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[Taffer]

Ok wait, where did you learn how to upscale things without them being fugly like I make them, is there a guide somewhere I missed? I had a horrible time trying to upscale parts of the walls from one of the 20x tilesets I like to work with the 24x I use, do you use photoshop or GIMP for it?

Link. Even with this I needed to fix it up a lot, and it still ends imperfect. As a side note, I find Krita to be far superior to GIMP.

If that's a question about Taffer's tileset, then the answer is that he uses hqx or similar algorithm, that allows to upscale pixelart, but work only on specific scale factors.

I prefer xBRZ. I recommend against a non-integer scaling algorithm at these small sizes, but to each their own.

[Max™]

Huh, I'm using KDE but since it's Arch I only installed certain parts of KDE and Krita wasn't one of the ones I grabbed since I just defaulted to using GIMP once I figured it out.  Mostly looks like Krita is better suited for tablet/stylus type stuff I take it? Oh hell, Krita is for actual art creation, I think I'll leave that to you folks, but I'm kinda flattered you'd suggest it. GIMP is all I need since I'm just mixing and matching parts or at best trying to rescale them, unless Krita is better for scaling?

Didn't think to check the emulator folks but yeah that makes sense, though it's funny I'd probably have to grab WINE to use that scaler program... funny since WINE Is Not an Emulator, and all.

I didn't even think to check what sort of scaling algorithms were available in GIMP though, I'll have to poke around and see what the options are in there, most of my... I'm not gonna call it work because I don't do the art like ya'll do, let's call it hacking stuff together... is just getting it lined up layer by layer and then direct replacement, but I'm on a 1920x1080 monitor so I'm mostly just trying to pick and choose my favorite stuff from the existing 24x24 tilesets, being able to size stuff up without it looking all degraded or overly jagged would be amazing.

Huh, while investigating krita and gimp comparisons I noticed this guy who does stuff with both, and yeah... I love artists, and yes, you folks making your prettied up ascii or fleshed out full on twbt packages are in that category, but that isn't where my talents lie.

[Taffer]

Mostly looks like Krita is better suited for tablet/stylus type stuff I take it?

I don't own a tablet, only a Windows desktop and various OpenBSD netbooks. Krita works well on both with or without my Wacom for pretty much anything I need it for, from general art to resizing. I don't touch up photographs, but it has also worked well for resizing/colouring them. I have nothing but praise for Krita.

You won't find decent pixel scalers built-in for either Krita or GIMP, and very likely not even in Photoshop. What makes for a good pixel art scaler is very different than what makes for a good image scaler. The simplest utility I've found for it was the earlier link I sent.

[Max™]

Ahhhh, see, that is probably the question I should ask, what makes a good pixel scaler, huh?

[Taffer]

Ahhhh, see, that is probably the question I should ask, what makes a good pixel scaler, huh?

I'm not much of an expert, but the very low resolution makes it a challenge to write them and they solve different problems. I should point out that by definition, upscaled pixel art isn't pixel art anymore, and redrawing will always be better. I haven't done so because I play Dwarf Fortress rarely as it is, and only use the double-sized versions when testing them.

[Max™]

Thanks, there goes my intent to do something with my fort tonight...

[Taffer]

Thanks, there goes my intent to do something with my fort tonight...

Good luck with the upscaling/redrawing!

[Max™]

Appreciate it, though I wish it was jsut a matter of upscaling... I suck so bad at redrawing stuff (almost typed redwarfing... I'm good at that) and end up so hypercritical of anything I try after having access to clean and attractive art to compare my stuff with... *cough cough*

[Taffer]

I'll try to get better at updating the DFFD version numbers sooner. Neither .16 nor .17 needed any updating at all in my set.

For posterity's sake in case you're waiting impatiently on a new version, simply delete init.txt and d_init.txt in my archive, then change the tileset references to taffer.png in the new version's init.txt. If you want the nicer sky from d_init.txt back, replace the SKY line with [SKY:250:0:0:1]. If you want the nicer pillars and trees again, find and replace 'O' with 255 in d_init.txt. This is only necessary if those files have changed in the new version (or if you're uncertain if they have been). If you're comfortable on the command line, Windows provides the 'fc' command to compare files for differences.

Don't use the alternate interface.txt (the keybindings) in a new version unless you've confirmed that interface.txt hasn't changed (via fc, diff, or otherwise). Do not trust file changes.txt to list every changed file.

If the changelog mentions significant changes to the graphics or colors (unlikely), or new/changed jobs for the graphics files (possible), more work will be required. If it's the latter, just disable graphics and you'll be fine.

[draeath]

Taffer, I wanted to say thank you for maintaining this. Two reasons:

1. It's still my favorite set. Period.
2. "Hey! Who's taffin' about, there! Come out!"

[palu]

What's up with the new military faces? What are they supposed to be? I liked the old ones better. still my favorite ASCII tileset though.

[Taffer]

Taffer, I wanted to say thank you for maintaining this. Two reasons:

1. It's still my favorite set. Period.
2. "Hey! Who's taffin' about, there! Come out!"

Thank you kindly.

I warn you...my skills of detection are at their PEAK! hic!

What's up with the new military faces? What are they supposed to be? I liked the old ones better. still my favorite ASCII tileset though.

I was never terribly fond of them, truthfully. The old military face was originally inspired by Cheepicus's set. It didn't really bother me much until I revamped the soldier racial graphics. I posted this earlier:

I've been playing around with alternate dwarf soldier tiles, but I've never managed to get something I like, so it always stays.



That's probably my 20th attempt in the past year or so.

It's the dwarf tile with a visor over its face. Unfortunately, I only have 10x10 pixels to work with. 8x9 pixels, actually, in this case, and of course the outline takes another two pixels from the width and height, so unless I make dwarven heads fatter I get less than 6x7 pixels of canvas. It's hard to get detailed with that little to work with. The "visor" themed tiles were already in use in my set for elf and human soldiers, so the new tile actually matches them better. They were inspired by Vherid's work. Every attempt I made (and I worked at it for a while) to draw a helmet instead of just the detached visor ended up looking either silly or like what I already had, and I needed some variation for the other races in any case.

I'm sorry you don't like the new tile! I hope that's a satisfactory explanation regarding the soldier graphics. I'm already up to 16 different tilesets to maintain, unfortunately, and the new tile seemed well received otherwise, so I think I'll stick with the current look. Even with the racial graphics, however, my set doesn't depend on RAW changes or anything, so it should be quite simple to get the older version up and running in Dwarf Fortress, or to copy and paste the old soldier tile into your preferred variant of my tileset. (Don't forget to fix the dwarf racial graphics, if you use them).

[palu]

That's fine, it's not that bad. What was wrong with the old tile?

[Taffer]

That's fine, it's not that bad. What was wrong with the old tile?

I always thought it looked like an odd wooden voodoo mask (or a Skyrim Dragon Priest mask) more than a dwarf wearing a helmet. The only comment I received about it until now was that it looked like a robot. I may yet have a change of heart. I can be fickle about small things in my tileset.

[Rogue Yun]

I can be fickle about small things in my tileset.

Me too! But that also might be one of the reason's your tileset is so good