don't agree with it, but there isn't much I can do about it.

Posted 1 year ago #
riq
Key Master

Hello,

My aim is to prevent the forum from transforming into a place loaded with ads.
No one is advertising his/her products in an aggressive way: neither Robert with Zwoptex; nor Mike with Particle Designer; neither me nor nobody. I would like the forum to continue that way.

I think it is fine if one mentions his/her products a couple of times since he/she has to make it known.

But when one makes reference to it in almost every single answer, and on top of that he/she adds information of this product in the wiki, I humbly believe that he/she is actually spamming.

These are some examples of what I mean by the above said:
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/10853#post-61911
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/10842#post-61801
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/10940#post-62283
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/10997#post-62646
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/9939#post-57163
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/7878#post-57166

http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/wiki/doku.php/prog_guide:sprites?rev=1288554981
http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/wiki/doku.php/prog_guide:best_practices?rev=1287585721

By tagging him as 'spammer' from a few of days I only intend to put a frein to the amount of repeated posts advertising the product. Next week I'll remove the his 'spammer' tag.

I can understand that some of you might not agree with this decision.
Please believe me when I tell you that moderating is a difficult task, and I can make mistakes too. I don't adopt any decision neither to benefit nor to harm anyone. I'm simply trying here to keep the forum as neutral as possible.

Thank you for your understanding.

Posted 1 year ago #
CJ
Moderator

@riq I think marking him as a spammer was just a little premature. I agree that he shouldn't have answered a question with a valid solution that requires no 3rd party stuff and then go above and beyond that answer and add a link and push his product. BUT I don't think it was obvious that he shouldn't do that based on what we've all discussed here. So now going forward obviously don't do that. But I think he's trying to comply so we should unblock him until the next offense.

Posted 1 year ago #
zenkimoto
Member

I have to chime in... Don't get me wrong, TexturePacker is a great product. While, I'm not against plugging your own product once in a while. But when you do it too often, it does becomes quite "spammy."

But if he is trying to comply, then I do think it's premature to mark him as a spammer.

Posted 1 year ago #
vennt
Member

Never used Texture Packer, seems like a good product and agree with the developer that this probably only "helps" Zwoptex users get some new development/features (of which I am).

That said, definitely was feeling that by comparison to other tools, it was a bit spammy. The wiki/comparison stuff was a bit over the top imho. If it were the average user(s) recommending said products in relevant threads though, I wouldn't necessarily see a problem with it.

Posted 1 year ago #
riq
Key Master

removing 'spammer' tag.

Posted 1 year ago #
Andreas Loew
Member

Thanks for removing the tag.

I excuse myself for beeing a bit too intense about my tool. Reading the threads above in 1 minute is something totally different from posting 1 message at a time in 1 hour - so I did not realize that I mentioned TexturePacker so often :-/

So sorry again ;-)

Posted 1 year ago #
levi
Member

@Andreas I just now saw the TexturePacker update (features look good!) and couldn't find an answer to this question on your website anywhere: If I bought a license to TexturePacker v1.1 (a month ago) will the license work with version 2.0? Or do I need to buy another license?

Are there any special upgrade instructions? Couldn't find any info on that either.

Posted 1 year ago #
Andreas Loew
Member

Updates are free! Just get and install it.

Since you got the TexturePacker you could update to TexturePackerPro with graphical user interface for the price difference between both products.

If you want to stay with the command line - you don't need to pay.

Posted 1 year ago #
levi
Member

Great. Thanks.

And thanks for keeping texture packer up to date!

Posted 1 year ago #
Andreas Loew
Member

Ray Wenderlich posted a very cool tutorial on how to use TexturePacker on his blog:

http://www.raywenderlich.com/2361/how-to-create-and-optimize-sprite-sheets-in-cocos2d-with-texture-packer-and-pixel-formats

Posted 1 year ago #
purplelilgirl
Member

Hi,

Does the key.bin for the Mac version of TexturePacker apply to the Windows version as well?

Thanks :)

Love the tool :)

Posted 1 year ago #
Andreas Loew
Member

Yes - you can use it for Windows and MacOS (and Linux once it is ported).
Windows is currently quite stable but not all functions are yet suppoted.

Posted 1 year ago #
purplelilgirl
Member

@Andreas, I tried installing the Windows version but it told me that there are a couple of dlls missing and it won't let me install

Posted 1 year ago #
Andreas Loew
Member

There is a redistributable pack included in the zip. If you install it everything should be fine. I'll add an installer as soon as I find some time for it.

Posted 1 year ago #
knbmedia
Member

Hi Andreas,

First, thank you for your work on texturepacker, it's a great software (and windows version is very usefull).

One feature may be needed in GUI: when using "Auto SD", can you display the size of the SD texture in bottom right corner of the window (like the size of the original texture)?
Because sometimes, it's not the half of the width/height of the HD texture (depending on padding for example).

So for now, we have to publish and then to verify the sd texture size manualy...

Maybe in command line too, you can add a message if the sd version is not the half of the hd version.

Posted 1 year ago #
Andreas Loew
Member

Commandline informs the user about the sizes.

Adding it to gui will slow down layout since I need to do both layouts... I'll check what I can do.

You can set a fixed sheet size. In this case TexturePacker will create an error message if the sd version exceeds the fixed bounds of the texture (which is 50% in width+height of the hd version). Perhaps this helps you right now?

Posted 1 year ago #
Andreas Loew
Member

TexturePacker 2.1.0 release is final now!

The free version is now enhanced so that you can create textures up to 2048x2048 pixels without paying a single cent! This layout mode is also the best choice for creating tilemaps.

The free PVR/PVR.CCZ viewer lets you view the images - just doubleclick them in finder! Including preview for PVRTC compressed image.
This feature alone makes TexturePacker worth downloading - even if you don't use sprite sheets.

Other features:
*.pvr and *.pvr.ccz previewer! (free for all)
AutoSD allows automatically creation of standard resolution images from highres images (--auto-sd) (pro/cli)
Process *.tps files from command line (pro)
Drag'n'drop sprites to tree view to add them
PVRTC2/PVRTC4 compression
Enhanced color reduction quality (pro/cli)
- Additional dithering algorithm (Atkinson)
- Linear quantization
- Nearest neighbour quantization
Premultiply alpha (pro/cli)
Option to disable automated alias creation
Choose heuristics for MaxRects algorithm (pro/cli)
Creation of non power of 2 textures

The TexturePacker Update Thread

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