7 ms·

GrafX2 – a bitmap paint program inspired by Amiga programs

158 points by based2 8y ago

based2 8y ago
https://gfxzone.planet-d.net/interviews/x_man/x_man-interview_01.html https://gfxzone.planet-d.net/interviews/x_man/x_man-intervie... src: http://linuxfr.org/news/grafx2-enfin-en-version-2-5 http://linuxfr.org/news/grafx2-enfin-en-version-2-5
- app4soft 8y ago
  Quote: What are your projects for the nearest future? Go home and eat (it's 19:00)! Attend to LTP3. Make a Multi-player Tetris game. Release a new version of GrafX2 (who said "nearest furture"? :)).
hjek 8y ago
This program is amazing, particularly things like colour cycling (by right clicking on gradient menu), and real good brush-from-selection. GrafX2 is to Gimp what Vim is to LibreOffice Writer, approximately.
- app4soft 8y ago
  > Vim is to LibreOffice Writer, approximately Think, GrafX2 is to GIPM what LaTeX is to LibreOffice Writer ;-)
mirekrusin 8y ago
Ahh reminds me nights spent with deluxe paint, twiddling with pixels, antialiasing them by hand, good times.
oldcynic 8y ago
The old DPaint was a tough act to follow. I was disappointed in just about every graphics program I tried after my Amiga was consigned to history. Downloaded. Wow, isn't it small? Nostalgia on two fronts! :)
- mrec 8y ago
  Brilliance (also Amiga) was even better than DPaint. I haven't found anything to compare for just the plain fun of noodling about, since moving to PC.
- mathnode 8y ago
  The best follow ups by far were Avid Matador and Discreet Combustion. Avid bundled Matador (and FXTree) into Softimage, which Autodesk later absorbed and killed off. Discreet were also assimilated by Autodesk, and Combustion was later killed.
  - vanderZwan 8y ago
    That's the second time I've heard Autodesk accused of the "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" tactic in a week (albeit implicitly in this case). Is it something they are know to do?
snarfy 8y ago
I loved DPaint. It was definitely the most used program on my Amiga. I found grafx2 years ago and was happy it still lives.
mrkstu 8y ago
What I really really want is a Claris/MacDraw clone just slightly modernized. Most of the current options are painfully kludgy of over-featured.
- exikyut 8y ago
  What do you mean by "painfully kludgy" and "over-featured"? I can understand the UI looking a bit spartan to users who never used an Amiga (like myself). I'm also vaguely interested in alternative paint programs as well, particularly open source ones. So I'm curious.
  - mrkstu 8y ago
    Plenty of pixel based options that are actually quite nice, but the brilliance of Claris/MacDraw was its vector focus with a straightforward and powerful integration of interface and features. Haven’t found that combination together since.
    - exikyut 8y ago
      I'll have to poke it in SheepShaver/BasiliskII sometime.
BjoernKW 8y ago
I remember when after years of dabbling with Deluxe Paint IV on the Amiga I first used professional graphics software like Photoshop or Corel Draw and was utterly confused why everything seemed to be so needlessly complex with these tools: “Why can’t I even draw a simple line or rectangle?” Very different use cases and target audiences for sure. Still, from my point of view it wasn’t until Pixelmator that some of that simplicity was brought back.
jstewartmobile 8y ago
Wonderful drawing program. It often seems as though C and SDL are our only hope. edit: #2 link right now is another C/SDL piece of nostalgia: https://github.com/OpenDUNE/OpenDUNE https://github.com/OpenDUNE/OpenDUNE
indescions_2018 8y ago
>>> Scripting with embedded Lua engine Awesome ;) Can you call the palette shifters from the API? This could make a very powerful retro texture synth engine. Or gif creator!
- app4soft 8y ago
  > Can you call the palette shifters from the API? Every user of GrafX2 should get "DB's TOOLBOX"[0] - free additional Lua-scripts for GrafX2, that has many samples on API usage. Latest version is "DB's TOOLBOX v1.4"[1] (released on December 2017). [0] http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12854 http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12854 [1] http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26080 http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26080
feiss 8y ago
Surprised to see GrafX2 in front page, since it was out for ages and it's quite niche. Anyway, I'm very happy for it since it is my favourite pixel drawing tool. It surpasses deluxe paint capabilities by far, and its usability aimed to power users is unmatched. Long life GrafX2. By the way, the lack of credit in the cover image hurts me deeply. It is made by Ilija Melentijevic (@iLkKke on twitter). One of the best pixel artists outthere!
- app4soft 8y ago
  I much more surprised as posted two posts few weeks ago on HN about GrafX2 v2.5 release, but non of them came to the front page of HN... [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17010917 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17010917 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17045420 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17045420
- app4soft 8y ago
  > By the way, the lack of credit in the cover image hurts me deeply. It is made by Ilija Melentijevic (@iLkKke on twitter). One of the best pixel artists outthere! Are you sure that cover image lack of credit? Try look on it under the scope, especially in the left lower corner of it -- and you will see iLkKke sign! ;-) [0] http://grafx2.chez.com//data/medias/web/happy-birthday-guys.png http://grafx2.chez.com//data/medias/web/happy-birthday-guys....
  - app4soft 8y ago
    > in the left lower corner Fix: "in the right lower corner"
- bigtunacan 8y ago
  Just out of curiosity (I'm an Aseprite user); what if any advantages do you know of that might make GrafX2 preferable?
  - app4soft 8y ago
    GrafX2[0] VS Aseprite[1] Licensing GrafX2: GNU GPL v2 -- FREE & open-source, true FOSS software.[2] Aseprite: EULA (since v1.1.7) -- open-source for personal use only, not true FOSS software.[3] Programming GrafX2: main lang -- C ; GUI -- SDL1.x ; addons lang -- Lua 5.x.[2] Aseprite: main lang -- C++ ; GUI -- Qt5.x ; addons lang -- JavaScript.[3] Supported platforms GrafX2: Android, AmigaOS, AROS, Atari, BeOS, *BSD, Canoo, GP2X, Haiku, Linux, macOS/Mac OS X, MorphOS, Windows, Syllable, and much more.[4,5] Aseprite: Linux, macOS/OS X, Windows.[6] Performance/Memory usage GrafX2: ~ 50-200 Mb RAM Aseprite: ~ 450-600 Mb RAM [0] http://grafx2.tk http://grafx2.tk [1] http://aseprite.org http://aseprite.org [2] https://gitlab.com/grafx2/grafx2 https://gitlab.com/grafx2/grafx2 [3] https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite [4] http://pulkomandy.tk/projects/GrafX2/downloads http://pulkomandy.tk/projects/GrafX2/downloads [5] http://grafx2.chez.com/index.php?static3/downloads http://grafx2.chez.com/index.php?static3/downloads [6] https://www.aseprite.org/trial/ https://www.aseprite.org/trial/
callumprentice 8y ago
Like many others here, I have so many brilliant memories of playing with DPaint - first on Amiga then PC. I seem to remember writing a loader for 'lbm' files so we could use the output directly in projects. Another similar and equally amazing package was Autodesk Animator Pro - similar fond memories of using it and being blown away by how easy it was for me as an artistic klutz to create pretty pictures. There is a page with links to original source code, binaries, blog posts etc. here: http://animatorpro.org/ http://animatorpro.org/
mrob 8y ago
This program has a great feature that I haven't seen in any other FLOSS drawing program: both right and left mouse buttons draw, and you can assign a different color to each. This is a huge productivity improvement compared to drawing with only one button, especially for pixel art. If the middle button would center the zoomed view on the selected pixel, instead of toggling the view (a much too rare operation to deserve its own mouse button), it would be perfect.
xyproto 8y ago
GrafX2 is pretty great. It has been an official Arch Linux package since 2011: https://git.archlinux.org/svntogit/community.git/log/trunk?h=packages/grafx2 https://git.archlinux.org/svntogit/community.git/log/trunk?h...
thedaemon 8y ago
I'm glad it got a new homepage. But these days I use Aseprite for my pixel work. It's still got a pixel art interface, but much more optimized for the artist. Take a look if you are a pixel artist.
corysama 8y ago
If you are here and you haven’t seen Mark Ferrari’s GDC talk, you really should sit down and watch it. He is perhaps the greatest pallete animator of all time. Even if you aren’t familiar with the games he worked on, HN folks have likely seen his gallery of single-image animations linked below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcJ1Jvtef0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcJ1Jvtef0 http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article.psp.html/joe/Old_School_Color_Cycling_with_HTML5 http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article.psp.html/joe/Old_S...
- lelandbatey 8y ago
  The second link you posted leads to a 404 for me. By going to the main website I found a link to a page that seems to be the same thing, though maybe it's reformatted a bit. Here's the link: http://www.effectgames.com/demos/canvascycle/ http://www.effectgames.com/demos/canvascycle/
- cgijoe 8y ago
  Sorry, I messed up the link to the main article on my site. Here is the corrected link: http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article-Old_School_Color_Cycling_with_HTML5.html http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article-Old_School_Color_C...
- blt 8y ago
  I agree, the GDC talk is extremely inspiring.
bitwize 8y ago
I liked this program so much, I contributed a patch to it to get it running on NetBSD a few years ago.
chris_wot 8y ago
Is this open-sourced?
- snvzz 8y ago
  OSI Approved license. GPLv2. https://gitlab.com/GrafX2/grafX2/blob/master/LICENSE https://gitlab.com/GrafX2/grafX2/blob/master/LICENSE

158 points by based2 8y ago

https://gfxzone.planet-d.net/interviews/x_man/x_man-interview_01.html https://gfxzone.planet-d.net/interviews/x_man/x_man-intervie... src: http://linuxfr.org/news/grafx2-enfin-en-version-2-5 http://linuxfr.org/news/grafx2-enfin-en-version-2-5

app4soft 8y ago
Quote: What are your projects for the nearest future? Go home and eat (it's 19:00)! Attend to LTP3. Make a Multi-player Tetris game. Release a new version of GrafX2 (who said "nearest furture"? :)).

hjek 8y ago

This program is amazing, particularly things like colour cycling (by right clicking on gradient menu), and real good brush-from-selection. GrafX2 is to Gimp what Vim is to LibreOffice Writer, approximately.

app4soft 8y ago
> Vim is to LibreOffice Writer, approximately Think, GrafX2 is to GIPM what LaTeX is to LibreOffice Writer ;-)

mirekrusin 8y ago

Ahh reminds me nights spent with deluxe paint, twiddling with pixels, antialiasing them by hand, good times.

oldcynic 8y ago

The old DPaint was a tough act to follow. I was disappointed in just about every graphics program I tried after my Amiga was consigned to history. Downloaded. Wow, isn't it small? Nostalgia on two fronts! :)

mrec 8y ago
Brilliance (also Amiga) was even better than DPaint. I haven't found anything to compare for just the plain fun of noodling about, since moving to PC.
mathnode 8y ago
The best follow ups by far were Avid Matador and Discreet Combustion. Avid bundled Matador (and FXTree) into Softimage, which Autodesk later absorbed and killed off. Discreet were also assimilated by Autodesk, and Combustion was later killed.
- vanderZwan 8y ago
  That's the second time I've heard Autodesk accused of the "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" tactic in a week (albeit implicitly in this case). Is it something they are know to do?

snarfy 8y ago

I loved DPaint. It was definitely the most used program on my Amiga. I found grafx2 years ago and was happy it still lives.

mrkstu 8y ago

What I really really want is a Claris/MacDraw clone just slightly modernized. Most of the current options are painfully kludgy of over-featured.

exikyut 8y ago
What do you mean by "painfully kludgy" and "over-featured"? I can understand the UI looking a bit spartan to users who never used an Amiga (like myself). I'm also vaguely interested in alternative paint programs as well, particularly open source ones. So I'm curious.
- mrkstu 8y ago
  Plenty of pixel based options that are actually quite nice, but the brilliance of Claris/MacDraw was its vector focus with a straightforward and powerful integration of interface and features. Haven’t found that combination together since.
  - exikyut 8y ago
    I'll have to poke it in SheepShaver/BasiliskII sometime.

BjoernKW 8y ago

I remember when after years of dabbling with Deluxe Paint IV on the Amiga I first used professional graphics software like Photoshop or Corel Draw and was utterly confused why everything seemed to be so needlessly complex with these tools: “Why can’t I even draw a simple line or rectangle?” Very different use cases and target audiences for sure. Still, from my point of view it wasn’t until Pixelmator that some of that simplicity was brought back.

jstewartmobile 8y ago

Wonderful drawing program. It often seems as though C and SDL are our only hope. edit: #2 link right now is another C/SDL piece of nostalgia: https://github.com/OpenDUNE/OpenDUNE https://github.com/OpenDUNE/OpenDUNE

indescions_2018 8y ago

>>> Scripting with embedded Lua engine Awesome ;) Can you call the palette shifters from the API? This could make a very powerful retro texture synth engine. Or gif creator!

app4soft 8y ago
> Can you call the palette shifters from the API? Every user of GrafX2 should get "DB's TOOLBOX"[0] - free additional Lua-scripts for GrafX2, that has many samples on API usage. Latest version is "DB's TOOLBOX v1.4"[1] (released on December 2017). [0] http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12854 http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12854 [1] http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26080 http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26080

feiss 8y ago

Surprised to see GrafX2 in front page, since it was out for ages and it's quite niche. Anyway, I'm very happy for it since it is my favourite pixel drawing tool. It surpasses deluxe paint capabilities by far, and its usability aimed to power users is unmatched. Long life GrafX2. By the way, the lack of credit in the cover image hurts me deeply. It is made by Ilija Melentijevic (@iLkKke on twitter). One of the best pixel artists outthere!

app4soft 8y ago
I much more surprised as posted two posts few weeks ago on HN about GrafX2 v2.5 release, but non of them came to the front page of HN... [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17010917 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17010917 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17045420 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17045420
app4soft 8y ago
> By the way, the lack of credit in the cover image hurts me deeply. It is made by Ilija Melentijevic (@iLkKke on twitter). One of the best pixel artists outthere! Are you sure that cover image lack of credit? Try look on it under the scope, especially in the left lower corner of it -- and you will see iLkKke sign! ;-) [0] http://grafx2.chez.com//data/medias/web/happy-birthday-guys.png http://grafx2.chez.com//data/medias/web/happy-birthday-guys....
- app4soft 8y ago
  > in the left lower corner Fix: "in the right lower corner"
bigtunacan 8y ago
Just out of curiosity (I'm an Aseprite user); what if any advantages do you know of that might make GrafX2 preferable?
- app4soft 8y ago
  GrafX2[0] VS Aseprite[1] Licensing GrafX2: GNU GPL v2 -- FREE & open-source, true FOSS software.[2] Aseprite: EULA (since v1.1.7) -- open-source for personal use only, not true FOSS software.[3] Programming GrafX2: main lang -- C ; GUI -- SDL1.x ; addons lang -- Lua 5.x.[2] Aseprite: main lang -- C++ ; GUI -- Qt5.x ; addons lang -- JavaScript.[3] Supported platforms GrafX2: Android, AmigaOS, AROS, Atari, BeOS, *BSD, Canoo, GP2X, Haiku, Linux, macOS/Mac OS X, MorphOS, Windows, Syllable, and much more.[4,5] Aseprite: Linux, macOS/OS X, Windows.[6] Performance/Memory usage GrafX2: ~ 50-200 Mb RAM Aseprite: ~ 450-600 Mb RAM [0] http://grafx2.tk http://grafx2.tk [1] http://aseprite.org http://aseprite.org [2] https://gitlab.com/grafx2/grafx2 https://gitlab.com/grafx2/grafx2 [3] https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite [4] http://pulkomandy.tk/projects/GrafX2/downloads http://pulkomandy.tk/projects/GrafX2/downloads [5] http://grafx2.chez.com/index.php?static3/downloads http://grafx2.chez.com/index.php?static3/downloads [6] https://www.aseprite.org/trial/ https://www.aseprite.org/trial/

callumprentice 8y ago

Like many others here, I have so many brilliant memories of playing with DPaint - first on Amiga then PC. I seem to remember writing a loader for 'lbm' files so we could use the output directly in projects. Another similar and equally amazing package was Autodesk Animator Pro - similar fond memories of using it and being blown away by how easy it was for me as an artistic klutz to create pretty pictures. There is a page with links to original source code, binaries, blog posts etc. here: http://animatorpro.org/ http://animatorpro.org/

mrob 8y ago

This program has a great feature that I haven't seen in any other FLOSS drawing program: both right and left mouse buttons draw, and you can assign a different color to each. This is a huge productivity improvement compared to drawing with only one button, especially for pixel art. If the middle button would center the zoomed view on the selected pixel, instead of toggling the view (a much too rare operation to deserve its own mouse button), it would be perfect.

xyproto 8y ago

GrafX2 is pretty great. It has been an official Arch Linux package since 2011: https://git.archlinux.org/svntogit/community.git/log/trunk?h=packages/grafx2 https://git.archlinux.org/svntogit/community.git/log/trunk?h...

thedaemon 8y ago

I'm glad it got a new homepage. But these days I use Aseprite for my pixel work. It's still got a pixel art interface, but much more optimized for the artist. Take a look if you are a pixel artist.

corysama 8y ago

If you are here and you haven’t seen Mark Ferrari’s GDC talk, you really should sit down and watch it. He is perhaps the greatest pallete animator of all time. Even if you aren’t familiar with the games he worked on, HN folks have likely seen his gallery of single-image animations linked below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcJ1Jvtef0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcJ1Jvtef0 http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article.psp.html/joe/Old_School_Color_Cycling_with_HTML5 http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article.psp.html/joe/Old_S...

lelandbatey 8y ago
The second link you posted leads to a 404 for me. By going to the main website I found a link to a page that seems to be the same thing, though maybe it's reformatted a bit. Here's the link: http://www.effectgames.com/demos/canvascycle/ http://www.effectgames.com/demos/canvascycle/
cgijoe 8y ago
Sorry, I messed up the link to the main article on my site. Here is the corrected link: http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article-Old_School_Color_Cycling_with_HTML5.html http://www.effectgames.com/effect/article-Old_School_Color_C...
blt 8y ago
I agree, the GDC talk is extremely inspiring.

bitwize 8y ago

I liked this program so much, I contributed a patch to it to get it running on NetBSD a few years ago.

chris_wot 8y ago

Is this open-sourced?

snvzz 8y ago
OSI Approved license. GPLv2. https://gitlab.com/GrafX2/grafX2/blob/master/LICENSE https://gitlab.com/GrafX2/grafX2/blob/master/LICENSE