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What would be the best program for my spritework needs?

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ByucknahTheRed

Guest
Currently I am using microsoft's built in paint tool for my work, and it does everything I need it to on a VERY basic level and without complexity. There are some massive drawbacks however such as not being able to really set things such transparency.

I love Game Maker's built in tool for sprites but I hate how I have to access it, I would love it if there was an external version of Game Maker's sprite tool that I can access without having to load up GM and create a sprite so if there is I would love to know about it, even then though it still lacks some things I want(at least to my knowledge)

The core things I am looking for in a tool are being able to set transparency, building custom saveable/loadable palletes, customizeable display grid sizes(IE a grid overlay that I can set to be 1x1, 8x8, 16x16, or whatever I want), color shifting like in GM(the ability to mass change one color to another), and is simple and easy to pick up and use.

What are some good suggestions for paint programs?

Also, maybe I am just daft, but I was not sure what to search for to find topics like this. I tried searching for "Paint" and didn't really see any topics asking about what I was. I am 110% sure topics like this already exist, I just failed at finding on and more specifically how to search for a topic like this. So forgive me if this is something that is asked frequently.
 
GMWolf

GMWolf

aka fel666
if you want something with simple paint like tools, aswell as great support for photoshop like things, There are two main free options:

1: Gimp: More on the photoshop side of things. Very advanced and powerfull. has nice features to edit pixel art. I use it for any non GM spritework.

2: Paint.Net: More on the paint side of things. Great if you want a simple UI. Also has many features. I tend to use it for quick edits, cropping, levels, etc
 
C

CoderJoe

Guest
good suggestions. I would add graphics gale as there is a free version and it acts quite a bit like gamemaker's sprite editor and is great for pixel art. Inkscape is great for vector art but can be converted to normal .png files as well. I strongly recommend Gimp as it is very powerful, free, and can import/export just about everything.
 
C

CedSharp

Guest
There is a tool very very very similar to GameMaker's integrated sprite editor, it's called "aseprite".
It looks like this:


The only difference is that it works with a palette, but hey, one can get used to a small detail like this one :p
This is my go-to solution for simple pixel art.
 
G

gamedev4life

Guest
photoshop is by far the best program for game art, it has all the tools plus it does animation;


if its too expensive, i recomend gimp + mypaint....or pirateba...
 
GMWolf

GMWolf

aka fel666
If you have a graphics tablet, and like some nice hand drawn stuff, krita is quite simply amazing.
 
Yal

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
GIMP isn't really optimal for pixelart IMO, but it's very powerful if you take time learning how it works and I definitely recommend it. (Tip: learn hotkeys for switching between common tools ASAP, it feels a lot more natural and "flowing" when you don't need to move your mouse around half the screen every 5 seconds). Just applying some filters can give you good results quickly, and once you learn how to use them in succession to do the things you want, you can do a lot of 'batch editing' stuff quickly.

Paint.Net is basically a much better version of MS Paint, and if you just want an incremental step up, I definitely recommend that as well - it's pretty complicated, but if you learn how to use it, you should be able to transition to GIMP much easier.

GraphicsGale has a pretty messy GUI and some sorta questionable tools, but it's awesome for animations - it lets you preview an animation mid-editing, and it has separate layers for each subimage letting you do some cool stuff with partitioning a sprite and animate each part individually. It's nothing like Paint.Net, GIMP or MSPaint, so prepare to spend a lot of time learning how to use it.
 
B

ByucknahTheRed

Guest
Hey, thanks for all the replies guys! I have a lot to look into now. Thank you again :)

CedSharp said:
There is a tool very very very similar to GameMaker's integrated sprite editor, it's called "aseprite".
It looks like this:


The only difference is that it works with a palette, but hey, one can get used to a small detail like this one :p
This is my go-to solution for simple pixel art.
Click to expand...
Can you build a custom palette or is it a fixed palette?
 
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C

Chim

Guest
gamedev4life said:
photoshop is by far the best program for game art, it has all the tools plus it does animation;


if its too expensive, i recomend gimp + mypaint....or pirateba...
Click to expand...

Recommend piratebay for software, do you also recommend that for getting your own Game? :D


ByucknahTheRed said:
Hey, thanks for all the replies guys! I have a lot to look into now. Thank you again :)



Can you build a custom palette or is it a fixed palette?
Click to expand...
Here look at that link: https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/other-programs-and-resources.7449

There is some list and nice infos about the needed Software.
 
B

ByucknahTheRed

Guest
C

CedSharp

Guest
ByucknahTheRed said:
Hey, thanks for all the replies guys! I have a lot to look into now. Thank you again :)



Can you build a custom palette or is it a fixed palette?
Click to expand...
There is a couple of built-in palettes, and of course you can create yours.
There is a mode where you start with no colors at all and each time you pick a color from
the color selector, it adds it to the palette automatically, so it's like you have no palette.

I like this app because it feels like the gamemaker tool, has support for layers and animation.
The only part that is missing that gamemaker has is shadow and gradient filling, but meh, I can live
without those 2 :p
 
C

CedSharp

Guest
gamedev4life said:
photoshop is by far the best program for game art, it has all the tools plus it does animation;


if its too expensive, i recomend gimp + mypaint....or pirateba...
Click to expand...
For those of you who would like to enjoy a photoshop-like app for free that is very simple to use ( not like gimp, imho ),
but also free and legal to use, there is a free online web image editor called pixlr.
strongly recommended. I wish I could have this application offline, it's so awesome.

Screenshot for the curious who don't want to click on the link:

 
B

BlueSlime

Guest
ByucknahTheRed said:
Currently I am using microsoft's built in paint tool for my work,...

What are some good suggestions for paint programs?...
Click to expand...
I have the best programs IMO so I'll share them :p

Short answer: the best is not free...sorry that is just reality. BUT the most expensive programs are not the best either. I've pretty much tried 95% of every art program ever!

From experience the very best program for game 2d graphics is CLIP STUDIO PAINT (formerly known as manga studio)

get it it is worth the money!

the best pixel sprite program is Aseprite ... get it if you want to do pixel art and animations! it's not that expensive, neither is CSP

the best vector art program is CorelDraw X8 ... ok, this one is kind of expensive (see below for solution)

those are the very best and my favorites art programs Clip Studio Paint, Aseprite, CorelDraw X8


now if you are absolutely broke and just starting out... here are some replacements

Clip Studio Paint > FREE Adobe PS CS2 (google it you'll find a 'legit' CS2 version kinda)
Aseprite > PyxelEdit (FREE old version)
CorelDraw X8 > Inkscape (this is almost as good as CorelDraw/Illustrator!)

but really save $40 and buy CSP and Aseprite... and well go with Inkscape if you are doing vector graphics
 
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CedSharp

Guest
BlueSlime said:
I have the best programs IMO so I'll share them :p

Short answer: the best is not free...sorry that is just reality. BUT the most expensive programs are not the best either. I've pretty much tried 95% of every art program ever!

From experience the very best program for game 2d graphics is CLIP STUDIO PAINT (formerly known as manga studio)

get it it is worth the money!

the best pixel sprite program is Aseprite ... get it if you want to do pixel art and animations! it's not that expensive, neither is CSP

the best vector art program is CorelDraw X8 ... ok, this one is kind of expensive (see below for solution)

those are the very best and my favorites art programs Clip Studio Paint, Aseprite, CorelDraw X8


now if you are absolutely broke and just starting out... here are some replacements

Clip Studio Paint > FREE Adobe PS CS2 (google it you'll find a 'legit' CS2 version kinda)
Aseprite > PyxelEdit (FREE old version)
CorelDraw X8 > Inkscape (this is almost as good as CorelDraw/Illustrator!)

but really save $40 and buy CSP and Aseprite... and well go with Inkscape if you are doing vector graphics
Click to expand...

NOTE: The CS2 version of the Adobe programs AREN'T FREE and so it is NOT LEGAL to download them. It specifically says that you must OWN A LICENSE before downloading. That page is online for LEGACY purpose.

That said, their servers don't have any security regarding those license because the license is shared amonst all CS2 users. So it is not legal, but you can't be found out, it's just impossible.
So if you want to do something illegal knowing you won't be found out, go ahead, but I wanted to point out that Photoshop ain't free, and never has been. :p
 
Yal

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
GIMP isn't that bad of an alternative to PS, the main problem is that the GUI is a lot more convoluted... but since anyone can write a plugin for GIMP, there's a lot of cool extra effects you can download to extend it with, so I guess it's more powerful in the long run or something?
 
R

Rustic Penguin

Guest
Like a lot of other people have mentioned in this post, Gimp and Paint.Net are great. They both have decent communities who write plugins for the programs.

I personally enjoy Paint.NET, its GUI is simplistic and pretty straight forward.

After a quick google search I found Aseprite. From what I've seen it has animation, color pallets, and was made for pixel art. I gotta take a look at this when I get home. Looks promising!
 
B

BlueSlime

Guest
CedSharp said:
NOTE: The CS2 version of the Adobe programs AREN'T FREE and so it is NOT LEGAL to download them. It specifically says that you must OWN A LICENSE before downloading. That page is online for LEGACY purpose.

That said, their servers don't have any security regarding those license because the license is shared amonst all CS2 users. So it is not legal, but you can't be found out, it's just impossible.
So if you want to do something illegal knowing you won't be found out, go ahead, but I wanted to point out that Photoshop ain't free, and never has been. :p
Click to expand...
that's why I said 'kinda'
 
B

BlueSlime

Guest
I wouldn't subject anybody to Gimp... I think it is horrible

Yes, I actually have it on a few computers even though I rarely ever use it. But CSP, PS CS(anything), Artrage, Paint.NET, Corel Painter, Krita, 30 other PS clones are all better than Gimp

Just because something is free doesn't make it the best. The only reason why I have gimp is for the spine plugin and a sprite sheet script... in case something ever happens to my photoshop :D

But the fact is that a good artist could make a crayon look great while a bad one couldn't do anything with an entire art store.

I still think Clip Studio Paint and Aseprite and CorelDRAW are the best ;]
 
L

lantran

Guest
photoshop is by far the best program for game art, you use photoshop cs6
 
C

CedSharp

Guest
I don't know why people automatically describe the application they use as "by far the best".
No it's not "by far the best" because there are so many different use cases possible.

Photoshop sucks in animation and pixel art. Photoshop is a photo editing tool. Yes, it can do more, but the primary purpose is photo editing.
Unless you plan on working on HD huge graphics, photoshop doesn't have any advantage compared to better animation-oriented editors,
or other pixelart-oriented editors.

For the pertinence of this post, I suggest that people post WHY the software they recommend is "by far the best"
so that people who are actually interested in finding an useful resource decide if their use case is appropriate for the software in question.

In the hope this topic becomes host to many different incredible apps~
CedSharp
 
Yal

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
GIMP is the best program because it's powerful and extensible. The GMS sprite editor is the best program because it's easy to access and streamlined to work with GMS.

...they're not just the best program in the same fields.
 
GMWolf

GMWolf

aka fel666
in that case blender is the best program because not only does it have paint tools, it even has 3d rendering, video editing and compositing tools! doesnt get better than that :p

Seriously though, Photoshop is far from my tool of choice when it comes to 2d game art. though it does come in handy when working with Textures for 3d games or to draw concept art.
Suprisingly, i also use powerpoint sometimes. its shape and effects tools are quite good. Its nice to get the overal shape of some objects before taking it into a tool like gimp to finish it off.
 
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