Alchemy - An experimental open source drawing app

[tacit math]

Alchemy - An experimental open source drawing application
----------------------------------------

Over the last 7-8 months tacit math and I have been working on an experimental
drawing application called Alchemy.

Alchemy isn’t software for creating finished artwork, but rather a
sketching environment that focuses on the absolute initial stage of
the creation process. Where you take those ideas, and what software
you use from that point on is up to you.

Right now we have just released the second Alpha version and would
like to invite the game artisans community to check it out and tell us
what you think. As this is not yet a full public release, for the
moment we are asking people to signup to download:

http://al.chemy.org

To get an overview of what you can do with Alchemy, take a look at
the videos online here: http://al.chemy.org/videos

Check out the Alchemy Forum http://al.chemy.org/forum if you have
any sketches/artwork you want to post, or any questions/suggestions.
It is also a good place to ask about contributing to the project -
keep in mind you don't have to be a programmer. Ideas are without
doubt the most important part!

The project itself is open source, and we are working towards
developing an API for plugin modules to be developed by those
interested. Until then it would be great to hear ideas for new
modules, suggestions for the interface, and examples of interesting
drawing exercises (either traditional or digital).

Thanks!

Karl DD ( http://www.darcy.co.nz/ ) + tacit math

[road]

that's nice but this isn't polycount :rolleyes:

[tacit math]

my apologies. missed that. thanks

[mrkite]

very cool app, it's got some great tools for generating unexpected and interesting shapes - great when trying to find a new silhouette for a character.

[Marco Mazzoni]

Wow, this thing is fun! The UI needs a little smoothing, which I see was already addressed in your forums, but some of those random results have been inspiring to say the least. Now just add a color picker and we'll call it love :beer:

[Karl DD]

Cheers for the feedback!

Colour is something we could look at. Technically it is no different to use colour over black/white.

But I'd be interested to know, who uses colour in their sketch books?
Coloured pencils? Coloured pens?

BTW,
What parts of the interface do you think need work?

Thanks again!

Karl

[road]

some people do use sketchbooks that have brown paper that way they can use a white pencil for highlights...

[Karl DD]

road,

Fully good point.
In fact I believe tacit math does something similar?
White pencils are very nice.

Somehow I still can't imagine actual colour as a big thing in the sketch process... but I am willing to be corrected :think:

[Marco Mazzoni]

You're right, color deffinitely isn't important for doing things like silhoettes, but I actually use color quite often in my sketch books, colored pencils, prismacolor markers, and sometimes even water color or acrylic. I mostly just use them just for quick accents or for the sake of filling up the page, but sometimes those spontaneous color choices make those "happy accidents " that carry through to a final piece later on.

As far as the interface goes, I'm finding that it's actually pretty solid. There are only a few items on my nitpick list:

vanishing toolbar - I love having the screen clear while I'm sketching, but it would be nice to have a visual cue, like a tiny bar or a tab, to tell me when my cursor is going to activate the toolbar. I sometimes get too close to the top when I'm sketching and get distracted when it pops up unexpectedly. Maybe even open the toolbar only when a small tab/bar is clicked?

brush size/hotkeys - I have to slow down a bit to change the line width, it would be awesome if I could just use [ ] to switch it up or better yet, user defined hotkeys ;)

I also had some issues with trying to get the sketches into Photoshop, but it seems copy/paste works the best there.

As I said, this thing is fun to play with and the more I mess with it, the more I see it's true value. I can't wait to see what future versions will bring. :thumb:

[Karl DD]

Yeah, definitely can understand those happy accidents... spilt ink on the paper turning into a kick ass silhouette.

I agree with the vanishing toolbar and adding some sort of visual indicator. It might even be nice to be able to change the threshold of triggering. eg 5px, 10px, 50px etc...

I have already got the user assign-able hotkeys on the xmas wish list.
http://al.chemy.org/forum/planned-ideas/topic12.html
I think having them user definable is the only option.

The Switch thing for bitmaps requires you to go into "Set Bitmap Application..." first and select the photoshop.exe file. Then you can hopefully switch away. But let me know if this doesn't work.

[Karl DD]

A quick heads up to say the Alchemy Alpha 003 release is up:
http://al.chemy.org/download/

Several notable changes - some a result of the suggestions here:

- Performance, this version is faster!
- Colour
- User-assignable keyboard shortcuts
- Toggling the toolbar on and off with a key
- Background colour mode (fake erase)

Check it out.

Karl

[tacit math]

to anyone who's been using Alchemy. or is interested in including it in their creative process. please. read on
.

from May 16 - 25 2008 Alchemy is being shown at the Shanghai International Science & Art Exposition

Exhibition website:
http://www.science-art.com.cn/article.php?id=2910

Exhibition venue:
http://www.pudongexpo.com.cn/

there is some small gallery space available and we're looking to get some prints made of peoples work / experiments with Alchemy to display. All credit will of course be due the artist and their names appropriately connected with their work

it would be really nice to see peoples process drawings ( eg. http://al.chemy.org/forum/sketches/topic19.html ) but any and all works involving Alchemy will be considered. so. if you're interested in submitting something and / or have any questions please feel free to respond here. or on the Alchemy boards : http://al.chemy.org/forum/

.

thanks

[tacit math]

sorry. i should have mentioned. if anyone is interested the deadline is may 1st

[Karl DD]

For those not on the mailing list. I've posted a short video of Andrew Jones playing with Alchemy at a workshop in Shanghai.

Check it out here:
http://al.chemy.org/