SpriteWorks is an fast and easy solution for creating animated
sprite sheets for 2D games from existing 3D models and it's now
available in the GarageGames store. SpriteWorks was created last year,
based on the XNA graphics framework. As such, it required VisualStudio
2008 and the XNA Framework to be installed as well. But no longer.
SpriteWorks2
is a complete overhaul from the ground up. It's foundation has shifted
from XNA to T3D and comes with a new look and a lot of great
improvements. But the process of taking 3D models and generating
animated sprite sheets for 2D games is the same. Existing customers are
using SpriteWorks to create art for iPhone, TGB, and Torque X 2D games.
Collada 3D Support One
of the biggest features is support for the Collada 3D format. Collada
is a popular 3D format that's supported by every major 3D editor,
including 3D Studio Max, Maya, XSI, and Blender. You can easily load
your 3D models into SpriteWorks via Collada export.
New Lighting SpriteWorks2
also offers even better lighting support. Now you can change the
brightness and color of the light source, resulting in unique rendering
effects. You can also use a mouse to drag the source light into
position. You can also apply post-process image effects, such as blur,
to add even more to your sprite sheets.
Normal Mapping Bring
new lighting depth to your shader-based 2D games by enabling the normal
mapping feature. This feature generates an additional animated
spritesheet that is with normal mapped.
Image Blur SpriteWorks2
also includes image post-processing effects, such as image blur. Even
more visual effects, such as glow and cartoon rendering are in the
works.
Quick Launch SpriteWorks2 also adds a faster
way to open to your DTS models by integrating with the Windows shell.
Simply open Windows explorer and double-click any .dts file to open it
up.
Torque 3D Preview SpriteWorks also serves as a
low-cost solution for previewing 3D art assets and animations ready for
the new Torque 3D game engine.
New Usability Lastly,
overall usability was closely reviewed and improved to make it as easy
and efficient as possible to bring in 3D models, pose them, and produce
animated sprite sheets. In addition to the existing camera sliders, you
can drag the mouse around to move and rotate the model into position.
SpriteWorks started as an XNA project last year and migrated to a
Torque 3D project. Game developer Daniel Hopkins was a tremendous help
in getting key functionality transitioned over in a very short period.
He's a fantastic Torque 3D developer and deserves a ton of credit for
his contribution.
The Future of SpriteWorks SpriteWorks2
is definitely a huge leap forward from the original release, but it's
also just the beginning. The plan to quickly move over from XNA to T3D
was meant to open new development possibilities, such as Mac OS
platform release that is already in the works. We also plan to support
for even more 3D formats, and enabling new post-process effects.
