Colors! 3D dev diary – Using the 3D outside the Nintendo 3DS

Painting in 3D is obviously one of the core features of Colors! 3D (duh), but it is quite hard to get people to see how cool it is without showing it to them on the actual Nintendo 3DS. There is plenty of stuff happening in getting 3D to work in browsers, but the fact is that not too many people have a 3D monitor hooked up to their computer.

Because of that, we haven’t even tried to tackle displaying stereoscopic 3D in the Colors! Gallery. However, we still wanted to extend the gallery with some sort of functionality that gives some sense for what it will be like, and today we finally got the new repainter up and running in the Colors! Gallery. First off, you can replay paintings done in Colors! 3D, with layers and the collaborative paintings and stuff.

But here’s the new part. While replaying, try clicking anywhere on the painting. The repainter will zoom in a bit, and you will get an idea how we use the different layers to get the 3D effect. Click the image on the right to try it out:

It’s of course nowhere near as cool as seeing it in proper 3D though, so if you haven’t already, you should download and put this MPO on your 3DS (this is the one I posted earlier) of a painting painted in Colors! 3D. And if you’ve seen that already – here’s a new one for you. Just drop it in the DCIM folder of your 3DS’s SD card and view it in the Nintendo 3DS camera application.

(and since everyone asks about it: We don’t have a release date yet, but it shouldn’t be long now as Colors! 3D is currently being reviewed by Nintendo. It will be $6.99 in the Nintendo 3DS eShop)

23 thoughts on “Colors! 3D dev diary – Using the 3D outside the Nintendo 3DS

  1. @nightfireblaze8: it’s clearly written in the post that Colors3D will cost 6.99$.

    Anyways, I’m uber-happy that Colors3D is currently being reviewed, finally the wait is almost over! And that new painting is mind blowing, superb.
    It’s a pity not being able to see 3D paintings on the Colors Gallery (after all 3D glassess would ruin the original colors), but a fantastic 3D painting is also a fantastic 2D painting for sure. :)

  2. Finally! I’m checking the eshop like every week for colors! i’m so excited!
    will we be able to see the 3d paintings being made in the 3ds gallery, on the actual 3ds?
    How long will it take for nintendo to review it?

  3. …..Tooo cheap, …..too excited…. going to check my eshop a billion times now……. keep up the good work, i can’t thank you enough, soo happy :D

  4. Thanks. :) I can’t really show how long it will take to go through Nintendo submission. That mostly depend on if they find anything that we need to change.

  5. you guys do not need to check every day, only every Thursday. thats the day the eshop updates.

    and is it submitted to all nintendo branches? NoA, NoE and NoJ?

  6. Hopefully (or not), there are less 3DSWare submissions than iphones apps ! I hope Nintendo will say OK and make a:
    cp /submissions/colors-3D-3dsware.zip /eshop/releases/all-countries/

  7. Hi Peter,

    My name is Orla Madden and I am the News Editor for Nintendo Scene, a news and discussion website. Would it be possible to obtain a code for Colours! 3D to review on our website?

    I look forward to your reply as our request,

    Kindest Regards,

    Orla Madden
    News Editor – Nintendo Scene

  8. will it release the same time in uk eshop..and how many layers of 3d/depth are possible in colors!3d for painting..r popout also possible…or is it just depth.??

  9. @shash*, The submission process is separate in US and Europe, so the release dates could differ. We’ll have to see when it passes submission and so we can get a release date. If they pass sort of the same time, I will try to get the same release date.

    There are 5 predefined layers, and all of them go into the screen with the top layer being exactly where the screen is. So no pop-ups.

  10. Oh boy, this is really exciting! Will the “Fallen Faith” MPO be made available to us for 3D viewing as well? :)

  11. I am definitely going to get this as soon as possible.

    However, the new repainter isn’t loading up in my Firefox browser. No response on mouse-over in the gallery, and only a tiny square displays in the image page above the playback controls. At least it works in Chrome, but I’d prefer that it work in any browser when I refer Colors! to friends.

    The repainter was working fine last week, and I don’t think any of my settings have changed. Firefox does get a tool tip that doesn’t show up in Chrome, however, in case that helps.

  12. @Satoshi, you will be able to buy it from the eShop, and I’m not sure if they have paypal support there. It might be different in different territories as well.

    As for the resolution, you can paint in 854×512 and you can export in up to 1600×960.

  13. @SirJerric, I asked Ben, and he says you get that behavior if you have Javascript disabled. Perhaps something you turned off during the SOPA blackout day when you wanted to access Wikipedia? :)

    Either way, we should try to get an informative message when that happens instead of a blank image.

  14. Thanks for the response, Jens.

    I have had Javascript enabled throughout the last few years so that wasn’t the issue. However, I think the problem may have something to do with Firefox’s extensive cache system.

    After checking my Javascript settings, I went back to the Fallen Faith page and did a right-click -> reload on the tiny little square where the image should have been. Pop! Suddenly, everything works correctly, including gallery mouse-over playback. Computers are truly amusing.

    Thanks again, and let us know if you get any release info from Nintendo. I’m quite excited over the layering possibilities.

    Oh, and I haven’t seen this confirmed anywhere. Are the five layers at fixed z values, or can that be adjusted?
    5…..4…..3…..2…..1 <- This only?
    5…….4.3……….2..1 <- or can I do this, too?

  15. @SirJerric, thanks for the info. As for the layers question, the layers are fixed in their different depths. I don’t think that will pose much of a problem though.

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