New SP-Studio suggestions

Regarding transparent png files: This wish is on my list, because I'd like it a lot. But I haven't asked Lars yet because there is more pressure to get the main features ready for launch. But we will look into it and see if this is possible as an extra update after launch.

Regarding a color picker: It's nice to have a wide range of colors and it would actually be possible to include this. But I decided against it. This will need a bit of explaining, so sorry for the wall of text that's about to follow.

I use my own color palette to be able to assign three different shades (light, dark, very dark) to every color. You can best see these shades in the hairstyles: When you pick the color "red" for your hair the highlights and shadows change to colors which I assigned to the color "red". It's a bit chaotic now, but I improved it for the new SP-Studio.

If I'd use a color picker all shades would be calculated automatically and I'd have no controll over it. This works fine for most colors, like red or green or brown. But it gets tricky with very light ot very dark colors. Especially yellow and blue. If yellow is darkened by the same amount like a dark blue the dark areas in the yellow look very dark - and the ones in the dark blue look too light. In addition yellow or orange gets a "dirty" look, because automatical shades usually look grey. I don't like this about color pickers and prefer to be able to assign my own colors for the shades. For example I mix the shades for yellow with a bit of orange instead of just gray. I think it looks better, so this is why I stick to the palette.

Janina I have an idea: Separate left and right hands, and make them two objects. This way, you could mix and match different types (and colours) of hands, and even make some limited poses!

Unfortunately this would make it more complicated for those users who just want to build a character as easy as possible. It's difficult to listen to every feedback and to decide which road to follow... but while the creative users are more vocal I know those who enjoy the simplicity are a much bigger group. So while I want to give you as much freedom as possible to be creative I still want to make sure you can build a character quickly.

I though about using the basic hands as base and then you could put single different hands on top of them. But the problem is the thumb which would be in the way.

But there is one change in the new SP-Studio that might help! The plan is to have an option which allows you to have multiple sets of hands in one picture. Since you can move and flip them freely this will make it possible to combine them in new ways. This is on our list for launch or the next update after launch, depending on how difficult it is to include. I will tell more about it when it's final.

I don't think this would be very helpful, because none of the clothes, hair-styles, ears and other items would fit the wider body?

I actually add some new hands for the new SP-Studio, and these are good suggestions!

I hope so as well. It should attract more users if the SP-Studio runs smoothly on mobile devices. And I would be very happy if some of them will join the forum or contests to become an active part of this community.

Unfortunately I am not very good at promoting myself. Today you need to go out there and tell the world about your project, because everybody does so. But I am more of an introvert and always feel bad when I praise my work, even if I think it deserves attention. I know when the new SP-Studio launches I really have to promote it and be more confident. For example I will try to reactivate my DeviantArt account, because DeviantArt is a good way to reach out to South Park fan artists. I also plan to use Instagram in a better way. It's easier to reach new people there with pictures compared to Facebook or Twitter. So I have some plans to attract new users and hope this will help to revitalize the forum.

Ugh.. and I just realized I have to create a new video for Patreon, because it should show the new SP-Studio instead of the old one. This will take some time.

I would recommend to create one or more video tutorials for YouTube on how to use SP-Studio. YouTube is much more popular than DeviantArt. Plus people rather use DeviantArt to present there own art whereas YouTube is often used as some sort of search engine.

I was thinking about this before, but unfortunately I am not good at video editing. I know how to do it, but the one video for Patreon took me several weeks. And if I start an official SP-Studio YT channel I want these tutorial videos to have a certain degree of quality, so I won't just record me and publish this.

But you are right... it would be good to at least have something official on YouTube, even if it's just one video as a start. I just don't think I will find the time before spring.

Do you prefer tutorial videos with bad voice over or just text? I feel like I can make it look more professional if I don't talk over it.

Well, a tutorial wouldn't be live like your streams. You could script it and try it multiple times. So I think a voice-over wouldn't be that bad.

I will see how it turns out.

But I just realized something: I cannot do this before March. We are currently planning to have one additional "after-launch" update around March. It will include features which will not be ready for launch day. So it makes sense to record the tutorial videos after this update, because some things might still change with it.

Content updates with new items are a different thing of course. As soon as the new SP-Studio launches my plan is to have one of these per month. The first one will be the Steampunk update I already started working on.

Quote from ArtisticFangirl

Why March?? Sorry if I’m being way too impatient but why the New SP-Studio can’t have the extra update around late January or early February? I’m just asking.

It takes a lot of time to code new features and make sure everything runs smoothly on every browser. Usually things like this are done by a bigger team, but Lars has to do all of the coding on his own. I can only help with the design part since I cannot code in React. Both of us have our daily jobs so we can only work on the SP-Studio in our free time after work or on weekends. So March is a realistic time frame for a second update - and I won't force Lars to be faster, because I know he already is really fast. He does not owe anything to anybody here. And he works on this project for way less than what would be a regular payment.

You know, software development is not cheap. We are speaking of thousands of dollars here. Usually you have to pay freelance developers a lot of money for a professional piece of software like this. Especially people with the experience Lars has. While I earn some money with donations there are not enough donations to hire a professional team and tell them: "This has to be finished in two months, go!" So unless the SP-Studio users start to donate more money we all have to accept that things take their time. Of course I am always happy about donations by impatient people who want to change this! But most prefer to wait a little longer as long as they don't have to pay.

There was another option. Instead of voluntarily donations I could have switched to a paywall and paid content. This way I'd be able to earn more money and invest it into the development process. But would you prefer this? I always wanted the SP-Studio to be a tool which can be used by everybody, even if they don't have money to pay for it.

Perhaps I should not have mentioned the plans for this second update yet... The launch version will have all important features. This is the main goal we want to achieve, and everything that comes afterwards is just a nice little bonus. And of course it all depends on if Lars wants to continue after launch day. We should be deeply grateful if he does a second update at all. It is very kind of him to offer this.

I guess even Janina's days only have 24 hours.