Angband 64 x 64 pixel tileset

[d_m]

It's as I suspected, the current PNG support code doesn't handle shades of grey but needs a solid border around each object, creature in the tile. I have transparency now with the latest tileset sent to me, but the edges of each object within the tile is sharp like a bmp tile.

If I understand, the problem is that Angband doesn't support partial-transparency (alpha values other than 0 or 255), whereas you'd like for there to be grey shadows which are something like 50% transparent? Is this right?

This seems like a nice feature--I think it will require a change to how Angband stores its tiles internally but is worth doing.

[Shockbolt]

If I understand, the problem is that Angband doesn't support partial-transparency (alpha values other than 0 or 255), whereas you'd like for there to be grey shadows which are something like 50% transparent? Is this right?

This seems like a nice feature--I think it will require a change to how Angband stores its tiles internally but is worth doing.

I guess that's what would be required. Have a look at the image below, the two tiles to the right are originals from the screenshot within the game using the tileset that Bue Baron just sent me. Then I've added the tile to the left ontop of the screenshot, showing what it should look like:

[d_m]

Thanks. Yes, I think we'll need to add internal ARGB support to Angband (rather than just using a mask) in order to support this.

I will open a ticket on Trac. This might not get done for 3.3 although I'll see what I can do.

[Blue Baron]

What happens when you reload the saved file in photoshop? Does it still have the transparency information when reloaded?

Also the file in the photoshop screen shot is the compilation of your tiles, rather than the upscaled angband tiles.

If this doesn't work is it possible to post a link to the resaved file? so that I, and probably d_m and buzzkill, can see if there is something different about the file?

Edit: Nevermind my computer is really slow

[Shockbolt]

What happens when you reload the saved file in photoshop? Does it still have the transparency information when reloaded?

Also the file in the photoshop screen shot is the compilation of your tiles, rather than the upscaled angband tiles.

If this doesn't work is it possible to post a link to the resaved file? so that I, and probably d_m and buzzkill, can see if there is something different about the file?

Edit: Nevermind my computer is really slow

And here it is. http://www.ironthrone.no/angband/64x64.png

What I did was open it up into Photoshop.
I then loaded a single tile that now replace the previous Battlescarred veteran.
I then saved the tileset as a PNG file, and it produced the error seen when playing with the tileset in the link above.
No other settings or modes were changed.

[Derakon]

If Angband in fact still uses masking instead of an alpha channel, then you're only going to have binary transparency with no smooth shading or semitransparent shadows. Nothing to do there but upgrade Angband.

[Blue Baron]

Shockbolt: could you do that comparison again using the blue ghost I used in those alpha test screen shots? I am curious how it looks with the hard and soft edges side by side.

d_m: there is an AlphaBlend function, but its supposed to be pretty slow, so I have not tried it.

In the preprocessed_blend_alpha screen shots the pixels of the ghost are different when it is and is not over the stairs, so I thought windows was blending the partial transparency properly.

Actually, could you try it again with any of your tiles that are on the right side of the file, or the ants? I had tried several things while I was playing with the transparency, and it is possible I did not copy that tile when I copied over the others with the preprocessed blend colors.

Edit: I had not copied the right tile into that spot, but the shadows look worse with it.

There is definitely something wrong with the save as if you look at the color channel by itself there are several large areas of white that were not there before. The alpha channel was fine. Because of how the layers are combined, the windows masking code needs the transparent areas to be true black in the color channel. could the save process be trying to optimize something to reduce the file size? If the paper color or background is white, maybe set it to black?

[buzzkill]

I was gonna play around with this today to see what my results would be, but never got the chance. I use Paint.net for my editing and I know that it "plays nice" with the Vanilla Angband 32x32.png if that helps at all.

[Shockbolt]

Shockbolt: could you do that comparison again using the blue ghost I used in those alpha test screen shots? I am curious how it looks with the hard and soft edges side by side.

In the preprocessed_blend_alpha screen shots the pixels of the ghost are different when it is and is not over the stairs, so I thought windows was blending the partial transparency properly.

maybe set it to black?

I put all the 4 versions of the ghost that were in your previews into the same image seen below here, then I added the single tile ghost to the right of them. So the one to the right is what it should look like once everything works out.

[Shockbolt]

Thanks. Yes, I think we'll need to add internal ARGB support to Angband (rather than just using a mask) in order to support this.

I will open a ticket on Trac. This might not get done for 3.3 although I'll see what I can do.

When is 3.3 planned to be made available for download , regardless of the PNG support or not?

[d_m]

When is 3.3 planned to be made available for download , regardless of the PNG support or not?

I think the current date people are throwing around is July 16th. We'll see if we hit it. There's actually an IRC meeting tomorrow where we'll talk about it in more detail.

[Shockbolt]

Terrain tiles for ToME, meant to be used as entrance tiles to various places such as caves, dungeon, ruins etc. And some birds

[Shockbolt]

Hmm, just wondering about this as I'm painting tiles: are we/Angband still allowed to use characters such as Gollum, Farmer Maggot, The Balrog, The names of the Ringwraiths and the likes?

[d_m]

Hmm, just wondering about this as I'm painting tiles: are we/Angband still allowed to use characters such as Gollum, Farmer Maggot, The Balrog, The names of the Ringwraiths and the likes?

The legal status of the game is uncertain.

That said, I don't think your tiles would be a problem per se (unless you actually somehow use a picture from one of the movies or something). Rather the game itself may fall foul of copyright.

[Shockbolt]

@ d_m or any of you other Angband programmers :

I'm going through the text files with all the items, artifacts and npc's here now. It does confirm my thoughts that many items share the same tile ( I never really gave that any thoughts back in the days when I played Angband myself) , take cloaks and gauntlets for example: the artifact textfile has several references to unique gauntlets, yet the tilesheet does not have more than a few different gauntlet tiles.

So here's what I'm suggesting: as you are adding the PNG support, do you think there is a way to add single tile support also to Angband and in doing so, I would be able to painstakingly paint each and every single tile in it's own way for the game? As a default, items that currently share the same tile could get the same reference to a tile, and I would manually rewrite that as I go along adding my tiles for Angband.