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HMIMH
Guest
In your experience, what programs gave you the best results for making sprites, animations and this in your games? Let's share some software people
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Graphics Best software to make pixelart and animations? In your opinion
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Norea
Guest
Hi mate, i recommend you Aseprite! I've tried many programs in the past and this one is the best pixel-art tool that i use today.
It has a lot of useful and powerful tools for pixel-art and animation like onion-skinning, pixel-perfect drawing and even more.
There are a lot of programs out there (Photoshop, free online editors like Piskel and so on), basically depends on your preferences!
Hope to have helped you a little bit, let me know!
It has a lot of useful and powerful tools for pixel-art and animation like onion-skinning, pixel-perfect drawing and even more.
There are a lot of programs out there (Photoshop, free online editors like Piskel and so on), basically depends on your preferences!
Hope to have helped you a little bit, let me know!
kburkhart84
Firehammer Games
I think Cosmigo Pro Motion is the best currently available software(assuming budget is out of the equation). I don't think you will find anything in any other pixelling software that isn't in Pro Motion. One big thing it has that isn't very common in other programs is direct support for tilemaps. Not only does it automatically show repeated tiles, letting you fix seams easily, but you can make tilemaps, putting tiles next to each other so you can see how they go together like they would in your games. It also has the abovementioned "pixel perfect drawing" feature, where you draw a curved line and it automatically removes doubles/jaggies.
The catch to this software is simply the fact that it isn't free. In reality, other software likely has more than enough for what you need to get pixel art going, and at a nice price of $0. I suggested what I think is the best overall for me personally, but without knowing more about you, what budget you have(if you have), what you have used/tried before, what features you feel you need, etc..., it is hard to make a specific suggestion tailored to you.
The catch to this software is simply the fact that it isn't free. In reality, other software likely has more than enough for what you need to get pixel art going, and at a nice price of $0. I suggested what I think is the best overall for me personally, but without knowing more about you, what budget you have(if you have), what you have used/tried before, what features you feel you need, etc..., it is hard to make a specific suggestion tailored to you.
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HMIMH
Guest
Aseprite was the one I was using! But the interface didn't look very professional so I wondered if other users used other kind of software. Thanks ^ ^
Not budget in mind right now, just for knowing from the most professional, more useful, more easy.. So I can try several softwares by myself, nothing serious for now. I'll check it the one you said, thanks
sitebender
Member
Aseprite or Photoshop. Go with Aseprite unless you happen to already have Photoshop.
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rIKmAN
Member
PyxelEdit is great for tile based stuff, costs about $9.
Aseprite is cheap (or free if you compile yourself from source) if you don't mind the pixel art UI.
If you don't mind spending some cash, then i agree with @kburkhart84 that Cosmigo ProMotion is the best around in terms of a fully fleshed out set of features for a pixel art program.
Aseprite is cheap (or free if you compile yourself from source) if you don't mind the pixel art UI.
If you don't mind spending some cash, then i agree with @kburkhart84 that Cosmigo ProMotion is the best around in terms of a fully fleshed out set of features for a pixel art program.
RichHopefulComposer
Member
GraphicsGale is the best for animation! Free, too. Check it out! =)
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ajan-ko
Guest
I think Asesprite is the best, because the pixel rotation feature.
I'm still using graphicsgale atm tho, free.
I'm still using graphicsgale atm tho, free.
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Matt Hawkins
Guest
I use a free android app called Pixly. It is a full featured paint studio designed for making pixel art. You can use layers, transparency, reference images to trace over, and it has a timeline which is perfect for making animations. Combine this app with an android tablet and a stylus for best results.
You can get this free app on the play store HERE
You can get this free app on the play store HERE
Here's a quick list of the features you may find in Pixly:
• Animations with onion skinning;
• Layers;
• Mini view with customizable level of zoom for quick preview;
• Dropbox and Google Drive integration;
• Controls intuitive for touchscreen;
Try pinching with two fingers to move and zoom the artboard, or pinching with three fingers to change the brush size!
• Contextual tools;
• Undo, Redo and History;
• Social features (Share, Twitter @DailySilhouettes and @PixelDailies);
• Text drawing;
• Palettes;
• Color ramps;
• Opacity;
• Transparent and non transparent background;
• Patterns;
• Arcs and Curves;
• Real time image tiling;
• Symmetry with customizable mirrors;
• References;
• Grids;
• Copy-Paste;
• Lots of color effects;
• Animations with onion skinning;
• Layers;
• Mini view with customizable level of zoom for quick preview;
• Dropbox and Google Drive integration;
• Controls intuitive for touchscreen;
Try pinching with two fingers to move and zoom the artboard, or pinching with three fingers to change the brush size!
• Contextual tools;
• Undo, Redo and History;
• Social features (Share, Twitter @DailySilhouettes and @PixelDailies);
• Text drawing;
• Palettes;
• Color ramps;
• Opacity;
• Transparent and non transparent background;
• Patterns;
• Arcs and Curves;
• Real time image tiling;
• Symmetry with customizable mirrors;
• References;
• Grids;
• Copy-Paste;
• Lots of color effects;
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sitebender
Member
Are they still around? I loved that program like 15 - 20 years ago. I can't imagine animating with them.
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Derme
Guest
Personally I'll vote for Photoshop for pixel art, not sure about animations though.
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Guest User
Guest
graphicsgale and photoshop for me, they both work just fine imo.
idk which one looks the most professional though. i feel like that depends largely on who, exactly, is leering over your shoulder judging you b/c tbh for most people the only "professional" software they know is just Photoshop for...anything and everything.
idk which one looks the most professional though. i feel like that depends largely on who, exactly, is leering over your shoulder judging you b/c tbh for most people the only "professional" software they know is just Photoshop for...anything and everything.
JackTurbo
Member
https://www.piskelapp.com is a surprisingly powerful tool considering its a web app.
I've been using that for some stuff recently as its got cloud storage attached and can be used from most devices. Great if you have half an hour on your lunch break at work or what ever
I've been using that for some stuff recently as its got cloud storage attached and can be used from most devices. Great if you have half an hour on your lunch break at work or what ever
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HMIMH
Guest
And what do you guys think about Spine? I heard a lot about but I don't have any review or something from you ^ ^
rIKmAN
Member
Spine is awesome, but it's a skeletal animation tool not a pixel art tool - you need existing art to rig and animate.
They have a free trial you can download and try.
Rayek
Member
It's like comparing the industry standard Photoshop with Painshop Pro or Pixelmator. Pro Motion just offers more features, and a superior workflow for professional pixel art creators. But here are the ones I feel are important to mention, and why I prefer Pro Motion.
- The interface. ProMotion's GUI is much more customizable. I can place the colours and layers panels anywhere I want to. Not so in AseSprite: the tools are way to the right if the screen, while the colours are way on the left. Stupid. The entire interface in AS is completely rigid.
- While the pixelated GUI in AseSprite is cute when you first see it (and nice for purists, I guess), it really limits the amount of information that can be displayed on the screen. For example, in Pro Motion I have direct access to a layer's blend mode. In AS I have to double-click the layer first. All the icons and buttons are finicky to work with, which is completely unnecessary, and only caused by the arbitrary "pixelled GUI" limitation. When a low resolution is forced to display tools, less information can be displayed. Simple as that, and, in my opinion, counter-productive. In PM I can select a layer and immediately tell what layer blend mode I used. Not so in AS. All in all, the pixelated GUI in AS is a workflow-breaker for me.
- ProMotion has a nice brush panel to keep visual track of brushes. AS has an awkward drop-down list instead. With difficult to see brush thumbnails because of the low pixel resolution. Silly. Brush management in PM is much better.
- PM has a tile editor. 'nuff said. (although AS is supposed to get one at some point).
- PM has anti-aliasing.
- PM offers a number of project presets. Amiga, C64, NES, etc. With correct colour palettes. And colour constraints (for example, limit colours per tile). And it is easy to create your own custom project presets. This alone makes PM much more aimed at professionals. AS is very limited in this regard, and only offers a simplistic "new" dialog. PM even has specific tilemap presets for Gameboy Color, Super NES, etc.
- Global colours that can be fixed for layers or not.
- Wacom support with pressure range.
- Way more drawing modes.
- Colour palette control is far better in PM.
- AS's quick colour palette selector for different platforms/systems.
- The animation timeline and layers are combined (like apps such as Flash/AnimateCC, AfterEffects). I really like that. In PM the two are separated, which doesn't work as well. The timeline in AS is plainly better implemented. Unfortunately, the low-res GUI again is a limiting factor, which is too bad. No thumbnails in the timeline, for example.
- For many AS will be easier to work with initially. ProMotion NG may be intimidating.
In my opinion ProMotion blows AseSprite out of the water for pixel art. AS is cute and simple. ProMotion a work horse meant for production. Although both do animation, I find either one extremely limiting in this regard. I wish ProMotion would get better animation tools. AS is slightly more advanced, but still quite basic. I guess that's because I am used to animation tools in apps like Blender, Moho Pro, DragonBones, etc.
Aside from ProMotion, I advice anyone to look into a proper image editor or paint application as well, and one that supports the well-know index painting technique. I use Krita for that. I am not allowed to add links yet, so Google "HD Index Painting With Krita" or "HD Index Painting in Photoshop". It also works in PhotoLine.
As for cut-out animation for games, Spine, DragonBones, Spriter, etc. all work well. DragonBones is free (although requires registration for export), and very similar to Spine (which is expensive). The latest release of DragonBones does frame by frame animation too.
Get one of those cut-out animation tools together with a good image editor (PhotoLine, Photoshop, Affinity Photo), Krita, and ProMotion, and you are set.
Carnivius
Member
Thanks for writing all that out. I feel very much the same about most of those points but I'm not smart enough to be able to explain them clearly.
RichHopefulComposer
Member
Are you a pro pixel artist? I didn't think Pro Motion's grip over the pro pixel artist scene was as strong as Photoshop's for normal art, but maybe I'm wrong. It seems ridiculously *unpopular* with all the artists I know on Twitter, almost definitely because the program is so opaque and advanced. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't more popular with big studios, although there aren't a huge amount of big companies using pixel art anymore, unfortunately.
That said, Pro Motion is obviously very powerful...you can tell just from messing with it a bit. I've used it a few times for my project (just a few weeks ago, most recently), but I'm not very versed in the program. Unlike most pixel art programs, Pro Motion isn't very self explanatory, and there isn't much I can find online on how to use it. Do you have any recommendations? I've been wanting to use it more. Is there an easy way to do animated tiles in the program? That's what every other program I've tried lacks...
rIKmAN
Member
Have you tried PyxelEdit?
RichHopefulComposer
Member
Yes, and I love it for tiles. Is there an easy way to do animated tiles in it, though? I never really animated in Pyxel Edit... the way it does animations looks really weird to me. It's all on a single picture? No frames?
rIKmAN
Member
Not sure what you mean when you say "no frames"?
This is the 3rd in 3 part series of videos for PyxelEdit, it covers a simple spinning coin animation so hopefully it might help you out with how it works etc to see if it's the sort of thing you are after for animated tiles.
Rayek
Member
Pro Motion has a long history, and has been used by studios for a long time too. I started out with Deluxe Paint on the Amiga - DP revolutionized bitmap art in the game industry at the time. After the Amiga died, Pro Motion took up where DPaint left off. The latest version is really nice.
One of the major difference between PM and other pixel art apps is basically the workflow. PM can make use of several external tilemaps and combine those in one file, which is handy when working in a team of artists. But yes, it's not the most intuitive of applications. Like Photoshop, it takes some time to get accustomed to it. But once you do... there is no comparison with other pixel editors. Not saying the alternatives are a bad choice, of course.
In PM a tilemap can be animated. Animated brushes can be placed, which are automatically converted to tiles.
Check out the Pro Motion website for tutorials. There's also an official YouTube channel (again, look on the website - I am not allowed to post links yet, it seems).
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Spencer S
Guest
I prefer MS Paint.
RIP MS PAINT
RIP MS PAINT
rIKmAN
Member
MSPaint is still alive and kicking, they reversed their decision to deprecate it after the fan reaction to the news.
They are still trying to push users to Paint3D, but trusty old paint is still here in Windows 10.
Rayek
Member
MSPaint misses a number of essential pixel art options that make life for a pixel artist unnecessarily difficult. The lack of an indexed colour palette is only the first of many (which is pretty essential for a lot of pixel work), but aside from all the missing stuff I just can't zoom in enough, or even look at a preview at a different zoom level while I am working.
But I understand that a frugal tool set can be inviting. I mean, once in a blue moon I meet a developer who insist coding in Notepad is all he needs. And MSPaint is readily installed - nice for beginners taking their first steps.
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AnnaExplor
Guest
Maya is one of the best to make animations, besides blender and photoshop is also good.
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Rayek
Member
I fail to see how Maya and Blender can be (directly) used to create pixel art. Sure, 3d models can be rendered and converted to low-res assets, but how is that pixel art?
kburkhart84
Firehammer Games
I agree here. Remove the word 'pixel' and it is accurate. In fact, the whole idea with pixel art isn't about the size of the piece at all...it is the control. With pixel art(no matter how big or small), the artist controls each and every pixel. The exception to this is with tools that save time but do the same thing, like flood fills(saving clicks), automatic lineart cleanup, dithering tools, etc... These are things that the artist would easily do by hand, just taking longer. Aliasing brushes on the other hand remove direct pixel control, as do 3d renders, meaning the art created is no longer pixel art, even if the final result is low resolution.
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AnnaExplor
Guest
Thanks guys for your rectification....