CGI: What exactly does it encompass?
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Sorry to bring up this old topic, but i need some clarification on what exactly CGI encompasses. If you are about to say CGI is simply a computer generated image, or save for that matter, dont all saves of TPT fall under that scope? Powder Toy is a program, the save is generated by the Powder Toy, therefore the save is generated by a program. Of course it uses user input, but so do programs that generate images for you. Lets say i write a png to powder save lua script (which im sure already exists). Since i made the program, and i was required to type it up (user input) then why is it considered CGI? Is it because its not organic or some other odd definition?
Okay, now lets say i make a script to aid me in building electronics. Would saves that I create using that program be counted as CGI? Even if I wrote a complex program to generate a CPU, RAM module, and some other parts, IE, a program to generate a computer, would it be considered CGI?
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The name says it, Imagery.
A CPU/RAM/computer should not fall under CGI.
A png to powder save lua script uses your computer to generate a save from an image, and thus it is CGI.
Computer Generated Imagery.
Not all saves of TPT fall under that scope, as the user made the save using the computer, CGI is when the computer uses the script of the user to make a save. -
xetalim:
(snipped for brevity)
A CPU/RAM/computer should not fall under CGI.
CGI is when the computer uses the script of the user to make a save.
If i write a script to generate a computer in powder toy, is it CGI then? Your statement kind of contradicts itself there. Thanks for the fast response :D
Edited 4 times by vertigo. Last: 4th Aug 2014 -
I meant when the computer uses the script of the user to make an image.
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The phrases actually used in the rules are "no image plotting", and "using a program to draw pixels from an image outside of Powder Toy without drawing it by hand". This old thread explains reasonably well what the intention of the rule is: http://tpt.io/.254437
If the resulting save has some merit other than the fact that it was generated by a script, and actually uses some features of the game (so it couldn't just be shared as a PNG image instead), then it's probably fine.
An example from a while ago: using a script to draw text in a save. If a save is composed entirely of that text, that's bad. But if the text is just being used as a description or labels for something else, then the save has some merit other than the fact that it was generated by a script, so that's allowed.
I don't think anyone will object to using a script to generate electronics.Edited 3 times by jacksonmj. Last: 4th Aug 2014 -
It's any save that uses Common Gateway Interface. It's against the rules.
In all seriousness though, it's only 100% against the rules if you could distribute whatever was plotted as a PNG without losing functionality. If you actually could write a script to plot a computer, that would be extremely impressive, and definitely not against the rules. But that falls far to one side of the CGI scale - there's no definable boundary between "allowed" and "not allowed", but it's usually obvious what side anything falls on.
Just try to avoid direct conversion from image to save.Edited 2 times by FeynmanLogomaker. Last: 2nd Sep 2014
