# Pixelation

## General => Things of Importance and Interest => Topic started by: Panda on March 05, 2007, 11:12:18 AM

Title: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Panda on March 05, 2007, 11:12:18 AM

Here is a collection of various links that will probably come in handy from time to time.
Please refer to this thread before requesting help finding a link or choosing a program, because chances are your answer is on this thread.
If you are willing to share anything, don't hesitate and post it here (do not chitchat on this thread if you have nothing to contribute though), but remember, illegal software or similar items are strictly forbidden.
Pixelation is not responsible for any content on the external links, so click at your own risk.
Tools
- Pixelling tools -

- Cosmigo ProMotion - http://cosmigo.com/promotion/index.php - :win:
- GraphicsGale - http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/ - :free: - :win:
- GIMP - http://www.gimp.org/ - :free: - :win: :mac: :unix:
- Adobe Photoshop - http://www.adobe.com/ - :win: :mac:
- Paint Shop Pro - http://www.corel.com/ - :win:
- PD Pro Digital Painter - http://www.squirreldome.com/cyberop.htm - :free: - :win:
- Ultimate Paint - http://www.ultimatepaint.com/ - :free: - :win:
- PixelStudio - http://pixelstudio.virtualuna.de/ - :free: - :win:
- Paint.NET - http://www.getpaint.net/index2.html - :free: - :win:
- Allegro Sprite Editor - http://ase.sourceforge.net/ - :free: - :win:
- Timanthes (c64) - http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=30789 - :free: - :win:
- GangEd (c64) - http://www.thegang.nu/releases.php?year=2005&type=4 - :free: - :win:
- ProjectOne (c64) - http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=39261 - :free: - :win:
- GraFX 2 Win32 - http://www.eclipse-game.com/?dat=7 - :free: - :win:
- Pixen - http://opensword.org/pixen/ - :free: - :mac:
- Iconographer - http://www.mscape.com/products/iconographer.html - :mac:
- JDraw - http://www.j-domain.de/homepage.php?page=20 - :free: - :java:
- Gpaint - http://sourceforge.net/projects/gpaint - :free: - :unix:
- XPaint - http://sourceforge.net/projects/sf-xpaint - :free: - :mac: :unix:
- KDE Icon Editor - http://w1.1358.telia.com/~u135800018/prog.html - :free: - :unix:
- mtPaint - http://mtpaint.sourceforge.net/ - :free: - :win: :unix:
- Rendera - http://www.rendera.net/ - :free: - :win:
- Photobie - http://www.photobie.com/ - :free: - :win:

- Other utilities -

- UnFREEZ - http://www.whitsoftdev.com/unfreez/ - :free: - :win:
- Irfan View - http://www.irfanview.com/ - :free: - :win:
- Take ONE - http://www.take1.de/ - :free: - :win:
- XnView - http://www.xnview.com/ - :free: - :win: :mac: :unix:
- Easy Graphic Converter - http://www.etrusoft.com/graphic-converter/ - :free: - :win:
- Graphic Converter - http://www.lemkesoft.com/ - :mac:
- GIFBuilder - http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/235 - :free: - :mac:
- EZToon - http://www.superfundungeonrun.com/easytoon/ - :free: - :win:
- ArtRage - http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html - :free: - :win: :mac:
- Bitmap Font Writer - http://www.stefan-pettersson.nu/site/bmpfont/ - :win:
- Toolkit - http://www.toolkitzone.com/toolkit.php?downloads - :free: - :win:
- Clickteam tools - http://www.clickteam.com/eng/index.php - :win:
- Game Maker - http://www.gamemaker.nl/ - :free: - :win:
- SCI Studio - http://www.bripro.com/scistudio/index.php - :free: - :win:
- Mobile Game Dev Tools - http://mgdc.ru/board/showthread.php?t=391 - :free:
- ColorCop - http://www.oudje.nl/lessen/colorcop/colorcop.htm - :free: - :win:
- GIF Movie Gear - http://www.gamani.com/gmgdown.htm - :win:
- Giffy - http://www.brothersoft.com/graphics_design/gif_tools/giffy_16084.html - :free: - :win:
- Crossover - http://www.codeweavers.com/products/ - :mac:
- Darwine - http://darwine.sourceforge.net/index.php - :mac:
- sfxr (Sound Generation System) - http://www.imitationpickles.org/ludum/2007/12/13/sfxr-sound-effects-for-all/ - :free: - :win: - :unix:
- IS-CGB-Character - http://www.intsys.co.jp/tools/cgb/character/download.html - :free:
- Tile Set Maker - http://www.geocities.com/kzsite2/TileSetMaker3BETA.zip - :free: - :win:
- Pixel Checker - http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6242 - :free: - :win:
- MiniColorPicker - http://www.daantje.nl/gpl-projects/minicolorpicker/ - :free: - :win: - :unix:

Tutorials and References
- Pixel art tutorials -

- Tsugumo - http://www.bigbluebubble.com/pixeltutorial/ - [Mirror] (http://www.geocities.com/skulkraken2002/)
- St0ven - http://www.spriteart.com - [Mirror] (http://www.geocities.com/skulkraken2002/)
- St0ven's Background Art Tutorials - Part 1 (http://steve.neonstar.net/mini_background1.htm) - Part 2 (http://steve.neonstar.net/mini_background2.htm) - Part 3 (http://steve.neonstar.net/mini_background3.htm)
- Zoggles - http://www.zoggles.co.uk/asp/tutorials.asp?show=index
- Pixelation's Video Tutorials - http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=2144.0
- Gas13 - http://gas13.ru/tutorials/
- Derek Yu - http://derekyu.com/extras/pixel01.html
- Matriax - http://www.matriaxweb.com/tutoriales/tuto.htm
- Natomic - http://www.natomic.com/hosted/marks/mpat/
- Drububu - http://www.drububu.com/tutorial/index.html
- RhysD (Iso) - http://www.pixeltutorial.com/
- Pixelfreak (Iso) - http://www.pixelfreak.com/en/tutorial0.html
- Pixel NascImpact (Iso) - http://pixel.nascimpact.com/tutoriaux.php
- FoY Background Tutorial - http://www.barnettcollege.com/tutorial1.htm
- Walk animation Tutorial - http://www.manningkrull.com/pixel_art/tutorials/walking.asp
- Rich Grilloti Pixeljam Games Article - Part 1 (http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2455.asp) - Part 2 (http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2462.asp) - Part 3 (http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2466.asp)
- Alex Hanson White's Beginner Tutorials - Part 1 (http://www.alexhw.com/pabbc1.pdf) - Part 2 (http://www.alexhw.com/pabbc2.pdf) - Part 3 (http://www.alexhw.com/pabbc3.pdf) - Part 4 (http://www.alexhw.com/pabbc4.pdf) - Part 5 (http://www.alexhw.com/pabbc5.pdf)

- Various tutorials -

- Art Tutorial - http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
- Grass - http://www.elverquisst.se/tutorials/grasstut/grasstut.html
- Light - http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm
- Coloring Tutorial - http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/main.php?id=ps55paint
- Perception and Composition - http://www.androidblues.com/visualperception.html
- Animation 1 - http://www.awn.com/tooninstitute/lessonplan/lesson.htm#top
- Animation 2 - http://www.idleworm.com/how/index.shtml
- Game Maker Tutorials - http://www.gamemaker.nl/tutorial.html
- Creating a font from Scratch - http://www.iamcal.com/misc/fonts/pixfonttut/part1.php
- Setting the GIMP for Pixel Art - http://www.eglug.org/gimpixel
- Optimizing Tilesheet Layouts - http://www.elitepigs.de/blog/archives/17

- Art references -

- Anatomy 1 - http://www.figuredrawings.com/linksanatomy.html
- Anatomy 2 - http://www.vh.org/adult/provider/anatomy/atlasofanatomy/index.html
- Anatomy 3 - http://www.fineart.sk/
- Andrew Loomis - http://www.fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1
- Preston Blair's Animation Book Part 1 - http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/05/media-preston-blairs-animation-first.html
- Preston Blair's Animation Book Part 2 - http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/05/media-preston-blairs-animation-1st.html
- GFX Zone - http://www.gfxzone.org/frames.html
- Andrew Loomis and other Anatomy eBooks - http://basangpanaginip.blogspot.com/2006/01/downloads.html
- Bio Motion Lab - http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html
- Kuler - http://kuler.adobe.com/
- Il Libro dell'Arte - http://www.noteaccess.com/Texts/Cennini/index.htm
- Artnatomy (Facial Expressions App) - http://www.artnatomia.net/uk/artnatomy.html
- Facial Expressions App - http://mrl.nyu.edu/%7Eperlin/facedemo/
- Walk Cycle App - http://www.addictinggames.com/wireframeskeleton.html
- Posemaniacs - http://www.posemaniacs.com/blog/
- Posemaniacs' 30 seconds Pose Drawing - http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html

- Videogame references -

- Metal Slug Database - http://www.mslugdb.com/main/gallery/sprites/boom.html
- VG Museum - http://www.vgmuseum.com/
- The Dig - 1 - http://home.comcast.net/~ervind/digbm1.html
- The Dig - 2 - http://home.comcast.net/~ervind/digfacs.html
- The Dig - 3 - http://home.comcast.net/~ervind/digsc1.html
- Game Sprites Archive - http://www.gsarchives.net/index2.php
- VG Mapgs - http://www.vgmaps.com/
- Spriter's Resource - http://www.spriters-resource.com/
- RPG Icons - http://www.rpg-icons.com/
- RO Monster Database - http://www.roempire.com/database/?page=monsters&act=view
- Gaming Ground Zero - http://www.gaminggroundzero.com/home.html
- Emu Gif Animation - http://www3.emu-zone.org/host/emugif/index.htm
- Emugifs - http://www.emugifs.emuita.it/
- SF3 - http://www.zweifuss.com/
- The Shyguy Kingdom - http://tsgk.captainn.net/
- Sprite Database - http://sdb.drshnaps.com/
- Guilty Gear Sprites - http://www.newwavemugen.com/~xenozip/#charactercostumes
- Random Select - http://randomselect.i-xcell.com/
- The Mugen Fighters Guild - http://www.mugenguild.com/
- Mugen-Infantry - http://www.mugen-infantry.net/
- RetroGameZone - http://www.retrogamezone.co.uk/
- The People's Sprites - http://panelmonkey.org/
- Păo da Mugen - http://forum.paodemugen.com.br/index.php?showforum=106
- HOL Amiga Database - http://hol.abime.net/

- Fonts -

- 04 - http://www.04.jp.org/
- dafont - http://www.dafont.com/bitmap.php
- Atomic Media - http://atomicmedia.net/
- 1001 Free Fonts - http://www.1001freefonts.com/

Free Image hosts
Need help hosting and posting your pictures? Check this guide: http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=3466.0

- Ensellitis.com Image Hosting - http://imagehost.ensellitis.com/
- photobucket - http://www.photobucket.com
- ImageShack - http://www.imageshack.us
- ImgSpot - http://www.imgspot.com

Communities

- PixelJoint - http://www.pixeljoint.com/
- Punaji - http://punaji.com/
- Isocity - http://www.kennethfejer.com/isocity/
- PixelGala - http://www.pixelgala.org/
- PixelDam - http://www.x-panded.com/pixeldam/
- PixelArtistas - http://www.pixelartistas.org/
- Gaming Ground Zero - http://ggz.ipbhost.com/

Pixelized Eye-Candy Goodness

- Adam Tierney - http://www.adamtierney.com/
- Adeptvormgeving - http://www.adept-vormgeving.com/
- Ala Webstatt & Chmork.net - http://www.ala.ch/portfolio/
- Army of Trolls - http://www.armyoftrolls.co.uk/
- Artoholic - http://www.artoholic.org/
- Bongo - http://park12.wakwak.com/~bongo/
- Derek Yu - http://www.derekyu.com/art/pixel.html
- Dot16 - http://www.dot16.pixeltemple.com/
- Drububu - http://www.drububu.com/
- Eboy - http://www.eboy.com/
- Electriconland - http://electriconland.com/
- Etherbrian - http://etherbrian.typepad.com/
- Final Redemption - http://finalredemption.com/index.htm
- Fly Guy - http://www.trevorvanmeter.com/flyguy/
- Gas13 - http://gas13.ru
- Habbo - http://www.habbo.com/
- Henk Nieborg - http://www.henknieborg.nl/home.html
- Head over Heels - http://retrospec.sgn.net/games/hoh/screenshots.html
- I am not original - http://www.iamnotoriginal.com/
- Iconwax - http://hiroex.pure.cc/iwm/
- Josh Astorian - http://www.joshastorian.com/
- Kenneth Fejer - http://www.kennethfejer.com/
- Keops - http://www.llama-land.net/keops/online/
- Ku_Bo - http://members.at.infoseek.co.jp/KU__BO/dot.html
- KYMG - http://kymg.net/
- Lexaloffle - http://www.lexaloffle.com/
- Littlefactory - http://www.littlefactory.com/
- Lovepixel - http://www.lovepixel.idv.tw/
- Monsoon2D - http://www.monsoon2d.com/
- Move your feet - http://www.veer.com/ideas/move/
- Mr. Wong's - http://www.mrwong.de/
- Nvision - http://www.nvisionillustration.com
- Paul Robertson - http://probertson.livejournal.com/
- PixelBlocks - http://www.pixelblocks.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/pbonline
- Pixelfreak - http://www.pixelfreak.com/
- PixelHugger - http://www.pixelhugger.com/
- PixelJam - http://www.pixeljam.com/core/index.html
- PixelMuseum - http://www.pixelmuseum.com/
- Pixel NascImpact - http://pixel.nascimpact.com/
- Pixelstamps - http://pixelstamps.gas13.ru
- Pixeltees - http://pixeltees.com/
- Pixinspace - http://www.pixinspace.com/
- Pixture Studio - http://www.pixture.com/
- Ptoing - http://www.ptoing.net/
- Quickhoney - http://www.quickhoney.com/
- Ronz - http://www.yomogi.sakura.ne.jp/~ronz/trash/
- Sir's c64 Art Gallery - http://www.ravenger.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/gallery/index.htm
- Supertotto - http://www.supertotto.com/
- sj-gfx - http://sj-gfx.com/
- Tanuki X - http://www.christessmer.com/

... And of course The Search bar and Google (http://www.google.com/) are always your friends!

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: dragonrc on March 05, 2007, 09:17:05 PM

•http://www.oudje.nl/lessen/colorcop/colorcop.htm
Colorcop.
Handy little programm, usefull if you use mspaint(like me) It let you see the colors details, brightness ect.
Most programms let you see those details but mspaint doesn't
for the non-dutch people:
"1. Color Cop 5 is een ongelooflijk handig programmaatje om een kleur op te pikken. Je kunt het hier downloaden. "
you need to click on the hier button.
•http://www.gamani.com/gmgdown.htm
GIF Movie Gear.
I use this programm to make my animations. It's easy to use and doesn't come with tons of unusefull features.
You can download a 30 day free trial on that website.
•http://www.brothersoft.com/graphics_design/gif_tools/giffy_16084.html
Giffy.
Used to make images transparant.
You can upload bmp and gif images and save them as (transparant) gif images or bmp images

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: setz on March 06, 2007, 02:10:00 AM

Project One (http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=39261) is what I use for c64 art, Timanthes doesn't run on this PC. It's simple and it works.
mtPaint (http://mtpaint.sourceforge.net/) is the best pixel art app I've found for use with linux, also works with windows.
sj-gfx (http://sj-gfx.com) is a shameless plug to my own website, which contains pixel art, layout included.
(if this is not the proper place to link myself inform me and I shall remove it)
This is a very impressive compilation, btw.
edit: SCI Studio - http://www.bripro.com/scistudio/index.php <--- typo, should be .php - // Edited, Thanks. - Panda //Actually edited! -Adam

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Conceit on April 12, 2007, 06:02:01 PM

hey panda...what happened? did you decide to restart the resource thread because of all the chatter? you missed a few of the links I posted,and some other really good stuff that was in there, I dont have a copy of that...is there a backup somewhere?
I'll post some I remember.
Videogame Refferences
http://www3.emu-zone.org/host/emugif/index.htm EMU GIF ANIMATION( japanese) pixel ripping site focusing on arcade fighters, has both sprite and background stages. Has Metal Slug and KOF stages recreated in HTML with each separate layer.
http://www.emugifs.emuita.it/ EmuGif (italian) a big mess of sprite archive...has some unique stuff.
http://www.zweifuss.com/ SF3 Full character animation rips
http://tsgk.captainn.net/
http://sdb.drshnaps.com/
http://www.newwavemugen.com/~xenozip/#charactercostumes Guilty gear Full character animation rips
Mugen sprite refferences
I am aware mugen isnt exactly directly related to pixelart, but with MCM (http://www.1emulation.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t9035.html) Mugen characters can be turned into an overwhelming videogame art source, specially since they all contain the entirety of a character's animation set in one file ( .SFF files). Plus any time a new fighter game comes out they are quick to rip every character animation.
http://randomselect.i-xcell.com/
http://randomselect.i-xcell.com/forum/
http://www.mugenguild.com/
http://www.mugen-infantry.net/
http://www.mgbr.net/
http://www.mugen-infantry.net/
Community
http://www.gaminggroundzero.com/home.html
http://ggz.ipbhost.com/
Gaming Ground Zero, a comunity which trhives on the artwork of it's regulars. it has free to use graphic resources that require credit.
The forum requires you to be accepted by a mod to register, and it holds pixel "contests" regularly.
Pixel art eyecandy
http://www.yomogi.sakura.ne.jp/~ronz/trash/ source of the well-known B&W gif animes.
EDIT: really panda? ok...I'll edit that out. But I do think you missed a lot of stuff, I remember I had posted all of this, and there was this link to an old Lucasarts game with many WIP background stuff.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Panda on April 12, 2007, 06:46:10 PM

I didn't restart it only for the chitchat, but also because of the lack of organization it had.
I rearranged all the links that were on the original list in a more thoughtful way and added a bunch from both my bookmarks and posts on the old thread.
Also, Paul Robertson, "Move your feet" and KYMG were already linked (btw he moved to a different address).
And yes, the old thread remains in the Mod forum.
[Edit] I'll add the other ones you just added.
[Edit 2] Updated (Thanks for all the links). If you are talking about that Dig site showing all the BGs and all, it is gone, so I removed it. But if you insist, here is the link (http://home.comcast.net/~ervind/digstuff/digbm1.html) to it.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Conceit on May 08, 2007, 10:44:04 PM

I really think a "Pixelart for dummies" thread would be useful...
anyways, Panda turns out "The DIG" page is back
http://home.comcast.net/~ervind/digbm1.html
http://home.comcast.net/~ervind/digfacs.html
http://home.comcast.net/~ervind/digsc1.html
might wanna add it...even though it doesnt feature nearly as many sketch-phase backgrounds anymore...

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: dreamisle on May 19, 2007, 12:52:18 AM

I'm using Ubuntu Linux 7.04 and I use KolourPaint for pixel art. It's a lot like MS Paint with a few additional quirks here and there. It can probably be found in the Add/Remove Programs panel, but I honestly don't remember where it's from.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Lee N on May 28, 2007, 11:35:03 AM

Looking for palette inspiration? Kuler is what you want - http://kuler.adobe.com/

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Conceit on June 20, 2007, 02:37:06 PM

um, anybody remember that face refference page where you could edit the expressions and it pointed out all the muscles?
http://mrl.nyu.edu/%7Eperlin/facedemo/ I just ran into this in another Ref thread in some forum, and I was like DAMN I knew something so much better =/ I remember it was hispanic, and it had a purchasable version....
http://www.addictinggames.com/wireframeskeleton.html here's an interesting walkcycle app

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: RhysD on July 27, 2007, 05:35:14 AM

just an update, new URL to my iso tutorial is http://www.pixeltutorial.com
other host went boom :(

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: RhysD on August 14, 2007, 04:08:46 PM

Sorry for another bump, but I keep finding sites that have copied sections of my tutorial and are claiming it as their own...not even changing a few words to make it different.
Example
http://acadies-art.sparrowzworld.net/index2.html - The entire first "What is pixels art?" is basically a direct copy from mine.
http://acadies-art.sparrowzworld.net/tut-pixel-project003/tut-pixel-art-3dsphere.html - Here they've even taken the images directly from the tutorial and words, haha.
Original tutorial - www.pixeltutorial.com
Edit: Yes, I know its outdated and I have learnt a heap more that I should be explaining, some techniques are probably terrible. Just wanting to know if there was anything I could do about these sites? Rippers are the lowest scum of this planet imo..
Edit:
sigh...I've tried to find out more about the person who has been doing it. Seems like they are offering a 6-week "pixel course" via the website www.visual-arts-academy.com Charging people $25 for a 7 week course. The person in interest here goes by the alias of "Arcadie" and can be found on the following page http://visual-arts-academy.com/instructors.html under the name of Norma Murphy.
There is even a page of testimonials from people who have completed the course (and as you can see from the last one, "it a value for the money")
Quote
The Pixel Art course was great. I would suggest anyone interested in Pixel Art to give this course a try...I had a ton of fun.
-Ginny
I really enjoyed it and you get to learn a lot. Its well worth doing.
- Clare, UK
The VAA is set-up very well and, IMO, is a value for the money and an invaluable experience. However, one must be mindful that whilst the course teaches various tecniques and principles of the particular artform, it's up to the student to build on this thru' 'practicing'....
It's been a wonderful experience to have been part of a VAA course and to have been offered this opportunity to further my pixelart knowledge.
-Lorraine- New Zealand
Here is a link with what the course outlines of what will be taught during the course. Please also note each "section" heading and refer back to mine. What i'd really like to know is if she has just grabbed my entire tutorial and added a few extras and then has been charging people to "teach" them the basics, when they could have easily just gone to my site for free...
http://visual-arts-academy.com/normaD.html
I'm probably way too paranoid about this whole thing but i'd like to know what someone in my position would do, considering the clear copyright infringments that have occurred...
edit again: please don't go contacting the site in question with regard to this, I'll be sorting it out personally. thanks.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: questseeker on September 15, 2007, 07:29:08 PM

I recently had a freeware downloading spree and I found some drawing programs for Windows that aren't listed yet but might be of some use.
Rendera http://www.rendera.net/ (http://www.rendera.net/) is restricted to BMP and JPEG files and RGBA colour, and it has only drawing functions: no filters, adjustments, selections, copy & paste, floodfilling (the only global command is clearing).
What are its redeeming features?
- Various brush compositing modes: replace, add, subtract, change hue, all with transparency.
- Independent choice of brush style and drawing tool, for example an outline rectangle of "chalk".
- Interesting, albeit mostly useful for large sizes, brush types (including procedural textures and simulated pencil hatching).
- Easily accessed commands to rotate the canvas through edges (to edit tiling images) and to wrap drawing commands themselves.
- Easily accessed commands to switch between drawing shapes from the center out or from corner to corner.
- Cloning supporting all drawing tools and brush types.
- When zoomed in, drawing tools don't draw at screen pixel locations but at image pixels.
- Perfectly symmetrical ellipses, regardless of direction; when starting from the center, only odd diameters are possible. It might seem trivial, but for example Paint.NET, PixelStudio, Artweaver, Project Dogwaffle draw completely wrong small ellipses.
- Preview of what pixels are going to be drawn with each command, particularly useful when zoomed in.
In brief, Rendera is rough but specialized and unusual.
Photobie http://www.photobie.com/ (http://www.photobie.com/) is a more full-fledged drawing/retouching program with an unusually ugly user interface.
Its main interesting feature is that every drawing command can create its own layer automatically, with the obvious potential for detailed editing. It has the most complex "Layer Manager" I've ever seen.
EDIT: Panda has added both programs to the main list.
RE-EDIT: Photobie updated to "Photobie Design Studio".

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Skulkraken on September 20, 2007, 07:38:52 AM

Just a quick heads up: Tsugumo's, st0ven's, and Zoggles' sites are all down right now (and apparently have been down for some time) :blind:. I've updated my mirror of Tsugumo's site with his new tutorials before they went down. I can't believe I was actually going to simply delete the entire mirror when I saw Tsugumo's tuts on Big Blue Bubble...
http://www.geocities.com/skulkraken2002/

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Turbo on September 25, 2007, 05:46:28 PM

Great tutorial for setting up Gimp optimally for Pixel Art:
http://www.eglug.org/gimpixel
Stuff such as showing a thumbnail, a palette (where you can do palette changes by changing just the color) or setting a minimal User Interface, are covered.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Andy Tran on October 09, 2007, 01:40:44 AM

Not sure if this is ok to post a bg tutorial by st0ven. This one is old. I think it's still useful to have it up since he didn't have it on his new site.
http://steve.neonstar.net/mini_background1.htm
http://steve.neonstar.net/mini_background2.htm
http://steve.neonstar.net/mini_background3.htm

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Skulkraken on October 18, 2007, 09:15:48 AM

I've updated my mirror with the tutorials from St0ven and the rest of his pixel samurai at Spriteart.com.
Please let me know if anything there isn't working okay.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Seele07 on December 03, 2007, 11:31:19 AM

Tools: If you are using (a) Unix(-Clone), you can install the KDE-Application 'Kolourpaint', if you like - it's like MS-Paint :lol:
Else i'm using GrafX2 for DOS: ftp://ftp.externet.hu/pub/mirror/sac/graph/gfx2b965.zip (http://ftp://ftp.externet.hu/pub/mirror/sac/graph/gfx2b965.zip) and Gimp.
Greetings,
Ingo

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Helm on December 03, 2007, 04:14:34 PM

Quote
Ok, now remember how i told you not to feel too bad about those other 4 backgrounds? theyre quite stylish and moody indeed, but they arent purely pixelled. if we zoom in on several sections of the backgrounds, there is evidence of computer resampling. ill show you what i mean.
Stoven is wrong, these backgrounds are all pixelled, it's just the ripper who did the gif animations that made the mistake of adding dither compression.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: ilkke on December 05, 2007, 12:58:52 PM

Seems that the author of PD Pro Digital Painter found God and decided he doesn't love us anymore.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Helm on December 05, 2007, 03:30:17 PM

Hm? Explain!

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: ilkke on December 05, 2007, 04:53:46 PM

Just go to
http://www.squirreldome.com/cyberop.htm
and see for yourself.
I think I need an explanation, too.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: dkh on December 05, 2007, 05:23:11 PM

The Metal Slug Database is down and I have found several secondary sources which seem to confirm that the author of the page has said it wouldn't reappear anytime soon if ever, so you might want to take the link away or mark it broken or something. Shame, no other page that I know (and I've recently googled) was able to deliver nearly as many sprites from the game series.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Matriax on December 10, 2007, 04:29:45 PM

I change my Url of tutorials, now is : http://www.matriaxweb.com/tutoriales/tuto.htm (I change the hosting), please edit the url in the list.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Panda on December 13, 2007, 03:40:12 PM

Just cleaned and put away the chitchat, which shows clearly how people don't bother to read threads properly. :mean:
And I'm specially looking at Helm, ilkke and Jad.
If I see you going OT again where you are not supposed to, you will get strikes! !yus!
[edit]: Also updated the thread with all the new stuff.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Darien on December 16, 2007, 04:18:51 PM

Not pixel specific, but these may help Mac users run Pro Motion or other Windows programs, as I know there is a lack of good pixelling programs for the Mac:
Crossover (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/) - The Pro Motion trial seems to run completely fine in Crossover. Unfortunately you'll have to buy Crossover if you want to use it for more than 30 days.
Darwine (http://darwine.sourceforge.net/index.php) - I haven't tried Darwine yet, but it's supposed to do the same thing as Crossover.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: questseeker on December 16, 2007, 04:55:22 PM

A rather interesting tutorial from the Battle for Wesnoth forums: how to go from scanned sketches to small sprites. http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16760 (http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16760)

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Akira on December 16, 2007, 10:38:56 PM

http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html
I've been trying to improve my traditional art skills in the last couple of years and i really wish i had found this earlier. it's great practice and i can really see my poses improving.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Andy Tran on December 19, 2007, 05:24:16 AM

This dude used to be hella dope with game art until he wrote a very good guide on making pixels. He should wake up and finish that tile/bg tutorial and I'll be the happiest pixel artist ever. Here's his guide.
http://homepage1.nifty.com/take_hp/lesson2d/lesson2d.html (http://homepage1.nifty.com/take_hp/lesson2d/lesson2d.html)

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Ai on December 20, 2007, 10:24:04 AM

sfxr provides a simple sound generation system that is capable of producing almost any simple 8bit style sound effect
Posted here for its relevance to game making, do as you will with it.
http://www.imitationpickles.org/ludum/2007/12/13/sfxr-sound-effects-for-all/
(Windows/Linux)

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: surt on December 21, 2007, 09:43:33 PM

Pencil (http://www.les-stooges.org/pascal/pencil/ (http://www.les-stooges.org/pascal/pencil/)):
GPL multiplatform (lin, mac, win) raster/vector animator.
Very nice for animation roughing, though not really practical for pixel end product.
Got some nice features: frame subordinate to layer, canvas rotation, simple clean gui.
Still a bit on the buggy side.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: lilwing on December 29, 2007, 10:59:47 PM

Here is a fancy colour picker. Uses HTML and Javascript, works in the browser. Especially handy for 8 bit colour.
http://www.daantje.nl/gpl-projects/minicolorpicker/
Just download and extract. It's designed for Unix-based operating systems, but Windows users can use WinRAR to extract it.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Feron on January 18, 2008, 07:59:37 PM

I've been trying out Pixen a lot today and I think its just as good as Photoshop if not better. Its great for tiling, as it shows you a tiled preview image unlike photoshop. It also allows you to export your animated sprites as one sheet. Its got quite a good pallette system - much better than adobe. And with pixen there isnt any way of accidentally hitting those anti-aliasing boxes as i so frequently do in photoshop. Its good to have a 100% pixel-art designed program for mac.
The one thing i've found though, is every time i try to export an animated gif it freezes. Has anyone else had this problem?

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: questseeker on January 30, 2008, 09:08:58 AM

An introductory article/tutorial by Rich Grillotti of Pixeljam games, focusing on very small low-res objects, basic concepts and using Photoshop.
Part 1
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2455.asp (http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2455.asp)
Part 2
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2462.asp (http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2462.asp)
Part 3 and last
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2466.asp (http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2466.asp)

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: taleon on January 31, 2008, 03:04:49 PM

My favorite tool is `ArtGem'. It's perfect for pixelart but this project is discontinued.
Here is a link: http://www.rlvision.com/artgem_about.asp

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: drZool on February 04, 2008, 11:06:04 PM

Im searching for a pixel app to the Nintendo DS, so far all I found is NPA apps. Anyone know if such app exists or do I have to code it myself?

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Jamie on February 04, 2008, 11:35:09 PM

there was http://www.dsfanboy.com/2007/03/12/fatbits-pocket-painter-mario-paint-for-the-ds/ but i dont think it has been released, there is an app called Phidias aswell, which isent exactly pixel-perfect but if you tone all the settings down you can get a pixel brush which is decent for doodles and colouring to be toned up on pc afterwards :y:
I personally would love something more made for pixeling, though imo using the pen would be a pain if there was no grid or you couldent see where your placing the pixel - i think keypad and a/b keys would work good for a pixel app on the nds.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Shrike on February 19, 2008, 03:49:23 PM

Heres an awesome pixel art program for tiling:
http://www.geocities.com/kzsite2/TileSetMaker3BETA.zip (http://www.geocities.com/kzsite2/TileSetMaker3BETA.zip)
comes with an animator and can save gifs, ICO's, and jpg's.
solved all my tiling problems.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Hatch on February 27, 2008, 03:08:41 PM

Quote from: drZool on February 04, 2008, 11:06:04 PM
Im searching for a pixel app to the Nintendo DS, so far all I found is NPA apps. Anyone know if such app exists or do I have to code it myself?
There's Sprite Editor DS (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=186625&package_id=235067) (SEDS) and Smoove. (http://smoove.drunkencoders.com/)
I've only messed around with each one a little, but I can report that SEDS only allows you to work on 16x16 pieces, supports animation, and can save (though it might only be able to save in its native format, which seems a bit pointless). Smoove is technically usable, but you can't save and it's a very, VERY early alpha release with minimal functionality.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Dennis on March 23, 2008, 09:18:34 AM

Pixel Checker (wip) (http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6242) Win (Mac through Mono)
It's a little tool that I'm writing (it's already usable in it's current form, it just lacks features like saving/loading the set of restrictions and saving the error image but I'm already working on that done that), (old)screenshot. (http://freenet-homepage.de/dennisbusch/dateien/screenshot.png)
(new screenshot(v2)) (http://freenet-homepage.de/dennisbusch/dateien/screenshot2.png)
[edit]updated v2 again to support loading gifs and fixed a bug that could lead to wrong results, because some (pallette-indexed)images were stretched and auto-aa-ed on loading[/edit]

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Break on April 12, 2008, 05:30:49 AM

I don't think this has been posted, I guess it relates to pixeling. They're at least fun to mess around with.
http://www.hiend3d.com/hq2x.html
http://www.hiend3d.com/hq3x.html
http://www.hiend3d.com/hq4x.html
Filters for smoothing out pixelated graphics on a larger scale. You probably know these if you emulate any, zsnes uses them. Much better than 2xsai or anything else out there.
If you download the executable, you have to run it from a command prompt. Take your graphic, rename it to input.bmp, and make sure it's in the same folder as the executable. Then in the command prompt type this exactly
hq2x.exe input.bmp output.bmp
the first part being whatever you're running, 2x 3x or 4x. Then an output.bmp will be created with a clean higher res image.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: robotriot on April 22, 2008, 10:45:10 PM

I wrote a short tutorial on optimizing tilesheet layouts, don't know if it's useful to anyone.
http://www.elitepigs.de/blog/archives/17

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Rosse on April 27, 2008, 03:25:14 PM

Just found a bunch of (beginner) pixel tutorials from Kon (Alex-Hanson White) which are not in the tutorial list yet.
http://www.alexhw.com/pabbc1.pdf
http://www.alexhw.com/pabbc2.pdf
http://www.alexhw.com/pabbc3.pdf
http://www.alexhw.com/pabbc4.pdf
http://www.alexhw.com/pabbc5.pdf

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Sevensheaven on May 10, 2008, 12:05:01 PM

I've got an addition to the video game resources:
http://hol.abime.net
It's the most complete database of just about any Amiga game that has ever existed, and it's got tons of pixel screenshots.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Ai on May 15, 2008, 12:50:32 AM

I'm posting to notify you guys that the ProMotion site is currently down.
EDIT: and up again :)

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Lawrence on May 20, 2008, 07:23:19 PM

You can download Intelligent Systems' "IS-CGB-Character" Here (http://www.intsys.co.jp/tools/cgb/character/download.html). It's what they used for making Gameboy Color graphics. If you don't have a recognized "parallel cartridge" it will only run in demo mode though, since it's also used for viewing graphics on the gameboy color in real-time.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Panda on May 26, 2008, 07:03:38 AM

Ok, finally updated.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: gdawe5 on June 17, 2008, 05:38:33 PM

Also I use Sketchplanet (http://www.sketchplanet.com) to release some tension and draw online.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: questseeker on June 25, 2008, 09:04:48 AM

The popular Cosmigo Pro Motion has been updated to version 6.0.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Ai on October 31, 2008, 05:31:45 AM

http://wiki.freegamedev.net/index.php/Pixel_art has a little 'tutorial-in-an-image' showing the difference between right and wonky ways to render curves in pixel art.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Panda on October 31, 2008, 01:19:27 PM

The AA example is horrible :-X

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Ai on November 03, 2008, 08:12:05 AM

Yeah, the point was just that one image showing the curves with it's accompanying blurb. The AA image is horribly irrelevant.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Ai on November 11, 2008, 05:21:33 AM

http://code.google.com/p/grafx2/
Update of Grafx2 for modern operating systems; Works good on Windows, Linux, MacOsX, Haiku. Most importantly, is updated on ongoing basis.
I've just tried it, after painlessly ('make') compiling it for Linux (Ubuntu 8.04) :)

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Kazuya Mochu on November 25, 2008, 12:42:51 AM

I made this tutorial on shading. its a part one. the part 2 will be pixeling a human head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxP5qE16nQ
hope its usefull to people starting out.
Kaz

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Ai on December 17, 2008, 05:40:57 AM

Grafx2 (the newer version, linked above) just got support for doublewidth pixels
you can run it like 'grafx2 /wide' to take advantage of this, currently (for CPC and C64 pixeling :)
And load the screenshot of CPC Rick Dangerous to see that it is working.
In the future, hopefully it will be possible to cycle between square, wide, and tall, and save this info in the picture file (possible at least with PNG, GIF, LBM; and probably others.)

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: mushroomeater on December 17, 2008, 03:30:46 PM

this is great! i have been looking for sites where i can find tools and resources. thank you for sharing the links with us

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: robotriot on January 04, 2009, 12:16:16 PM

Here's my tutorial on How To Set Up Photoshop For Pixel Art, in case anyone is interested: http://www.elitepigs.de/blog/archives/78

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: kerm1t on January 05, 2009, 02:14:37 PM

Tool for sprite editing, with focus on C64:
http://www.anigators.com/projekte/7up
Also features generic 16color palette from pixelation.
Plus: it is tested to run fine on Wine/Linux.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: xhunterko on January 09, 2009, 05:40:44 AM

I thought that this was here already. Huh.
http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=706
A nice collection of tutorials. Maybe only a couple already posted here. And I was sure this is where I found the link to that. Guess not.
Oh, and this:
http://www.majhost.com/
Is the free image host that I use. Very hassle free.

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: Ai on March 14, 2009, 10:50:05 PM

Here's a little mini-tutorial I just thought up which explains how to adjust 'default zoom' for a picture.
'default zoom' in this case means what zoom level you actually get at 100%, and is doable with Photoshop, GIMP, and possibly others.
Depending on image format (PNG, TIFF, or your paint-program's native format is good), this is even saved with the image.
First, you need to make sure PS/ GIMP thinks your monitor DPI is 96x96. In GIMP, the Display section of the preferences specifies this (choose 'Enter manually' and input 96 in the appropriate places.). 96x96 is used because it is very well divisible (can be divided with no remainder by 1,2,3,4,6,8, (and others - we only care about the lower factors here) and for doublewidth/height pixels (eg 48x96 dpi), the smaller factor is still divisible by 1,2,3,4,6, and 8.
You may also want to set 'Dot per Dot' off by default, so that default zooms always activate without any further action from you. In GIMP
this is found in the 'Display' section of the preferences ("use 'dot per dot' by default")
Once the above is done, it will persist across sessions so you don't need to do it again.
How to set the default zoom in GIMP:
1. Make sure View->Dot per Dot is toggled OFF.
2. Image->Scale image
3. In the DPI fields, divide the DPI(normalized to 96x96) by the amount of zoom. For example, widepixels should be 48x96 for 1x zoom, 24x48 for 2x zoom, or 16x32 for 3x zoom. Tallpixels would be 96x48 for 1x zoom, 48x24 for 2x zoom, 32x16 for 3x zoom, and of course normal square pixels would be 96x96 == 1x, 48x48 == 2x, 32x32 == 3x.
4. Click 'Scale' button to confirm.
After doing the above, if Dot per Dot is OFF, the zoom remapping will happen automatically, so that eg 100% = 3x, 200% = 6x, 300% = 9x.
This is good for a quick-n-dirty preview: press the key mapped to 'zoom 1:1' for a preview of your image at intended resolution, and then you can press the key mapped to 'Revert Zoom' to return to your previous working zoom level :)

Title: Re: Tools, Resources and Linkage.
Post by: LODYblokady on June 03, 2009, 04:53:33 PM

http://myfrogbag.com/
Fastest image host I have ever witnessed, you can even edit images with the online applet.
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