I'm trying to find some nice stone images and board textures (well...one of each would be enough for now!) for my android app noGo, with the requirement that they be distributed under a free license. I found a few examples online, and a previous thread on this forum with some really nice ones, but the copyright on most of the images is unclear and there aren't any stone ones.

So...does anyone know of any freely available images that can be used for any of these things? Thanks!

amnal, what are the requirements ? JPEG, and resolutions, lighting, etc. ?

Good question!

Overall I think probably
- format: Anything should be okay - png, jpeg, gif or whatever.
- resolutions: I think overall I'd hope for at least 400x400 pixels covering a full board, which I hope should be fine (even if scaled up a little) for the immediate phone sized screen. Ideally I guess as large as possible, right up into a couple of megapixels, since large tablet screens can have such high resolutions.
- lighting: I don't have much feel for this other than 'well lit', sorry .

For reference, a perfect image in my mind would look something like deja's kaya image in the previous thread, I like the light wood and bright image. But I'm no photographer, and I don't know if that's a very helpful way to describe what I'm after . Unfortunately that image is on the low end of resolutions, and its license isn't clear anyway.

This isn't just for me of course, and other people (and existing programs) have a wide range of preferences, so anything remotely plausible would be great. I hope to ultimately have several choices.

I'll try experimenting with some existing images just to check how things scale, it's possible a lower resolution might actually work okay if the image isn't too detailed.

Hi amnal, Let's try these. It's a very low-tech point-and-shoot camera.
I can re-take under different lighting conditions, with another camera, etc.
Let's try these as a concept test.

Board 1.

Board 2.

Slate 1.

Slate 2.

Shell 1.

Shell 2.

Shell 3.

Shell 4.

Shell 5.

These are really excellent Ed, thanks so much!

I've just done some quick playing and I think these images can work very nicely. I'll upload some pictures in a little while when I have time to implement it properly.

amnal, you're very welcome. Sorry the stones were all out of focus -- it was difficult to "teach"
the little point-and-shoot camera to focus on the surface of the stones in macro mode.
Look forward to your new screenshots.

It took a little longer than I hoped to implement the configurable theming, but it's mostly working now. Here's a quick picture with a section of your board as the background and your photos used for the stones. I intend to have several choices using samples from your images and a little tweaking.

I'm not quite done yet so there's a few flaws, but I think this alone looks pretty nice! I'll post some more when it's finished. The previous stones and background are, of course, still an option

amnal, thanks! I took the liberty (pun intended ) to position the light reflection
on the upper left corner of the stones. It was actually a very sunny day,
which made it quite annoying to get the minimal softness I wanted.
I don't have any screens or professional umbrellas,
so I'm at the mercy of the weather. If a nice overcast day hits again, I'll try
other photos, with less reflection, etc. The multiple rotations of the different
shell stones allow for a sort of "random" look of real shell stones.

Thanks!

Edlee, these are so pretty. May I have your permission to use these in another Go project too?

macelee, yes! Funny thing is those were merely supposed to be a "concept test"
Later, if I am able to get even better photos, I'll post them here too.

I believe all Go programs should look at least as pretty as gIgo/Panda2.

Thanks!

I had some simple test. I think the board would look nicer if it is slightly brighter (I can of course use software to change that). I also prefer the colour slightly more yellow.

This looks great.