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How to do pixelart? Any tool???

Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 11:24 am
by Matej
I want to do pixelart for Sega Mega Drive.
256x224 (32Hx28V)
320x224 (40Hx28V)
256x240 (32Hx30V, PAL only)
320x240 (40Hx30V, PAL only)
Modes and,
61 on-screen colors from 512 colors (1536 using shadow/highlight mode).
Sound pretty cool to me. Almost as small Amiga.

So is there any pixel art tool? Not for sprites but for drawing pictures like paintbrush???
Also is there any viewer? When not is this good idea for tool!
To have paint program/app on PC/MAC/Android with sega rom export.
Maybe also some kind of slideshow or multiple images scrolling...

I use Grafx2 and also I can draw on Deluxe Paint 2...

Re: How to do pixelart? Any tool???

Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2017 11:49 am
by Natsumi
I personally use Paint & GetArt.NET

Re: How to do pixelart? Any tool???

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:59 am
by Sik
I just use mtPaint or GraphicsGale to draw and then mdtiler to convert it. Important though, saving as PNG and using paletted images (not true color), that way the palette information is preserved and mdtiler can make use of it (this is also the only mode where mdtiler can make use of multiple palettes when converting backgrounds - each group of 16 colors is seen as its own palette). The logic here is that a homebrew tool will likely be wasted effort (and probably lacking features) compared to just using an existing dedicated program for drawing pixelart.

I should stop being lazy and provide prebuilt binaries for the tools >_>

Re: How to do pixelart? Any tool???

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 1:46 pm
by Miquel
Gimp + my own tools ( metatiles, animations, level maps/editor ).

But after doing some math you are going to find that the real figures are that you have around 640 tiles for both backgrounds, and another 640 tiles for sprites which wastes a lot since need to be consecutive. With a bit of luck you do dynamic loading for main characters and is not that bad.

¿pixelart? more likely puzzleart and mirrorart.

Still 15 colours for each element is the main concern. The good news are: there is no that much work after all!

Re: How to do pixelart? Any tool???

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 8:51 pm
by djcouchycouch
I use GraphicsGale and wrote a converter to animation structures in C. I start off with a set of colors or palettes and work from there.

Re: How to do pixelart? Any tool???

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 1:14 pm
by Matej
They made pixelart on NEC PC-98...

Sega Digitizer System II
http://kotaku.com/how-sega-made-pixel-a ... 1785718693
http://videogamesdensetsu.tumblr.com/po ... by-graphic

So cross-platform dev was common in 80s too...

So my question is. Can we make some plugin/pallette+resolution script for
any free pixelart painting program?
Also can we have VGM like tool but for graphics to viewing that pictures on
SEGA MEGADRIVE???

I like GRAFX2:
http://grafx2.chez.com/

Or i.MAGE:
http://www.memecode.com/image.php

Or GIMP...

But I can learn any paint.

This will attrack pixelartists from Amiga, Atari, PC, ZX, C64 world...

So more graphic artist better...

Re: How to do pixelart? Any tool???

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:59 am
by Matej
Can SEGA MD show MSX mode 2 (Sega Master System VDP)???

MSX1
Just as with the ZX Spectrum, the screen area is 256 x 192 pixels. But here the color grid is
32x192, which means 2 colors can appear in an 8 x 1 pixel area. The MSX has an overall
background zero-color, selectable from the 15. This also determines the border color. Therefore
there are two black color slots in the palette to begin with.
Although the situation is technically better than with the Spectrum, the MSX is a bit infamous for
having a contrastless and reduntant color palette.
Color behavior: As in C64 hires, but bear in mind the color area is 8x1.

There is nice tool:
http://multipaint.kameli.net/

Multipaint...

Re: How to do pixelart? Any tool???

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:31 pm
by Flygon
Only Modes 4 and 5 are usable on the Mega Drive VDP. Modes 0 through to 3 completely removed, for Master System software too. This is why F-16 Fighter doesn't work, it used one of the removed VDP modes.

I tend to draw entirely in a combination of Paint Tool SAI and Paint.NET for my pixel art needs. But that's far too obtuse for many people's needs.