iOS Graphic design tools, what's your tool of choice?

[1458279]

I've been looking at tools that aren't included in the Xcode setup. Specifically for graphic design.

I'm thinking more in line with game development. I saw Adobe has a buch of products and some in the $5K range (a bit out of the price range) and I guess unity has everything built into it's engine, but they also want 25% of your take if your app takes off.

I haven't used graphics programs for a while, and don't want to waste time/money on a program that won't meet all the needs of a full game app.

Basically I'd be looking towards 2d graphics like you'd see in Overkill (free app) as well as 3d like Infinity Blade. I'm looking into the engines simular to unity as well.

Do you guys use a seperate program for graphics?
Is there an industry leader that stands out for ease of use/power that's at a more reasonable price ($5K isn't going to work for me)
I'd also rather not have several programs that only do a part of this, it might be better to have one program that can take care of all the graphics needs.

Thanks...

 

[dantastic]

I haven't checked the apps you mention but;

for 2d graphics you create a bunch of static images that are animated. Adobe really is king of the hill but comes with a hefty price tag.

I use Pixelmator which will only set you back something like $29. I find it a small bit awkward and it's missing a lot of features I'm looking for (Or I can't find them). I was hoping for more and will likely go back to Gimp.

I'd recommend Gimp. It's running best on Linux and last time I tried it on Mac it was cumbersome and buggy but that may well have changed. Gimp really is a lean mean photoshop competitor - completely free of charge. Def. try it out.

For 3d you still need one of the above for textures & stuff. You then build your character, enemies, world + dog in your 3d program.

For games development Blender seems to be the most popular/compatible program out there. Followed by Maya but Maya will set you back a lot of money. Blender is free, comes with a lot of tutorials and a large user community. It may be slightly less intuitive than the more expensive alternatives but...

The engine then is a library that will make your characters move using only minimal amount of code. - This is currently where I'm stuck myself. You can write your own engine but let's face it, that would be a pain. I will probably go with SIO2. (that's for 3d)

 

[1458279]

Thanks! Those actually look like great choices!
Looks like I'll be setting a Linix boot drive More to learn, more to learn...