#component studio

People are absolutely loving Component.Studio. Here’s some of the most recent tweets about it.

Component Studio has only been around a week and people are already wondering how they got along without it! Hundreds of people have signed up, and above are just some of the awesome things people have been saying about it.

Over the past week we’ve released a bunch of new features:

By popular demand we have added a 1 day free trial of the system so you can kick the tires.

There is now a full ideas system so you can tell us what features you need.

You can now export your designs to share with others. (And import them of course.)

Data sets are now sortable.

You can now duplicate designs or data sets if you want to work on alternate versions of the same thing.

Photoshop style blending options can be enabled under the advanced section of most steps.

Font shadows now have blur and opacity options.

You can duplicate a step from back to face, and face to back with a single button click. 

There are collapse all / expand all buttons in the designer to collapse/expand all steps at once.

You can download fonts directly from the font manager.

When editing a design, you can download the currently rendered image.

The data set editor now shows a sum of the quantity field. 

There is a plural() function as part of the template system now to make it easy to pluralize text based upon quantity. 

Fit text to box has been changed to allow a really tiny 5px font (down from a minimum of 30px).

The image chooser is now project aware.

If you create a helpful video or blog post about Component Studio we’ll give you $25 in shop credit for each that you create! 

Rules

Videos and articles can be about any aspect of Component Studio that you like. Here are a few ideas:

How to use project variables.

What are Data Sets?

How to use a step like Add Image Grid.

How to make an icon font.

A beginner’s guide to template variables.

It doesn’t need to be super long. Videos can be a few minutes and articles a few paragraphs. 

Don’t worry if someone else (including The Game Crafter) has already made a video on the topic. Yours will come from a unique perspective: you. And that might just be what someone else needs to figure something out.

You may submit as many videos and articles as you like. We will review submissions to make sure they are helpful and relevant. Each approved article/video will earn you $25 in TGC shop credit.

Email your submissions to [email protected].

This offer is good for at least the first 100 videos/blog posts we approve. If we’re still getting good content after that we may also extend it.

Comments continue to pour in from users loving Component Studio. We couldn’t be more ecstatic that Component Studio is helping so many people automate most of the heavy lifting of image assembly for their games.

We’re not resting on our laurels however. We’ve got a bunch of new features for you!

We now have a CMYK export system so that you can generate PDF files that are compatible with Panda, Wingo, Long Pack, and other long run printers.

Added an overprint black option to the Add Text step to ensure crisp looking black text on CMYK exports.

Hitting the refresh button in the designer now updates CS’s locally cached files with a new version from external sources like Dropbox.

Added global project variables that can be used in both Data Sets and Designs.

Added Data Set variables that can be used to build dynamic data sets.

You can now replace images in the image manager by clicking on them, and then everything that uses that image will be automatically updated.

Added rulers in the designer so that it’s easier to place items.

We now fully support UTF-8 characters so that you can type in any language you like. Note that the font must support that language.

You can now reorganize columns in Data Sets.

Struggling with slow load times, missing exports, or lag in Component Studio 3?

In this video, Andrew V. walks through practical, real-world ways to improve performance—especially when working with large image libraries and complex designs.

You’ll learn how to:

Optimize image sizes and formats Manage large image collections Exclude folders from inline images Exclude Images from Designs Improve performance by limiting layer dependencies

If your projects are slowing down or failing to export correctly, these tips will help you get back to designing smoothly. If you have questions, visit the Component Studio community on Facebook, Discord, Reddit, or leave a comment below.