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Show HN: I made a pixel art editor for Windows desktop

161 points by isometric_8 2y ago

isometric_8 2y ago
I make game developer tools for fun and to fill a need that I myself might encounter when trying to make a game. I figured creating a pixel art editor would be a good challenge (graphics programming is hard), I wanted it to be fast and as easy to use as possible, something that Photoshop users could comfortably use as a replacement. A 99% fully functional free demo is available for download (you just can't save the layered art files to disk using the demo version).
- pseudonymcoward 2y ago
  My biggest question is "why would I buy this and not Aseprite?". Aseprite is very well established in this space and this new tool doesn't seem like it has anythign unique to offer. Not that building a new tool isn't a good project, but when you're selling it you probably need some distinctive features, certainly if you want to win over existing users.
  - isometric_8 2y ago
    Aseprite is a very good product! For me personally I don't like the interface but that's just personal taste and maybe there are others out there who might prefer something like what I've created, I would hope so. Lightcube imports PSD which last I checked Aseprite doesn't do(?), text editing is inline as opposed to a text field in a window and the shape tool includes isometric ellipse which is pain in the butt to draw. Bottom line is 80% of any pixel art editor is the same functionality as any other editor, but once you've established that you can start to add on the innovative ideas and start to differentiate. Well, that's the plan anyhow. Either way, competition is a good thing!
  - diath 2y ago
    Additionally, Aseprite runs on Linux, which is a big pro for me.
    - user1023212124 2y ago
      The Aseprite homepage mentions Windows, Ubuntu/Linux, and macOS for their trial: https://www.aseprite.org/trial/ https://www.aseprite.org/trial/ I assume that Aseprite runs on all these platforms.
    - S0y 2y ago
      Aseprite is also open-source and free if you compile it yourself. https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite
      - hn_acker 2y ago
        Aseprite is source-available now, not open source [1]. Libresprite [2] is a fork of a past GPLv2 version of Aseprite. [1] https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite/blob/main/EULA.txt https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite/blob/main/EULA.txt [2] https://github.com/LibreSprite/LibreSprite https://github.com/LibreSprite/LibreSprite
    - yareal 2y ago
      Aseprite files also can be ingested directly by tools down the line. Godot, for instance, with a plugin can setup all your animations directly from an aseprite file.
  - a1o 2y ago
    I think both Aseprite and Graphics Gale are great tools for pixel art. If you have Aseprite on Steam, you can try the experimental branches to try features before they are fully fledged. I've been using the tile branch and playing with it for some time now. You can also compile for yourself if you want - even though I have bought it on Steam I have my own build too that I use in an old Linux computer when I want to draw in non-distracted almost offline way.
  - RunSet 2y ago
    > My biggest question is "why would I buy this and not Aseprite?" "why would I buy this and when paint.net is free?" $15 seems like a big ask when equivalent or greater functionality can be had at no cost.
  - Repose0941 2y ago
    I think creating something for fun is good by itself, also the app looks good. Personally I wouldn't use since I use Linux and prefer OSS, but the app looks really cool, congrats
    - isometric_8 2y ago
      Thank you! that's encouraging
akavel 2y ago
Does it support a practical stylus-oriented workflow? Can I use all its functions in a purely touch+stylus mode, without reaching for the keyboard at all? I'm looking for such a pixel-art tool, not aware of any at the moment. (Also, I'm totally an absolute amateur, so I might be missing some.)
- isometric_8 2y ago
  Yes it does support non-keyboard usage through the stylus and touch, I tested on a Wacom tablet and a Surface Pro during development - I recommend downloading the demo first to be sure that it fits your requirements.
axegon_ 2y ago
I am saying this in a very good way: I was 10 years old(give or take) when I started fiddling about with Macromedia(later acquired by Adobe) Flash 4 and the screenshots gave me so many flashbacks, like making dumb animations, fiddling with scenes and the strange animal that was action script. The UI looks soooooooooo familiar..
- isometric_8 2y ago
  I'll take that as a compliment, and if I've achieved nothing else, glad to give you flashbacks.
  - axegon_ 2y ago
    No, you've achieved much more and I'd be curious to give it a spin some day when I finally find the motivation and time and work on some games. Sadly I'm swarmed with much larger stuff atm, even in my spare time :(
runamuck 2y ago
Amazing! I dabble in isometric pixel art, and I use MS Paint - which puts art on "Hard Mode" for me. I love the idea of an "isometric grid!" I will buy this software once I figure out how to use Steam.
- isometric_8 2y ago
  Thank you for the encouraging comment!
hgs3 2y ago
The interface looks very clean. Would you mind sharing a bit about the tech behind it, assuming it isn't a proprietary secret? At first glance it looks like a C# .NET application.
- isometric_8 2y ago
  It's all MFC C++ where most of the UI controls are custom ones that I created to achieve the kind of interaction I was looking for. I used LodePng and gifanimcplusplus for processing png and gif files, the rest of the code is all in-house. I learned a lot in terms of processing RGBA as fast as possible.
- isometric_8 2y ago
  To be a bit more verbose: Most of the work is just processing RGBA data in terms of adding or removing pixels, or mixing it, and then pushing that to the display. So it's really just a straight up C++ app with some UI code.
rat_on_the_run 2y ago
A bit off-topic, but the website has large white space on the right side on mobile.
- isometric_8 2y ago
  Thanks for letting me know!
  - andai 2y ago
    How did you implement search on the website?
    - isometric_8 2y ago
      I built the site in markdown and used Material for MkDocs to generate the site as static pages. Material for MkDocs automatically adds this really neat JavaScript powered search feature to the site https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/setup/setting-up-site-search/ https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/setup/setting-up...
kevingadd 2y ago
If you want to distinguish yourself against your competition, you should look into implementing Index Painting or realtime palette conversion as a built-in feature: https://lospec.com/pixel-art-tutorials/hd-index-painting-in-photoshop-by-dan-fessler https://lospec.com/pixel-art-tutorials/hd-index-painting-in-... You've got a really good start though, the UI looks clean and you've got a good feature set as-is. Realtime palette conversion would let people author pixel art using truecolor tools while staring at the palettized result, which is a fun way to work.
- isometric_8 2y ago
  Thanks for the suggestion! Going to implement this.
  - blizdiddy 2y ago
    I would also love to see such a feature! Please do!
- lencastre 2y ago
  +1 for the index painting!!!
sinuhe69 2y ago
I'm not versed in pixel art, so my naive question is, isn't it easier to draw using vector graphics and then convert to pixel art when needed? Because I think it is not easy to manipulate pixels, but vector objects are much easier to manipulate. Also, vector graphics retain the high resolution, so it's much easier to create for many different resolutions. Even if the automatic conversion to pixels wasn't perfect, wouldn't polishing them after conversion be a lot less work?
- tombert 2y ago
  I'm not in game development, and I'm a pretty mediocre-at-best artist, but I personally have found it considerably easier to draw pixel art simply because you limit yourself to like a 16x16 grid for a sprite. There's a lot less room to screw stuff up, and you get a lot of implied detail while also being pretty easy to be very precise. If you took a vector drawing and rasterized it to 16x16, I think that might kind of look like crap, because it'd be hard to know ahead of time how the rasterizing will work. How will it handle diagonal lines? How will it figure out which pixels to shade and which ones not to? I'm not saying you couldn't make a vector renderer that handles these things in a way that you'd like, but I am saying that you'd most likely not be terribly happy with the default results.
- CitrusFruits 2y ago
  Pixel art relies on specific pixels being colored or defined in ways that a vectorized representation would never render to. In other words, it often looks bad, especially at lower resolutions (which is the whole esthetic of pixel art). This article has some good examples of vector icons not holding up well compared to their "hand crafted" pixel counterparts https://www.pushing-pixels.org/2011/11/04/about-those-vector-icons.html https://www.pushing-pixels.org/2011/11/04/about-those-vector...
- flobosg 2y ago
  From personal experience, rasterizing vector art for a pixel art aesthetic usually leaves a lot to be desired, especially when you look at angled lines and curved shapes. That being said, there are rasterizing projects with a focus on pixel art, for instance Superpixelator: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2486042.2486044 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2486042.2486044
angra_mainyu 2y ago
What are the advantages over aseprite?
- isometric_8 2y ago
  - Import Photoshop PSD files - Isometric shape tool - Built-in pattern brushes (for things like brickwork, landscapes, fences, windows, doors, meshes etc., stuff thats painstaking to draw) - Color ramp generator with configurable hue shifting - Inline text tool
drchickensalad 2y ago
On mobile chrome samsung s21 ultra your cookie footer/modal is below the fold.
- isometric_8 2y ago
  Thank you for letting me know
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
Dalewyn 2y ago
I am greatly reminded of iDraw from my RPG Maker days, fun times. I'll make a note to check this out. Also kudos for supporting Windows 7, even if one of your distribution channels no longer does.
p1nkpineapple 2y ago
Looks fantastic, well done! Potentially sacrilegious question, given this is very clearly made for Windows: Do you plan on eventually supporting macos? :D
- isometric_8 2y ago
  I wanted to, I really did. I tried replacing the UI with an OpenGL UI of my own but I could never get smooth enough mouse drawing so I put that aside. Sorry macOS users :-(

161 points by isometric_8 2y ago

I make game developer tools for fun and to fill a need that I myself might encounter when trying to make a game. I figured creating a pixel art editor would be a good challenge (graphics programming is hard), I wanted it to be fast and as easy to use as possible, something that Photoshop users could comfortably use as a replacement. A 99% fully functional free demo is available for download (you just can't save the layered art files to disk using the demo version).

pseudonymcoward 2y ago
My biggest question is "why would I buy this and not Aseprite?". Aseprite is very well established in this space and this new tool doesn't seem like it has anythign unique to offer. Not that building a new tool isn't a good project, but when you're selling it you probably need some distinctive features, certainly if you want to win over existing users.
- isometric_8 2y ago
  Aseprite is a very good product! For me personally I don't like the interface but that's just personal taste and maybe there are others out there who might prefer something like what I've created, I would hope so. Lightcube imports PSD which last I checked Aseprite doesn't do(?), text editing is inline as opposed to a text field in a window and the shape tool includes isometric ellipse which is pain in the butt to draw. Bottom line is 80% of any pixel art editor is the same functionality as any other editor, but once you've established that you can start to add on the innovative ideas and start to differentiate. Well, that's the plan anyhow. Either way, competition is a good thing!
- diath 2y ago
  Additionally, Aseprite runs on Linux, which is a big pro for me.
  - user1023212124 2y ago
    The Aseprite homepage mentions Windows, Ubuntu/Linux, and macOS for their trial: https://www.aseprite.org/trial/ https://www.aseprite.org/trial/ I assume that Aseprite runs on all these platforms.
  - S0y 2y ago
    Aseprite is also open-source and free if you compile it yourself. https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite
    - hn_acker 2y ago
      Aseprite is source-available now, not open source [1]. Libresprite [2] is a fork of a past GPLv2 version of Aseprite. [1] https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite/blob/main/EULA.txt https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite/blob/main/EULA.txt [2] https://github.com/LibreSprite/LibreSprite https://github.com/LibreSprite/LibreSprite
  - yareal 2y ago
    Aseprite files also can be ingested directly by tools down the line. Godot, for instance, with a plugin can setup all your animations directly from an aseprite file.
- a1o 2y ago
  I think both Aseprite and Graphics Gale are great tools for pixel art. If you have Aseprite on Steam, you can try the experimental branches to try features before they are fully fledged. I've been using the tile branch and playing with it for some time now. You can also compile for yourself if you want - even though I have bought it on Steam I have my own build too that I use in an old Linux computer when I want to draw in non-distracted almost offline way.
- RunSet 2y ago
  > My biggest question is "why would I buy this and not Aseprite?" "why would I buy this and when paint.net is free?" $15 seems like a big ask when equivalent or greater functionality can be had at no cost.
- Repose0941 2y ago
  I think creating something for fun is good by itself, also the app looks good. Personally I wouldn't use since I use Linux and prefer OSS, but the app looks really cool, congrats
  - isometric_8 2y ago
    Thank you! that's encouraging

akavel 2y ago

Does it support a practical stylus-oriented workflow? Can I use all its functions in a purely touch+stylus mode, without reaching for the keyboard at all? I'm looking for such a pixel-art tool, not aware of any at the moment. (Also, I'm totally an absolute amateur, so I might be missing some.)

isometric_8 2y ago
Yes it does support non-keyboard usage through the stylus and touch, I tested on a Wacom tablet and a Surface Pro during development - I recommend downloading the demo first to be sure that it fits your requirements.

axegon_ 2y ago

I am saying this in a very good way: I was 10 years old(give or take) when I started fiddling about with Macromedia(later acquired by Adobe) Flash 4 and the screenshots gave me so many flashbacks, like making dumb animations, fiddling with scenes and the strange animal that was action script. The UI looks soooooooooo familiar..

isometric_8 2y ago
I'll take that as a compliment, and if I've achieved nothing else, glad to give you flashbacks.
- axegon_ 2y ago
  No, you've achieved much more and I'd be curious to give it a spin some day when I finally find the motivation and time and work on some games. Sadly I'm swarmed with much larger stuff atm, even in my spare time :(

runamuck 2y ago

Amazing! I dabble in isometric pixel art, and I use MS Paint - which puts art on "Hard Mode" for me. I love the idea of an "isometric grid!" I will buy this software once I figure out how to use Steam.

isometric_8 2y ago
Thank you for the encouraging comment!

hgs3 2y ago

The interface looks very clean. Would you mind sharing a bit about the tech behind it, assuming it isn't a proprietary secret? At first glance it looks like a C# .NET application.

isometric_8 2y ago
It's all MFC C++ where most of the UI controls are custom ones that I created to achieve the kind of interaction I was looking for. I used LodePng and gifanimcplusplus for processing png and gif files, the rest of the code is all in-house. I learned a lot in terms of processing RGBA as fast as possible.
isometric_8 2y ago
To be a bit more verbose: Most of the work is just processing RGBA data in terms of adding or removing pixels, or mixing it, and then pushing that to the display. So it's really just a straight up C++ app with some UI code.

rat_on_the_run 2y ago

A bit off-topic, but the website has large white space on the right side on mobile.

isometric_8 2y ago
Thanks for letting me know!
- andai 2y ago
  How did you implement search on the website?
  - isometric_8 2y ago
    I built the site in markdown and used Material for MkDocs to generate the site as static pages. Material for MkDocs automatically adds this really neat JavaScript powered search feature to the site https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/setup/setting-up-site-search/ https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/setup/setting-up...

kevingadd 2y ago

If you want to distinguish yourself against your competition, you should look into implementing Index Painting or realtime palette conversion as a built-in feature: https://lospec.com/pixel-art-tutorials/hd-index-painting-in-photoshop-by-dan-fessler https://lospec.com/pixel-art-tutorials/hd-index-painting-in-... You've got a really good start though, the UI looks clean and you've got a good feature set as-is. Realtime palette conversion would let people author pixel art using truecolor tools while staring at the palettized result, which is a fun way to work.

isometric_8 2y ago
Thanks for the suggestion! Going to implement this.
- blizdiddy 2y ago
  I would also love to see such a feature! Please do!
lencastre 2y ago
+1 for the index painting!!!

sinuhe69 2y ago

I'm not versed in pixel art, so my naive question is, isn't it easier to draw using vector graphics and then convert to pixel art when needed? Because I think it is not easy to manipulate pixels, but vector objects are much easier to manipulate. Also, vector graphics retain the high resolution, so it's much easier to create for many different resolutions. Even if the automatic conversion to pixels wasn't perfect, wouldn't polishing them after conversion be a lot less work?

tombert 2y ago
I'm not in game development, and I'm a pretty mediocre-at-best artist, but I personally have found it considerably easier to draw pixel art simply because you limit yourself to like a 16x16 grid for a sprite. There's a lot less room to screw stuff up, and you get a lot of implied detail while also being pretty easy to be very precise. If you took a vector drawing and rasterized it to 16x16, I think that might kind of look like crap, because it'd be hard to know ahead of time how the rasterizing will work. How will it handle diagonal lines? How will it figure out which pixels to shade and which ones not to? I'm not saying you couldn't make a vector renderer that handles these things in a way that you'd like, but I am saying that you'd most likely not be terribly happy with the default results.
CitrusFruits 2y ago
Pixel art relies on specific pixels being colored or defined in ways that a vectorized representation would never render to. In other words, it often looks bad, especially at lower resolutions (which is the whole esthetic of pixel art). This article has some good examples of vector icons not holding up well compared to their "hand crafted" pixel counterparts https://www.pushing-pixels.org/2011/11/04/about-those-vector-icons.html https://www.pushing-pixels.org/2011/11/04/about-those-vector...
flobosg 2y ago
From personal experience, rasterizing vector art for a pixel art aesthetic usually leaves a lot to be desired, especially when you look at angled lines and curved shapes. That being said, there are rasterizing projects with a focus on pixel art, for instance Superpixelator: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2486042.2486044 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2486042.2486044

angra_mainyu 2y ago

What are the advantages over aseprite?

isometric_8 2y ago
- Import Photoshop PSD files - Isometric shape tool - Built-in pattern brushes (for things like brickwork, landscapes, fences, windows, doors, meshes etc., stuff thats painstaking to draw) - Color ramp generator with configurable hue shifting - Inline text tool

drchickensalad 2y ago

On mobile chrome samsung s21 ultra your cookie footer/modal is below the fold.

isometric_8 2y ago
Thank you for letting me know

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

Dalewyn 2y ago

I am greatly reminded of iDraw from my RPG Maker days, fun times. I'll make a note to check this out. Also kudos for supporting Windows 7, even if one of your distribution channels no longer does.

p1nkpineapple 2y ago

Looks fantastic, well done! Potentially sacrilegious question, given this is very clearly made for Windows: Do you plan on eventually supporting macos? :D

isometric_8 2y ago
I wanted to, I really did. I tried replacing the UI with an OpenGL UI of my own but I could never get smooth enough mouse drawing so I put that aside. Sorry macOS users :-(