Nintendo DS / Colors! – Setup Tutorial

[monkeyzee]

Thanks for the infos but can you help me to be able to transfer the playback as well? is there such a way mate?its fine to transfer the finished artwork but what is more exciting is how its done that's why playback will be better..cheers

[Dizon]

Hi. I just got a DS for Xmas, and I just have a some questions regarding setting this up.

So the m3 and R4 already come with their own microsd card, right? Does that mean I don't need to purchase another microsd card? Or do I?

Thanks.

[Kfeeras]

Hey Peter, the homebrew Browser dont work properly, because the DS has too little TAM in it. You can buy the Opera Browser in a Pack with additional RAM.

[artmessiah]

I know this is a thread about Colors, and so far Colors is the most intuitive drawing app for DS for me thus far, but if you want another one with a little bit more features such as blur, smudge and bucket fill check out PHIDIAS

http://www.ds-xtra.com/Phidias

Again, it's not as intuitive as colors as far as GUI and functionality - the brushes lag the larger they get, but hey it's not bad for yet another DS drawing app.

Get the app at this link:

http://library.dev-scene.com/index.php?dir=DS/Applications%2007/Phidias/

[Spacemanchuck]

Bump!

So I just bought a DSi, I bought it in hopes of running colors on it.

Anybody done it yet?

[thedarkcloak]

Just picked this up... it's VERY addicting somehow...

It really reminds me of Open Canvas, in how it mixes colors and in the behaviours of the brush.

I just need to get used to the calibration settings, or find a setting that works really well for me, it keeps being hit or miss on me, especially if I start fiddling around with brush sizes... Hmm...

Very useful tool though, and the email function rocks. If anything, do some speedpaints in it, knock them into painter or photoshop, and refine and render til your heart's content there.

Thanks for this installation walk through as well. Made it really easy, and I didn't run into any snags at all (aside from digging around for a Wi-fi enabled game).

Question: I'm using the regular DS for this, is there an advantage to using the DS lite?

[thedarkcloak]

Well, it's actually my second - my first piece got lost when the system froze trying to connect to the wifi, which I had not set up yet... d'oh :(

[thedarkcloak]

Ok, more or less getting the calibration working for me.

Here's a lil sketch I did of the 'Biggyman' character from the old school 'Splatterhouse' game from Namco.

Maybe I'll blow this up and paint over it! :D

[AphexTweak]

After waiting for 3+ weeks to get my R4DS card, I finally got Colors up and running on my DS. Loving it thus far, and I can't wait to play with it some more. Thanks Jabo for the set up info. Followed the directions and everything worked perfectly.

[simulation11]

Great discussion. Thank you so much for your helpful instruction.:sungod:


simulation rachat credit (http://simulationrachatcredit.com)

[rachat024]

Wow! that's great work. Your post is quite very useful. You must be a good expert in this field.:lounge:

simulation rachat credit (http://simulationrachatcredit.com)

[dCepT]

Just got my CycloDS Evolution card with a 4gb SanDisk microSD, popped in colors and awaaay! No need to patch or anything :)

Jabo: Thanks for writing the instructions! Will post DS paintings in my SB in a few days :)

peace

dC

[Ravendell]

I wonder why no one made a patent over this, you'd be rich pretty quikly. Not to mention Wacom is your lifelong enemy.

[already710]

I think this forum has not had much information yet. Anyone who visits this forum should give their idea to support it. Thank you very much:asslick:
simulation credit (http://simulationcredit1.com)

[grenogs]

does anyone know if colors works on any other devices, like the ipod touch or the archos?

[MurdokX]

If you check out, http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/downloads.php it is available on the ipod touch! I tried it it doesn't feel intuitive, i prefer the ds

[meow44]

interesting. :ore:



simulation rachat de credit (http://simulationrachatdecredit.org)

[grenogs]

dont know if anyones interested, but colours is also made for the ipod touch, but theres also another little app very similer called brushes, it doesnt have the airbrush effect but it does have a nice little brush texture effect for those that like an uneven edge effect

[Arekkusu]

Thanks for the helpful tutorial! Have been looking to do this for awhile.

[mariatamis]

Its really nice and informative tutorial. I don't play much games anymore but I'd buy this small console just to doodle some stuff.
Thanks for share with us.

[Joe Photo]

This place rocks. This thread turned me onto Colors and I've been fooling with it all evening.

I didn't see it posted here, but there is a Java applet called Colors Draw that will redraw the image from the .DRW file to pretty much any resolution - no interpolation!

http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/downloads.php (scroll to the bottom)


Q: How big can I go?
A: We have tested it up to 20x original size, but theoretically you can go even higher if your memory permits. Please note that it gets pretty slow at higher multipliers. Here is quick image size chart:
1.0 = 512x384
2.0 = 1024x768
3.0 = 1536x1152
4.0 = 2048x1536
5.0 = 2560x1920
6.0 = 3073x2304
10.0 = 5120x3840
20.0 = 10240x7680

[SmallPoly]

I use Colors! on a Cyclos DS Evolution, and have noticed that battery life is a lot shorter than when using regular carts. I just ordererd a powermonkey charger and its gameboy adapter (seperate) from their UK website to give me some additional sketch time. It's supposed to add 5 hours of playtime to a PSP or 2 full charges to an iphone, so I figure it should get me a few extra hours of sketchtime/playtime. The one I got also included some solar panels, though it didn't say how fast it will charge with them, so I don't know how much additional time that will buy me.

A while back I tried a cheap battery pack I picked up from Gamestop, but it was faulty, so I returned it.

Has anyone else been using any sort of backup battery or charger?

[AA-ron]

hey all, ive been interested in getting a portable sketching system for quite a while and heard about the DS. this thread looks incredibly helpful. i do have a few questions tho.
i dont have a DS yet but im considering getting one so i can get colors. i was wondering how you all felt about this system and setup, considering im buying everything from scratch.

how is the battery life on the ds while sketching and is it advisable to get something other than batteries/power pack?

is it recommended to get the DS, DSlite, or the DSi?

i see that a lot of people have used the R4 cartridge adapter, but i am having difficulty finding it available anywhere, i believe it was replaced by the r4i... will that adapter work and does anyone knew of a reliable site that has these in stock?

any help on this would be great! thanks in advance!

[DeathByChris]

Has anybody heard of Inchworm for the DS it was developed by the same guy that did the rotoscoping software for movies like "A Scanner Darkly" and "Waking Life"
http://www.inchwormds.com/blog/

[AA-ron]

Has anybody heard of Inchworm for the DS it was developed by the same guy that did the rotoscoping software for movies like "A Scanner Darkly" and "Waking Life"
http://www.inchwormds.com/blog/

I found a youtube video on someone demoing off, what looks to be that program. Not too sure if this will help at all but there is a website listed in the more info section on the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C12oQalay9Q

Has anyone had any issues with the Gold R4i card or R4-Advanced? Im thinking of trying out both..

[SmallPoly]

how is the battery life on the ds while sketching and is it advisable to get something other than batteries/power pack?

Tested how long the game boy battery it will last from a full charge when idling in Colors!DS (lid open, full brightness, letting it sit on my desk while I work). It lasted for 4 hours 42 minutes. For normal DS games, it should last 10-14 hours at full brightness. I'm pretty sure the same thing happens no matter what mod card you use.

I haven't tested the time it lasts when constantly sketching yet, and i'm not all that interested in testing lower brightness levels.

My portable backup battery thing arrived yesterday, and still need to test that out. According to web info, the battery on the DS Lite has a storate capacity of 1000mAh. The portable battery I bought has a capacity of 2200mAH. So If it works at the same efficency level as the DS battery, it should give me an extra 10 hours, unless i'm misunderstanding how the capacity works.

That means if I wanted to, I could get up in the morning, pull out the DS and sketch on it continuously all day without ever needing to be near a plug, then charge it when I go to bed at night.

[AA-ron]

I suppose thats not bad at all, considering its a portable tablet. Still looking into either a Cyclods or the R4..
I hear most of the R4s out there now are rip offs and its hit or miss whether you get one that works or not, but its certainly a lot more cheap than the Cyclods.
Thanks for the battery info, sounds like you should get just about double the battery life with 2200 pack.

[SmallPoly]

So looks like Bintendo recently announced a larger version of the DSi - the DSi LL. Bigger screen = closer to the cheap portable cintiq we all want, so I figured it was relevant to this thread. Battery life seems to be a little lower on this version.

Screen Size
• DSi LL: 4.2 inches
• DSi: 3.2 inches
• DS Lite: 3 inches

Hardware Size
• DSi LL (across): 161mm (6.34in)
• DSi (across): 137mm (5.39in)
• DS Lite (across): 133mm (5.23in)

• DSi LL (front to back): 94.4mm (3.72in)
• DSi (front to back): 74.9mm (2.95in)
• DS Lite (front to back): 73.9mm (2.91in)

• DSi LL (thickness): 21.2mm (0.83in)
• DSi (thickness): 18.9mm (0.74in)
• DS Lite: 21.5mm (0.85in)

[bLux]

I suppose thats not bad at all, considering its a portable tablet. Still looking into either a Cyclods or the R4..
I hear most of the R4s out there now are rip offs and its hit or miss whether you get one that works or not, but its certainly a lot more cheap than the Cyclods.
Thanks for the battery info, sounds like you should get just about double the battery life with 2200 pack.

This might be too late for you, but it could help other people as well...

but, I would recommend the R4, if it wasn't for the sole fact of 90% of the cartridges being fake. I did receive a fake one and it even told me when I attempted to use it. The legit copies of the R4(as far as I know) are the normal, "R4 DS cart". Not R4 SDHC or the other versions that claim to be the newest or allow for extra memory.

However, I have had a legit R4 for awhile and have the most up-to-date Colors! program, yet my soft-edge brush doesn't look soft on the DS. I don't know if it's a problem related to my microSD card, DS, or the R4. I posted in the Colors! forums and no one really knew what was wrong. The soft-edges look like they would in Photoshop if you were using a large soft-edge round brush in a low DPI. Instead of a smooth gradient, there are "steps". However, if I were to transfer the image over to my computer, it looks fine. Has anyone experience this before?

[shinobitoshi]

Can't say I have an issue with colors!

Has anyone heard anything about the v1.1 update that was supposed to be released? it sounded like it was going to have some nice features.

[SmallPoly]

From what I'm hearing, only the original DS and DS Lite have pressure sensitivity, and neither the DSi or DSi LL have it. :-(

[AustenFM]

Awesome, I just got my R4 card in the mail today, and this was so easy to set up, I can't wait to get into this!

[Munin Raven]

Has anyone heard anything about the v1.1 update that was supposed to be released? it sounded like it was going to have some nice features.

Basically, it will be done when it's done. Users have suggested a few things and one or two of them might be implemented ontop of the new features/refinements listed at the beginning of this thread (http://forum.brombra.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=847).

I'm looking forward to the full-screen pressure calibration as my old DSi is on it's last legs.

[thedarkcloak]

The newest version of Colors! just came out, you guys...
BIG improvements, more tools, UNDO?!?, more zoom levels, and a few other tweaks.

Only thing is, for some reason, I can't figure out how to tweak the wi-fi on my DS without a game cart... anyone have any ideas? Are there any stand alone homebrew apps that are just for setting up Wi-fi on an R4?

Anyway, enjoy the new version!

[azion]

This is a good reason to get a DS.

[mrd33ds]

so do i need the R4 in order to use this on my DSi L? its got a sd slot on it. so wouldnt that take out the need to even need the R4?

I guess what im wondering is, are these not sold at local electronic stores? I cant seem to find any places that sell them, bc i dont like buying online. kty

[Eterart]

I have already get it, anyway thks for sharing :D

[mrd33ds]

Just ordered my r4 bc i cannot seem to find one anywhere local...its africa, nothing is local, but i wish i would have known i needed this when i purchased my ds.

also this is the one i bought, is this a good site? it was referenced by a review article.

http://www.r4ds-ds.com/products/R4i-SDHC-V1.4.1-with-Kingston-TF-4GB-Card-p-169.html

thanks

[tobbA]

More like a 'compliment'. I'm looking forward to the 3DS version. Too bad it won't have pressure sensitivity though.

[tobbA]

Don't know how many people still check this thread or care... But there's been some info about the 3DS-version of colors. http://www.collectingsmiles.com/news/colors-3d-dev-diary-%E2%80%93-painting-in-3d/

Appearently it'll support five different layers. And if you want you can make those layes 3d. :)

[daflom]

a very good review of the upcoming 3ds version by munin (a great ds painter):
http://munin-sketchblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/colors-3ds-preview.html