Scalability is another factor. There are enough tools already in existence (or nearly so) that it should be within reach to enjoy the higher quality of vector imagery (such as SVG or LDraw code) for those patterns that would benefit (such as text-based decorations).
We can already:
We think we can soon:
So given a source PNG, yes we can already put that right into TEXMAP (and for certain images, that's preferable anyway), but we're not all that far from being able to take one or two largely automated steps to go to something more scalable and with better resolution. We could also add additional functionality, like selective color replacement (as part of the mapping protocol) so that redundant patterns need not be made simply because they differ in color.
The above tools still need refinement, to be sure, but that doesn't preclude thinking about what the necessary spec should be.
We can already:
- convert a bitmap source image to SVG (via Inkscape)
- convert a bitmap source image to LDraw (via img4dat, which also has planned support for SVG)
- convert SVG to LDraw (via svg2ldraw and 1 or 2 others)
We think we can soon:
- project LDraw geometry onto LDraw geometry (via an expansion of the TEXMAP spec)
So given a source PNG, yes we can already put that right into TEXMAP (and for certain images, that's preferable anyway), but we're not all that far from being able to take one or two largely automated steps to go to something more scalable and with better resolution. We could also add additional functionality, like selective color replacement (as part of the mapping protocol) so that redundant patterns need not be made simply because they differ in color.
The above tools still need refinement, to be sure, but that doesn't preclude thinking about what the necessary spec should be.