Nintendo DS / Colors! – Setup Tutorial

**Joe Photo** · September 13th, 2009, 04:21 AM

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** · October 2nd, 2009, 07:28 PM

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** · October 3rd, 2009, 04:10 PM

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** · October 4th, 2009, 12:33 PM

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** · October 8th, 2009, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by 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/

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** · October 9th, 2009, 09:02 PM

Originally Posted by AA-ron

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** · October 11th, 2009, 07:07 PM

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** · October 30th, 2009, 05:12 PM

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** · December 9th, 2009, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by 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.

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** · February 10th, 2010, 02:28 AM

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** · February 22nd, 2010, 02:59 PM

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** · March 8th, 2010, 04:22 PM

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** · March 20th, 2010, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by shinobitoshi

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.

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

**thedarkcloak** · October 7th, 2010, 03:12 PM

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** · October 25th, 2010, 02:30 AM

This is a good reason to get a DS.

**mrd33ds** · November 8th, 2010, 03:08 PM

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** · November 9th, 2010, 03:45 AM

I have already get it, anyway thks for sharing

**mrd33ds** · November 9th, 2010, 07:55 AM

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-...ard-p-169.html

thanks

**tobbA** · October 18th, 2011, 12:10 PM

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

**tobbA** · October 30th, 2011, 04:15 PM

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...ainting-in-3d/

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