Hi, I have some problems finding the most efficient graphic software for designing layers and "people" (cartoon style) for mobile games/apps. Although I have some experience (or should I better say "had" some time ago) with 3D softwares I wonder what software you use/like best for designing the graphics for your mobile games or apps today. Is 3D preferred or 2D vector or something else? All answers are pretty welcome -:) NoWo

Gimp, Paint.NET, Paint Shop Pro, and Photoshop are all pretty standard 2D image editing software and are used pretty extensively for designing sprites.

Personally, I use Paint Shop Pro because I don't have a license for Photoshop on this PC. Also, it seems that PSP is actually a bit easier doing some of the palette optimizations and adjustments that I often find are required for some mobile devices. Photoshop has been a real pain to me when I just need to change the index of a color in the palette or simply change the alpha value in the palette as well.

As far as the 3D vs. 2D argument on mobile phones, 2D is certainly the more widespread choice, namely because a lot of people do not have the experience working with 3D on mobile. It is possible and it is making great strides. From an art standpoint, I use 3DS Max and I imagine it possible to use either Maya or Blender if you choose to. As far as vector graphics are concerned there is very limited support right now for Scalable Vector Graphics on mobile phones. BREW has some native support for SVG but it is not used very often, and frankly I don't know how good it is. Both BREW and some newer Java phones (Nokia's come to mind) are starding to add Flash as a supported format so games/content are being developed for that.

Hope this all helps!

Quote:Original post by trojanman
Both BREW and some newer Java phones (Nokia's come to mind) are starding to add Flash as a supported format so games/content are being developed for that.

There's Flash, and there's also JSR-226 that adds SVG support for MIDP phones. Nokia already has a few devices that support this.

But all in all, 2D raster (not vector) graphics are still the mainstream on mobile phone games.

shmoove

Thanks buddies for helping -:)

NoWo

Further thanks for trying to help.

At the moment I am trying out Blender because I think it would have some advantages to work in 3D considering figure movements and producing a video trailer for teasing purposes.
Had a short look on Pro Motion too, it will be of avantage later I think.

NoWo