The Layer-Centric, Anime Rendering system
chroma home > Uh...Ano?
Uh...Ano? Translation: "What's this about?" For years I studied 3D graphics, and 3D programming. I wrote papers and engines along the way, but in the end, I just couldn't model. That is, I couldn't put together a 3D character to save my life. I can model artifical objects, but not the organic. All this time my interest was to write a computer Role-Playing Game (CPRG) entitled City of Light: InterLock. It wasn't until three years after I started working on it that a well-intentioned friend slapped me up-the-side-of-the-head and told me to not do 3D. The problem with not doing 3D is the only other option is sprites. The thought the game being told through 32x32 pixel blocks made me shiver. Chroma is a Macro-sprite engine. Instead of small images, it uses screen sized graphics in high-end color. The idea is to create a anime image in a layer based graphics program like Adobe Photoshop, or the open-source GIMP. The layers are the macro-sprites, called up by the engine in JPEG format. Chroma is only half of the system. DEML is an XML/HTML-like language that instructs Chroma where, and when to put images on the screen. DEML can also perform simple arithmatic, comparison, and logical operations. Would this even work? If you watch the majority of most one episode from any series, Eva, Lain, etc., entire minutes of screentime is taken up by no more than camera cuts and mouth movement. This means that most of the time, only a small part of the screen is moving at any time. A computer can accomplish this task wonderfully. Sounds great...*scoff* on Windows! Chroma is written on a neat little library known as the Simple DirectMedia Layer, or SDL. This means that whatever SDL is ported to, Chroma can run on it. At this time, this includes Linux, Mac OS, Windows, BeOS and several other platforms. Who's DE? Denizen Entertainment is a cooperative dedicated to creating original, and compelling entertainment content in videogames, webcomics, stories, film, and whatever else we can get our grimy little fingers on.