An advanced (yet retro-inspired) paint and drawing application targeting the Nintendo 64 platform.
This toolset demonstrates how far we can push the N64 hardware for creative purposes.
Paint Studio 64 (PS64) is structured as a series of .c, .h, and .S files covering everything from memory-optimized routines (like fast_memcpy.S) to a full layer/brush system, advanced filters, voice commands, and more. The application is designed to run on real N64 hardware or through emulators (with a suitable N64 development toolchain).
Key Goals:
- Provide a multi-layer paint environment (up to 6 layers if an Expansion Pak is present).
- Allow dynamic resizing of the canvas, capping at 640×480 on 4 MB systems and up to 1024×1024 when 8 MB is detected.
- Demonstrate advanced features like blur, sharpen, selection tools, custom brushes, undo/redo stacks, and multiplayer co-op.
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Canvas & Layers
- Multiple layers with visibility/opacity controls, reordering, and dynamic resizing/rotation.
- Canvas detection of Expansion Pak, enabling higher resolutions only if memory allows.
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Brush System
- Built-in brushes plus a customizable brush editor for shape/texture-based painting.
- Pressure-based brush strokes (for simulating partial transparency).
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Advanced Filters
- Blur, sharpen, grayscale, sepia, and a simple “bucket fill” approach.
- Non-destructive adjustment layers for brightness/contrast.
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Selection Tools
- Rectangular or freeform (mask-based) selection.
- Copy, paste, move, and invert selections.
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Undo/Redo
- Stores up to 10 snapshots with descriptions and timestamps.
- Separate stack used for redo operations.
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Audio & Voice
- Basic SFX for painting actions (e.g., brush/goma).
- Stubs for local voice recognition and external VR libraries (e.g., pocketsphinx).
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Multiplayer & Competitions
- Up to 4 local players can draw simultaneously.
- Timed “competition” modes for added fun.
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Export System
- Save final output in raw RGB565 or compressed RLE.
- Basic metadata embedding (layer count, notes, etc.).
All source code files currently reside at the top level (e.g., transferpak_base.c, tools_advanced.h, etc.). For larger-scale development, you can optionally move them into more specialized folders like src/, include/, etc.
Key modules of note:
fast_memcpy.S: MIPS assembly for optimized memory transfers.layer_system.*: Manages multi-layer painting.undo_system.*: Undo/redo snapshot system.selection_system.*: Rectangular and freeform selection.advanced_filters.*: Core image filters (blur, sharpen, grayscale, etc.).multiplayer.*,multiplayer_competitions.*: 2–4 player local co-op features.main.c: Entry point tying everything together.
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N64 Toolchain
- You’ll need a Nintendo 64 dev kit or modern toolchain (like libdragon) to compile and produce a
.n64or.z64ROM.
- You’ll need a Nintendo 64 dev kit or modern toolchain (like libdragon) to compile and produce a
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Recommended Flags
- MIPS3 or MIPS2 code generation,
-O2or-O3for speed. - Link in the
.Sfile forfast_memcpy.
- MIPS3 or MIPS2 code generation,
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Running on Emulator
- Use an emulator that supports the Transfer Pak and any custom hardware calls if you want to test those features fully.
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Hardware
- On real N64 with 4 MB RAM, the canvas is capped at 640×480.
- With the Expansion Pak (8 MB), you can push up to 1024×1024 and more layers.
- No PNG/JPEG export: Images are stored in raw RGB565 or RLE.
- No AI Tools: We excluded advanced AI-based painting or detection.
- Basic voice recognition is mostly a stub or mock; real integration requires specialized libraries and might exceed the N64’s typical memory constraints.
We welcome suggestions or pull requests to refine the code:
- Fork the repo and create a feature branch.
- Implement your improvements (memory optimizations, better filters, etc.).
- Test thoroughly on an emulator or (if available) real hardware.
- Submit a pull request describing your changes.
Feel free to open issues if you spot bugs or have feature requests.
Enjoy exploring how far you can push painting software on classic hardware!