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Here's my problem. It works, fairly well. But I spent about 15 minutes doing one panel, trying to figure out the minor nuances. I kept thinking to myself "I co

Here's my problem. It works, fairly well. But I spent about 15 minutes doing one panel, trying to figure out the minor nuances. I kept thinking to myself "I could do a whole comic in about 5 minutes in photoshop" as I adjusted the person's location, arm, speech, etc (and that was just modifying the characters that were already in the scene). In the end it was just not worth it in my mind. Also, imagine creating something like Randalls "Click and Drag" comic (xkcd.com/1110/) -- how would you create all these custom objects in the editor without changing it into something similar to an HTML5 web-photoshop, at which point you might as well do that?

dr_win 14y ago
Yes, this a prototype and definitely not for everyone. It has many downsides. I agree Photoshop gives you full pixel control. I think it has some upsides too. You may treat comix source as html code and apply tools we have for coding today, eg. diffs, version control, collaboration via github. People may also collaborate on library of items, actors and their poses, so you don't have to re-create them or copy&pase all the time. Also localisation will be a snap. And it will possibly allow animations in the future. Actually I built this for a bigger project. I want to explain Bitcoin technically in the form of XKCD comix. This won't be one-off comix strip. This will be something like wiki/book which will evolve and I hope it will attract other contributors (not necessarily graphic designers).
- eggbrain 14y ago
  I agree it has some great upsides. I love the idea of localization, and version control is nice to easily revert changes, etc. Having a scalable comic that can change text on the fly is something that I've been hoping for for a long time. But I think you're strongest element is the WYSIWYG editor, as most people aren't going to be coding from only the HTML view (unless they know what pose="-11,9|-5,117|-11,99" will look like in their heads). But the WYSIWIG interface is still pretty anemic, meaning I'm going to run into roadblocks faster (such as -- how do I create something like a tree? How can I add a hat to the man?).
  - dr_win 14y ago
    I want to provide a nice blend between visual editing and source code editing (I'm a developer). Poses and transformations should be edited visually, but scene structure should be edited by hand via the code. This way you get total control over document structure. Creating good visual-only editor would require too much work and maybe it is not possible at all. Do you know any successful FrontPage-style HTML editor? Quite frankly, I don't need it myself, so that is the primary reason, I'm probably not going to build it at this point. Heads should be customizable in the future: https://github.com/darwin/cmx.js/blob/master/app/lib/cmx/entities/actor.coffee#L88 https://github.com/darwin/cmx.js/blob/master/app/lib/cmx/ent... Actually the system already supports attach points, so you can attach items to hands, foots and necks (right now the bubble is attached by default to a head bone). The last generic piece which is missing will be <drawing> element. Right now it just allows you to specify lines. In the future it will enable you to insert any SVG which is convertible down to paths. I will just resample them and convert them into XKCD-style lines while keeping other styling. This will enable you to insert arbitrary SVG drawings in the scene. I won't create web-based photoshop for SVGs, I will let you import SVG created in other tools as long it is convertible to paths. Imagine it as embedding bitmap images into HTML files. This will be similar idea.
- tarr11 14y ago
  OP is missing the point - the markup idea is brilliant. The WYSIWIG will come in it's million forms later and you shouldn't focus on it. I just need comix.vim and I'm good. I'm imagining real time comics. Chat comics. Comic discussion forums. It's endless! ;)
  - evanb 14y ago
    It'd be like MUDding but with pictures!
  - vidarh 14y ago
    > Chat comics. It'll be 1996 all over again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Comic_Chat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Comic_Chat
    - sosuke 14y ago
      Damn, good memories of that, forgot what it was called!
- jack-r-abbit 14y ago
  > And it will possibly allow animations in the future. That was my first thought when I saw the markup. Brilliant work!
raylu 14y ago
I suspect you are not part of his target audience.
gus_massa 14y ago
I like this, but it's difficult to use and I expect that only the WYSIWYG will be a success. (Drag some control points, like foots or knees.) But on another hand, some things are more complicated that one expects. Can you really draw well enough? Can you share an example of a xkcd-style comic?
andyjohnson0 14y ago
Perhaps a higher-level comic description language that generates the html markup? A bit like the way that LaTeX generates TeX. It could have predefined 'styles' for character appearance, body posture, gestures, etc. Also the ability to embed lower-level html markup in the higher level description. Perhaps I need to get back to doing some actual work...

dr_win 14y ago

Yes, this a prototype and definitely not for everyone. It has many downsides. I agree Photoshop gives you full pixel control. I think it has some upsides too. You may treat comix source as html code and apply tools we have for coding today, eg. diffs, version control, collaboration via github. People may also collaborate on library of items, actors and their poses, so you don't have to re-create them or copy&pase all the time. Also localisation will be a snap. And it will possibly allow animations in the future. Actually I built this for a bigger project. I want to explain Bitcoin technically in the form of XKCD comix. This won't be one-off comix strip. This will be something like wiki/book which will evolve and I hope it will attract other contributors (not necessarily graphic designers).

eggbrain 14y ago
I agree it has some great upsides. I love the idea of localization, and version control is nice to easily revert changes, etc. Having a scalable comic that can change text on the fly is something that I've been hoping for for a long time. But I think you're strongest element is the WYSIWYG editor, as most people aren't going to be coding from only the HTML view (unless they know what pose="-11,9|-5,117|-11,99" will look like in their heads). But the WYSIWIG interface is still pretty anemic, meaning I'm going to run into roadblocks faster (such as -- how do I create something like a tree? How can I add a hat to the man?).
- dr_win 14y ago
  I want to provide a nice blend between visual editing and source code editing (I'm a developer). Poses and transformations should be edited visually, but scene structure should be edited by hand via the code. This way you get total control over document structure. Creating good visual-only editor would require too much work and maybe it is not possible at all. Do you know any successful FrontPage-style HTML editor? Quite frankly, I don't need it myself, so that is the primary reason, I'm probably not going to build it at this point. Heads should be customizable in the future: https://github.com/darwin/cmx.js/blob/master/app/lib/cmx/entities/actor.coffee#L88 https://github.com/darwin/cmx.js/blob/master/app/lib/cmx/ent... Actually the system already supports attach points, so you can attach items to hands, foots and necks (right now the bubble is attached by default to a head bone). The last generic piece which is missing will be <drawing> element. Right now it just allows you to specify lines. In the future it will enable you to insert any SVG which is convertible down to paths. I will just resample them and convert them into XKCD-style lines while keeping other styling. This will enable you to insert arbitrary SVG drawings in the scene. I won't create web-based photoshop for SVGs, I will let you import SVG created in other tools as long it is convertible to paths. Imagine it as embedding bitmap images into HTML files. This will be similar idea.
tarr11 14y ago
OP is missing the point - the markup idea is brilliant. The WYSIWIG will come in it's million forms later and you shouldn't focus on it. I just need comix.vim and I'm good. I'm imagining real time comics. Chat comics. Comic discussion forums. It's endless! ;)
- evanb 14y ago
  It'd be like MUDding but with pictures!
- vidarh 14y ago
  > Chat comics. It'll be 1996 all over again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Comic_Chat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Comic_Chat
  - sosuke 14y ago
    Damn, good memories of that, forgot what it was called!
jack-r-abbit 14y ago
> And it will possibly allow animations in the future. That was my first thought when I saw the markup. Brilliant work!

raylu 14y ago

I suspect you are not part of his target audience.

gus_massa 14y ago

I like this, but it's difficult to use and I expect that only the WYSIWYG will be a success. (Drag some control points, like foots or knees.) But on another hand, some things are more complicated that one expects. Can you really draw well enough? Can you share an example of a xkcd-style comic?

andyjohnson0 14y ago

Perhaps a higher-level comic description language that generates the html markup? A bit like the way that LaTeX generates TeX. It could have predefined 'styles' for character appearance, body posture, gestures, etc. Also the ability to embed lower-level html markup in the higher level description. Perhaps I need to get back to doing some actual work...