cocos2d for iPhone

A fast, easy to use, free, and community supported 2D game engine

1. 

   gametreesnet
   Member

   I'm currently in the stage to think about the graphic program.
   I wrote previous post on this matter:
   http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/22515
   Now I'm think to use Illustrator and Photoshop, but I cannot choose one.
   I have both, but I heard Illustrator is for vector drawing and photoshop is for other stuff (?)
   I mean, if I am going to load them in sprite sheet, which can be made in PNG file, is there any reason to not use vector?
   Also, I'm having an idea to draw in a paper, put it in the computer, and make a file out of it (I'm not good at drawing in computer).
   If I use this method, can I use either of them?
   Thanks.

   Posted 4 months ago #
2. 

   imjacobf
   Member

   Hiyas! Yes, you can scan hand-drawn artwork into either program. I personally prefer Illustrator for the Live Trace feature that it has. You can find a tutorial on that here.

   Posted 4 months ago #
3. 

   davidlxk
   Member

   definitely illustrator ^-^

   Posted 4 months ago #
4. 

   gametreesnet
   Member

   Thank you very much guys!
   And thank you @imjacobf for the link. It is a very good tutorial.
   But I have a question.
   I'm not sure if I have scanner, so would a camera work fine?
   I'm thinking about taking a picture of my picture and using it as a way of scanning.

   Another question... this is a bit different question, but this is the same question that I posted before:
   http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/forum/topic/28051
   Like the post says, if I want to make an animation, would it be a better idea to draw every frame or use the tools in Adobe Flash?
   If I'm hand drawing, I think it would be harder for me to divide the drawing in to layers, so I can use tools like rotation and translation.
   Thanks.

   Posted 4 months ago #
5. 

   Scryb
   Member

   Yes a photo will work, just make sure you have a very evenly lit room so you don't cast a lot of shadows on the paper, that could screw up the Live Trace. Good luck with your art, I like it when people take the effort and have the skill to draw things for real :-)

   Posted 4 months ago #
6. 

   gametreesnet
   Member

   Thanks @Scryb!

   Posted 4 months ago #
7. 

   imjacobf
   Member

   Scryb is spot on with the photos. You can do your animation in Flash if you want, all you would have to do is get it the way you like (using tweens or whatever), then split it up into the amount of frames you want your animations to be and save out the .pngs. We were doing this for a little bit and it worked brilliantly.

   Posted 4 months ago #
8. 

   gametreesnet
   Member

   Thanks @imjacobf again!

   Posted 4 months ago #
9. 

   craftyAct
   Member

   You'll find both Photoshop and Illustrator have their strong suits. It's an apples / oranges comparison really. In the end, everything you touch will end up as a raster graphic (Photoshop, Gimp) but it's much faster to modify a vector graphic (Illustrator). For my first app, I sketched in photoshop and animated in Flash. The animating was the easiest part. Great tools to simplify the graphic to a vector drawing then animate. Between PS and Illustrator, there are trade offs. For example It's difficult to simply scale some vector graphics to look well at the lower resolutions. Photoshop is amazing but for the most part, you could get away with Gimp in a pinch. I think of Photoshop more as a creative tool and a way to fine tune pixel graphics prior to release. For that reason alone, Illustrator would be my choice if I had to pick just one...that or Flash.

   Just a side note, I picked up a wacom bamboo tablet for about $60 u.s. because it helped me iterate my ideas faster (i can't draw freehand very well, trying to save a tree or two). Can't imagine how well it would work for someone who could actually sketch.

   Posted 4 months ago #
10. 

    gametreesnet
    Member

    Thank you @craftyAct for the reply.
    I have a wacom bamboo tablet too, but I need to practice more.
    Also, I'm trying to use it for outlining my sketched drawing, if I'm going to choose sketching for my graphic.
    Thank you again.

    Posted 4 months ago #

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