New version of Seamless Texture Generator released!
by Shawn Swift · in General Discussion · 04/28/2005 (8:00 am) · 6 replies
Seamless Texture Generator is a tool for making seamless textures from photos.
You can find the website here:
Seamless Texture Generator
And here is a link to the updated demo:
Seamless Texture Generator Demo
The website hasn't been updated to list the new features yet, so I'll list them here:
* You can now use the arrow keys to move between tabs.
* You are now warned if you accidentally enter a very large final texture size, and asked if you're sure you wish to proceed.
* A bug which prevented PSD and DDS files from being loaded was fixed.
* Updating the texture now automatically switches to either the final view, OR the tiled final view, depending on which view you were looking at when the update occurred.
* There are now keyboard shortcuts for load, save, quit, and help. These are CTRL-O, CTRL-S, and CTRL-Q, and F1. These shortcuts are listed on the menus.
* Fixed the file load and save dialog boxes. Files will now save in the selected file type regardless of whether you enter the file extension or not, and selecting a specific file type will now display all files of that filetype in the directory.
* You can now drag the edges of the perspective transform quad by clicking on the center of the edge. Additionally, the vertices that will be dragged if you click are now highlighted.
* The controls have been rearranged a bit, and now has a scrollbar so you can scroll through all the controls if they don't fit in the window.
* You can now sharpen the final image! The sharpening control uses a new sharpening algorithm I invented which doesn't suffer from the bright halos around edges you get with unsharp masking, and which enhances the texture significantly.
Here is a link to the original thread discussing the tool:
Original Thread
The update is free, so if you purchased it already, the update should be sitting in your inbox right now.
You can find the website here:
Seamless Texture Generator
And here is a link to the updated demo:
Seamless Texture Generator Demo
The website hasn't been updated to list the new features yet, so I'll list them here:
* You can now use the arrow keys to move between tabs.
* You are now warned if you accidentally enter a very large final texture size, and asked if you're sure you wish to proceed.
* A bug which prevented PSD and DDS files from being loaded was fixed.
* Updating the texture now automatically switches to either the final view, OR the tiled final view, depending on which view you were looking at when the update occurred.
* There are now keyboard shortcuts for load, save, quit, and help. These are CTRL-O, CTRL-S, and CTRL-Q, and F1. These shortcuts are listed on the menus.
* Fixed the file load and save dialog boxes. Files will now save in the selected file type regardless of whether you enter the file extension or not, and selecting a specific file type will now display all files of that filetype in the directory.
* You can now drag the edges of the perspective transform quad by clicking on the center of the edge. Additionally, the vertices that will be dragged if you click are now highlighted.
* The controls have been rearranged a bit, and now has a scrollbar so you can scroll through all the controls if they don't fit in the window.
* You can now sharpen the final image! The sharpening control uses a new sharpening algorithm I invented which doesn't suffer from the bright halos around edges you get with unsharp masking, and which enhances the texture significantly.
Here is a link to the original thread discussing the tool:
Original Thread
The update is free, so if you purchased it already, the update should be sitting in your inbox right now.
#2
04/28/2005 (2:15 pm)
I'll have to check out the new demo, I downloaded a demo about 2 weeks ago onto my XP pro sp1 athlon 64 and it just cranked the processor usage and kept it there. Didn't get much playing done because of it but am quite interested in the product.
#3
04/28/2005 (2:45 pm)
I see big improvements with Shawns seamless program to TM's seamless feature. Also, I think comparing a feature rich program to a single function program a waste of time.
#4
Why? Because people asked me my opinion, just like you are doing again NOW? :-)
Texture Maker is very confusing to use. It will take you a good 15-20 minutes to figure out how to make a texture the first time you use it. You admit this yourself.
Seamless Texture Generator on the other hand, is very SIMPLE to use and takes less than a minute to get the hang of.
The first time you use Texture Maker you will be overwhelmed by the sheer number of options in front of you at once. And when you DO finally manage to make a texture with it, it will probably look bad because there are ten different blending modes and only one of them is actually useful! (Unfortunately, even if you luck out and choose that blending mode right off the bat, you are still unlikely to get acceptable results, because all that blending mode does is alpha blend a copy of the middle of the texture over the corners to hide them!)
Seamless Texture Generator does not suffer from these issues. The interface is extemely simple, and it does the one thing it is designed to do, extremely well.
You're right, Seamless Texture Generator cannot animate textures. And it cannot generate textures from scratch using fractals. It also cannot make you a turkey sandwich!
But those things are better suited to a program specifically designed for that purpouse. If you need to slice some turkey, do you reach for the big, sharp knife, with the serrated edge, or do you reach for the Swiss Army knife which has a corkscrew, a screwdriver, a saw, a usb drive, and ten different blades, each less than two inches long and better suited to carving wood than to carving turkey?
More features does not mean a better program if that program is difficult to use as a result, and the output it generates doesn't look good. If it doesn't do the job right, all the features in the world won't make it useful!
Also, don't forget that my program is a fraction of the cost!
I'm not trying to discourage anyone to try Texture Maker. By all means, download the demo! I'm sure it will only serve to convince you that my program is easier to use and produces better results!
If someone asks me why my program is better than a competing product, I'll tell them.
And I will certainly advertise that my program is better than "competing products" because of X, Y and Z.
But I wasn't the one who brought up Texture Maker in the earlier thread. A user asked me how my product was better than it, and I told them. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Also, I don't think there is anything wrong with comparing the features of my product to a competitor's product. It does the consumer a disservice if you make it hard for them to comparison shop!
And if the creator of Texture Maker wants to tell people why he thinks his product is better than mine, he's welcome to do so... so long as he does it in his own thread. :-)
04/28/2005 (4:46 pm)
Quote:
Your software is nice and useful, but your attitude need some improvment, can you tell me why were you ditching your competitor?!
Why? Because people asked me my opinion, just like you are doing again NOW? :-)
Texture Maker is very confusing to use. It will take you a good 15-20 minutes to figure out how to make a texture the first time you use it. You admit this yourself.
Seamless Texture Generator on the other hand, is very SIMPLE to use and takes less than a minute to get the hang of.
The first time you use Texture Maker you will be overwhelmed by the sheer number of options in front of you at once. And when you DO finally manage to make a texture with it, it will probably look bad because there are ten different blending modes and only one of them is actually useful! (Unfortunately, even if you luck out and choose that blending mode right off the bat, you are still unlikely to get acceptable results, because all that blending mode does is alpha blend a copy of the middle of the texture over the corners to hide them!)
Seamless Texture Generator does not suffer from these issues. The interface is extemely simple, and it does the one thing it is designed to do, extremely well.
You're right, Seamless Texture Generator cannot animate textures. And it cannot generate textures from scratch using fractals. It also cannot make you a turkey sandwich!
But those things are better suited to a program specifically designed for that purpouse. If you need to slice some turkey, do you reach for the big, sharp knife, with the serrated edge, or do you reach for the Swiss Army knife which has a corkscrew, a screwdriver, a saw, a usb drive, and ten different blades, each less than two inches long and better suited to carving wood than to carving turkey?
More features does not mean a better program if that program is difficult to use as a result, and the output it generates doesn't look good. If it doesn't do the job right, all the features in the world won't make it useful!
Also, don't forget that my program is a fraction of the cost!
I'm not trying to discourage anyone to try Texture Maker. By all means, download the demo! I'm sure it will only serve to convince you that my program is easier to use and produces better results!
Quote:
but I don't like people who ditch other software just because it competes with theirs
for example Im sure that you will never see GG advertise TGE and say: "TGE is faster than DB
and has better multiplayer support then Blitz".
If someone asks me why my program is better than a competing product, I'll tell them.
And I will certainly advertise that my program is better than "competing products" because of X, Y and Z.
But I wasn't the one who brought up Texture Maker in the earlier thread. A user asked me how my product was better than it, and I told them. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Also, I don't think there is anything wrong with comparing the features of my product to a competitor's product. It does the consumer a disservice if you make it hard for them to comparison shop!
And if the creator of Texture Maker wants to tell people why he thinks his product is better than mine, he's welcome to do so... so long as he does it in his own thread. :-)
#5
Probably STG's name is a bit misleading and thus welcomes the comparison.
04/29/2005 (8:26 am)
I dont see how these two can be compared at all. Its apples and oranges. STG is a correction tool, narrow in focus and, from what i've seen, does its thing very well. Texture Generator is procedural texture..well..generator, meant for "from scratch" stuff. This is my very personal opinion, but its also bloody useless, but its besides the point.Probably STG's name is a bit misleading and thus welcomes the comparison.
#6
Im a user of TM a long time, and its purely a masterpiece. I think STG is a program of another genre, and cant be comparable to TG, thats all.
STG IMO looks usefull too anyway.
05/02/2005 (8:56 am)
Yes, Nauris, you are right !Im a user of TM a long time, and its purely a masterpiece. I think STG is a program of another genre, and cant be comparable to TG, thats all.
STG IMO looks usefull too anyway.
Torque Owner Eran Caspi
but your attitude need some improvment, can you tell me why were you ditching your competitor?!
Texture Maker is a software that have proven itself over and over again,
it has a lot more function than your software, plus it can do more stuff
than just texture just check the forums of course there is the amination part.
Your software need a picture to create the texture and TM can create one
from scratch.
Now let's just say I need a futuristic texture can I create one with STG?
here are some examples from TM
TM is not a software that you can learn in 15 min or a day or even a month
but when you do know how to use it, the results are great.
Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I work with them or something
I don't have TM yet but I don't like people who ditch other software just because it competes with theirs
for example Im sure that you will never see GG advertise TGE and say: "TGE is faster than DB
and has better multiplayer support then Blitz".
It's just something a professional will never do
btw click Crtl + Z for undo or go to the edit menu the first option is undo and
the other one is redo.
One last thing Im not trying to start a flame war here or something, I just want to say
that your software should stand on it's own and not on the other softwares.