Colors! v1.06 is now released.
Colors! is a simplistic digital application for Nintendo DS based on modern painting-techniques developed for drawing tablets in programs like Photoshop. By taking advantage of the pressure sensitivity of the DS touch-screen it becomes a perfect portable digital sketch-book.
Current features
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Hard and soft circular brush
Pressure-sensitivity can affect opacity and brush-size
512×384 image resolution with 2 stage zoom
Replay the whole painting process of an image
Hue-circle and luminance and saturation-triangle style palette
Load and Save to memory card
Send painting as e-mail using Wi-Fi
Major updates in v1.06
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Major precision overhaul
Opacity slider in brush-screen
Pressure-Controls-Size option in brush-screen
New user-interface with graphics by madwurmz.com
Playback controls with the option to continue painting from mid-playback
The possibility to send your painting directly to an e-mail address
Unlimited save slots
One additional zoom-level
Available at http://www.collectingsmiles.com/colors
Enjoy!
I downloaded the 1.6 and 1.6f releases and they worked fine with a DLDI patch. When I got the 1.6g release, however, it’ll boot but it won’t save, load, or email files. Why is this?
Everything is looking very polished! v1.06 looks great. When using the WiFi option, it says upload to the gallery. It got me a little confused until I read that it’s actually to send pictures to e-mails yes? I did try it out but the uploading progress was too slow so I didn’t wait for it to finish. Great stuff, can’t wait for the future updates :D
Is there any way to use pictures as background for a new drawing?
Love this app but could it be possible to make to where it can save the drawings as jpgs as well png so i can put my drawings on my wii pls
Hey Bas,
Your e-mail didn’t work, so I’ll answer here.
>Is there any way to use pictures as background for a new drawing?
Yes, but it requires some renaming of files and stuff. Check the “technical discussion” link. I think it’s explained there.
Bas: You can duplicated files on the go with DSOrganize. Use the copy/paste function in the ‘browser’ and rename the files. Or do it on your PC.
Daniel: Use a program like Paint (if you’re on a Windows machine) to open the .png, and then save it to .jpg
As for feedback, I must say that i preferred a fullscreen look of what the image looks like on the top screen (as in 1.05) instead of a layout of the buttons.
I also just noticed that when closed, the DS goes into sleep mode (blinking LED). Colors! is my favourite ap to draw on the NDS, and it helps me to create textures to use in 3D models. Two thumbs up!
Hey Fank,
Thanks for the complements! If you read the instructions carefully on the top-screen, you can see that you press select to toggle the usage-screen. :)
Enjoy!
Amazing App, i love this, i honestly mess about more on this than most of my games.
There is one thing though, i put this on my little 4 yr old niece’s DS too, but the problem is for some reason the calibration settings need adjusting each time, is there an option to save the calibration settings as she can’t go through all the menu’s to set it up as its a little to complicated for her.
For us adults its fine and we can change it each time we boot it up, but it would be nice if it saved your last settings for when you boot it up again.
Thanks and keep up the great work.
I was using 1.06f btw.
would it be possible to make where we can name our paintings with in the app just a thought ☆☆
make it* ↑↑↑↑↑
Hey Shin,
There was a bug in previous v1.06 versions where calibration settings weren’t saved correctly. This has been fixed in v1.06h, so grab that one, and everything should be fine!
Thanks for the compliments!
Hey Daniel,
As soon as I get the Gallery properly integrated I’m probably going to need the naming functionality you speak of. Keep a look out for new versions.
this question is for Jetboy would it be possible to stream the draw files instead of having to download them
Hey Mrchew,
I’m currently working on integrating the gallery into Colors! to be able to browse and download paintings directly. It’ll probably take a while longer, but I hope to have it in for the next big update.
I think this is a wonderfull app, a true example of good taste development.
After using it a time, I was thinking if it could be possible to adapt it for pixel art. As I see, only a grid option, and maybe sketch size selection, should be necessary. Other tools could be added, like line drawing and fill, but they are less important. The meaning of all this, is that your software could be used to create all the graphics of a homebrew, that way developing ds software on the ds. :)
Fist off, AMAZING app! I have a think for drawing apps on the DS, it’s so suited to sketching.
Previously I had been using Draw & Pictoblog and have integrated them into my site, using colours I should also be able post the images to a blog (Using posting via email) however for more compatability and customisation you should seperate the post to gellery – post as email options.
And most importantly be able to add some basic email info such as the email subject (which would be the post topic) and maybe some brief post text (optional) .. just be able to edit this before sending an email would make it a much more powefull and maybe more used application.
I’m working on integrating colours blog posting into my blog atm, it actually works fine sending emails for me (I just have to code my website how to deal with them, maybe another week or so and i should be finished with it)
I love all the suggestions from all the comments, sometimes its just a little addition that makes the biggest improvment.
Once again great app
I just wanted to tell you how AWESOME this program is! The playback feature is incredible. Nice job! I’m having soooo much fun with this. :]
Hey, awesome little program, I love it! Can you make the email to address feature more integrated so you don’t have to go to the gallery? If it could save the most recent used email address that would be helpful as well. Keep up the good work!
Hey Stephen,
I’ve actually been thinking of integrating pictoblog support directly into Colors!. It would probably work in the manner you describe, where you can send your picture in a number of different ways.
WOW, what can i say, its INCREDIBLE!!! i was at least expecting a knock off version of paint. damn i was wrong. this is an amazing app, one of the best on my ds, and best ive seen… ever! i am deffinately going to follow this one. i know i didnt get it at the start, i have just downloaded 1.06h, and i was amazed. its so smooth, its like, *jaw drops*
keep up the amazing work
Heyas, thanks for this great program. I recently bought a DS Lite and have found many of the games…lacking. After looking around for homebrew I found this to be one of the best programs I’ve found and it alone has made the DS Lite purchase worthwhile.
Anyways, I have come across a couple of bugs and figured I should report them here.
But first, I am using a Super Key and a Super Card Lite Rumble with a 2GB Micro SD card. Hope this isn’t relevant, the version I’m using is 1.06h.
The first problem is that if I haven’t drawn anything (or have used the clear option and then not drawn anything) and I close my system, upon opening it the program seems to freeze and I have to turn my system off to be able to do anything again.
Second is that when I wipe the screen the controls on the top screen disappear until I’ve drawn for a bit, bothersome but not really an issue.
The final thing is that when I’m using it to write with (I have been using it to practice Kanji with when not drawing) that occasionally a line of two will jut out from where I was writing/drawing. I find this very bothersome since it can completely ruin what I was writing/drawing at times.
I also have a couple of requests, first is could you add an undue option? I find that occasionally I make a mistake and wish I could undue my last stroke. I’m unsure where to implement it but I would definitely appreciate it.
Something I found out when letting my GF play around with the program is that some colors she wanted to use were hard to get just right. This made me think that being able to save a few colors and just be able to prod them and the little ring would go to the right position and that would really help out.
I think that’s all I can think of for now, thanks for this and I look forward to future versions.
A couple of final feature requests.
The first is that it saves your settings, I tend to start off my drawings the same I would when writing Kanji and need to use thin, vibrant lines so I can see them well and I would like that it remembered your settings (an auto save I guess) from each time you tinker with them.
The second is that you consider an undue option, I know it could conflict with the ability to review how a drawing was done so I propose that it become an option that disables the other and would stay that way unless you could figure out a way to use both without causing issues.
Thanks again for this and your time, feel free to email me if you want any more feedback.
What a smashing little app this is turning out to be!
I have been playing around with this since the first day I got my DS and have enjoyed it immensly :)
Its like having your own tiny Cintiq with you at all times :)
The pressure sensitivity and the quality of the “fluffy” brush are vastly improved in 1.06. I just wish that you could undo. Even just one step!
Toggling the top screen is much less important than the ability to undo, maybe the select key could be re-mapped?
The ability to draw a larger image would also be amazing. The images look great on the little screen, but when you put them on your computer you wish you could have done it a bit bigger!
Keep up the great work!
Damit is 2048×1536 big enough? Because you can redraw them that big with Ben Jaques’ java applet. Here is the link: http://colors.brombra.net/downloads.php
can you post a link to your DS to DS adhoc test here.
I downloaded it over at gbadev.
Do you have an updated version yet?
This program is simply amazing… really, its such a fantastic little ting i now have my ds with me everywhere! A couple of thing I can think of that might be useful though
1) a back-forward button for the record so that you can undo the last stroke from within the colour picker. if it wasnt for the occasional 2 fingers touching mistakes that draw great lines through the image this would not be an issue…
2) I think it ight be very useful to have a square brush… for buildings or the like. Just an idea, but I think one tht might be useful for hard edged drawing.
Anyways, I have to thank ya for this… I love it. It makes me happy and you have collected a few smiles since I started playing with it!
Here are a couple of my paintings so far:
http://www.sketchling.com/artwork/2007/dscolour_jpg/colors_slot2.jpg
http://www.sketchling.com/artwork/2007/dscolour_jpg/colors_slot3.jpg
Cheers
:) kim
Collecting smiles made my dreams real! Thank you very much for your work! It´s a amazing tool! ^__^v
Thanks for all the compiliments!
>Can you make the email to address feature more integrated
>so you don’t have to go to the gallery
No. It needs to go through a server, since it’s only the .drw that is actually uploaded. That’s also why it can be repainted in a higher resolution.
>and I close my system, upon opening it the program seems
>to freeze
Yes. I’ve heard about that bug, but haven’t been able to fix it yet.
>can you post a link to your DS to DS adhoc test here
I rather not. It’s just a test for development purposes. Once I get it up and running properly I’ll realease it.
>I think it ight be very useful to have a square brush
Yes. It’s possible that that will get in there in future version.
About the Undo suggestions. It’s a very hard problem for me to solve, since there isn’t enough memory in the DS for me to implement it directly. But I’m trying to find ways around it.
Thanks again!
Jens – Pictoblog intergration would rule! And the more ways you can share your pictures from Colours the better!
As for the undo feature , If i screw up completely in my drawing i have just done the playback and clicked stop before my screw up , then continued drawing from there.. so theres your way around that..
maybe you can do Undo in like 5 second steps or something.. just a thought, maybe its totally impractical.
would it be possible to add some music? something peaceful though like Mozart or Beethoven. It would be a great feature please try ☆☆☆☆
I don’t wish to spam – but I did what I said I would do.
I have got my blog set up to automatically post the pics directly from colours.
http://www.shadowreality.co.uk/?cat=9
My GF and I both find the playback feature in lieu of a undo rather burdensome since we both tend to just draw for hours.
Still haven’t gotten around to anything worth sharing though, I may enjoy drawing but my skills are rather limited since I just use it to occupy my exterior while I’m thinking about things.
As for the music, I suggest buying a separate player for that since Jens has already mentioned that the DS doesn’t have enough memory, even for something as simple as an undo option it seems.
Still, I hold out great hopes for an undo button. Really would make it a much easier program to use as a main drawing tool.
Hey Kim! Great works! Both colors and other media. How about putting those Colors drawing in the Colors gallery? http://colors.isthething.com
please help me. i have a max media dock and colors v1.5 and ive patched it a million times! and it still wont save. if someone could please help me. from austin
please help me. i have a max media dock and colors v1.5 and ive patched it a million times! and it still wont save pics. if someone could please help me. from austin
please help me. i have a max media dock and colors v1.5 and ive patched it a million times! and it still wont save pics. if someone could please help me. from austin.
Are you from the future? AFAIR the last released version was 1.06. AFAIK even 1.1 is not ready yet, so where did you got 1.5 is a question to me. btw. spamming your help plea will not get you anywhere, usually it works opposite.
Austin,
As far as I know Colors! shold work with max media dock. Since I don’t have one of those myself, I can’t give you any pointers. One thing to try is to post a question in the forum liked as Technical Discussion from the Colors! homepage and hope that someone can help you there.
Hey Stephen,
That’s really cool that you can post to your blog directly from Colors! I must fix that for myself. :)
thanks ill do that
by the way i love this app and i think it is the greatest drawing tool ever keep the great work up
Hi Jesse. I’ve just started using Colours. Well done! It turns the DS into such a useful little tool. I love things like this.
My take on things: As a Dpaint guy, it takes a bit of getting used to. I do find the colour selector could look easier/be a bit easier….simple palettes would be nice.
I am a bit of a pixeler so maybe it’s not the app for me…but I do find I’d like to be able to draw a solid straight coloured line…I don’t find it easy to achieve with the transparency thing…..no matter what I try and how hard I push the stylus……
I think a blur tool would be good so you could merge colours….
I know there are so many wish lists and only you doing this ….so sorry to go on! I am quite a fan of pixel art …it would be nice to be able to do this on Colours…but I guess it’s more like Artrage or something…..
I predefined set of brushes would be useful…to save using the slider….a la dpaint :))
Anyway just my take on things. It’s a brill bit of work Jesse. Thank you!
Hey Mikey,
It seems Colors! is not exactly meant to do what you would need. :)
Be sure to calibrate properly, so you can get fully opaque strokes. Also, you can disable the pressure sensitivity in the brush/palette screen and a blur tool is something I’ve been considering. Custom brushes are probably not something that will be implemented, since it would complicate the application too much for my taste.
Thanks for the feedback and the compliments
This Homebrew is just awesome. I love all the features but you could add a layout support for more complex compositions!
this might be a n00b question but how did u enlarge that cat drawing on the home page with out messing up the quality
this is the best thing anyones ever done.
Daniel,
That’s what I get for doing homepages in Word I guess. :)
You can get the uncompressed files of the cat painting at
http://colors.isthething.com/details.php?i=1
PingooDandy,
Thanks for the compliments. I don’t think I will add any form of layering och layout tools. It would make the application too compicated, and it’s meant to be really simple.
Hmmm… I want to email some pics to my wife at work, but I keep getting an error that says I can’t connect to the gallery and to try again later. I connect to my access point, but it won’t connect me to the gallery so I can send an email. It worked yesterday, but not today.
I love the program by the way, but if I can’t email the pics I don’t have much use for it. I sure hope the problem is temporary!
Ha! Oh that’s right! Funny I didn’t think of that. Cool, thanks for setting my brain straight.
And it looks like the email function is working again, so that’s cool too.