Transmission from RustForge 🎙️
v5.4.0.0 brings a massive overhaul to how RustForge navigates the canvas. By introducing the new Serpentine Scanline and locking down start/end stamp movements, I've effectively killed the remaining specking issues. Oh, and the Image Editor? It's basically a mini-Photoshop now, loaded with the tools you need to tweak your art on the fly.
This is a massive milestone for painting efficiency and prep.
Patch Highlights
Serpentine Scanline: Re-engineered the classic scanline to snake back and forth, drastically cutting down travel time.
Bulletproof Stamping: Forced stamp movements at the start and end of every line/pixel to ensure Unity never drops an input.
Smart Pathing: The "Cluster Weave" painting method has been officially refined and renamed to "Smart Pathing".
Auto-Lock PC: Added a "Lock PC When Finished" toggle so you can walk away while it paints and keep your rig secure.
Advanced Image Editor Tools: Added new Skew (Shear), Rotate (Angle), and Stretch features.
Full Color Control: Added Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Hue sliders directly into the editor.
Balancing & Logic
The REVAMPED Serpentine Scanline
The Challenge: The old scanline method wasted time resetting the cursor to the left side of the canvas for every single row. Furthermore, the engine was still occasionally dropping the very first or last pixel of a line segment because the physical mouse coordinates didn't register the exact transition before the loop moved on.
The Fix: The scanline now zig-zags! It paints left-to-right, drops a row, and paints right-to-left, slashing wasted travel time. More importantly, I've hardcoded a forced stamp movement at the start and end of every line and standalone pixel. This guarantees the Unity engine catches the input. Your lines will start exactly where they should and end exactly where they should.
Smart Pathing
The Challenge: Traditional color-by-color drawing methods often resulted in chaotic cursor jumps across the entire canvas just to find the next pixel. This wasted time and risked engine instability due to massive, erratic mouse movements.
The Fix: Completely refined into the new "Smart Pathing" method. RustForge now mathematically calculates the shortest distance to the next nearest line segment, seeking and filling color clusters locally. It paints exactly like a human artist would, eliminating massive cross-canvas jumps and maximizing engine stability. Highly recommended for complex images and characters!
Fixes & UI Polishes
The Image Editor Overhaul & QoL Features
The Bug/Need: Users were having to prep their images in third-party software before bringing them into RustForge just to tweak the colors or fix the aspect ratio. Also, users wanted a way to safely step away from their desks during multi-hour masterpiece paints without leaving their desktop completely unlocked.
The Fix: The Image Editor just leveled up. You can now tweak Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Hue directly in the app. Need to fit a weirdly shaped sign? Use the new Skew, Rotate, and Stretch tools to perfectly align your image. Finally, I added a "Lock PC When Finished" toggle, go to bed, let RustForge do the work, and wake up to a finished painting and a securely locked Windows desktop.
📈 Known Issues
HD Canvas Scaling (The Moiré Effect)
If you zoom in heavily on large canvases like the Large Banner on Pole or the XL Picture Frame, the Rust 1.00 brush will physically be too small to cover the bot's 1-pixel movement steps, leaving microscopic gaps.
Fix: Do not zoom in while mapping/painting large banners. If you must zoom in, increase your Rust brush size to 1.20 - 2.00 to bridge the gaps!
Line Mode on Tiny Details still won't provide much of a speed boost on highly dithered images.