Pixelation

Critique => 2D & 3D => Topic started by: wzl on November 24, 2015, 07:56:04 pm

Title: Physical pixel art
Post by: wzl on November 24, 2015, 07:56:04 pm
A couple days ago i was approached on my twitch stream by someone who just formed a stream team called dot matrix. He and his other team mates are mostly doing perlers and cross stitching, which got me curious. It's not like i've been completely oblivious of those, but it never really occured to trying it myself, which i now did, and it's really fun  ::)
I've started with cross stitching because it is easier to get into and requires less equipment. Additionally you have more freedom with different stitching techniques and canvases. It's pretty amazing what you can do.
The downside is it takes forever.

What i found really interesting is that cross stitching dates back to egypt around 500AD, so pixel art is actually ancient  :P

In any case, here are the two stitches i made so far. The rabite is an original sprite i did (or remix i guess) while goku is from the GBA DragonBall Advanced Adventure game.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12237727/Art/Stitches/Puschel.png)

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12237727/Art/Stitches/Goku.png)

Have you attempted any cross stitching, perlers, or any other physical form of pixelart?
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: Gil on November 25, 2015, 08:55:36 am
I used to be a perler as a kid in the early 90's (I think everyone was back then). My grandma was big into cross stitching, I should get into it. I think I have an aunt who does a lot of cross stitching too.
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: wzl on November 29, 2015, 06:06:00 am
I did another piece on stream last night \o
This is fun. but it takes so insanely long. This one is around 5-6 hours.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12237727/Art/Stitches/Toasterdog.png)
Toasterdog, best dog!

I did another giveaway last night  :lol:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12237727/Art/Stitches/ryu.png)
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: Gil on November 30, 2015, 02:43:51 pm
My sister asked me to do one of my pixel art pieces in Ministeck, anyone remember that?
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: wzl on November 30, 2015, 05:18:09 pm
oh yes! we used to have that in kindergarten.
That stuff is frickin expensive though ;/
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: Cherno on November 30, 2015, 05:22:46 pm
Perler beads are a popular medium for recreating pixel art. I wished there was a source of cheap, tiny plastic cubes for voxel-style models.
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: jengy on December 01, 2015, 04:08:13 pm
Hey!
PixelPiledriver told me about this post and I'm exicted to see others doing this!

I make magnets with my pixel art works.
They are super sturdy (I use heavy magnets found at craft stores) and back them with felt.
They take forever to make, though.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mY_95W0jEeY/Vl3Cx_XrEYI/AAAAAAAAXSU/BJwQDe-zhC0/s1600/LZnJJ9s.jpg)
Fever, Weird and Chill

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rqcofrM_M7o/Vl3Cxb88WSI/AAAAAAAAXSQ/HQGv3KE3hGM/s1600/IMG_1240.JPG)
Kirby flying away

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AD2EAi49ssY/Vl3CxCzVIQI/AAAAAAAAXSI/--gOTjApQKw/s1600/IMG_1239.JPG)
The mole from Dig-N-Rig!

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Znk-24nvB8M/Vl3Cv7dD0UI/AAAAAAAAXR4/gRZe0_SnLQs/s1600/IMG_1236.JPG)
Whoosh!

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BhS7efKA8Ns/Vl3CqjNLyuI/AAAAAAAAXRU/fGa6axHeYtM/s1600/23.png)
Dr. Mario

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S-qjvuoB3yU/Vl3CqxaUIJI/AAAAAAAAXRY/YKtWNXV4FKc/s1600/4.PNG)
Mario 3 x Plants VS. Zombies for a friend

If anyone is interested, I can do a video demo sometime of how I put them together.

Basic Steps:

I also made a pixel art stocking for Christmas that Pixel will use year round (and where I'll hide little gifts and notes for him).

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hanqUoCueWs/Vl3Cq7oC10I/AAAAAAAAXRc/8JV5tMmNXow/s1600/IMG_1233.JPG)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rXcT98-Uwag/Vl3Cr0_WlXI/AAAAAAAAXRs/7a7fTCdSLZI/s1600/IMG_1234.JPG)
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: RAV on December 02, 2015, 07:35:43 pm
Jengy, I am jealous of PPD. Hey wzl, wanna be my cross-stitching girlfriend?
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: jengy on December 04, 2015, 04:47:19 pm
LOL.
Wanna know some cross stitching tips?

- If you use both hands (one poking through the front, the other catching the needle and poking through the back) the whole project goes twice as fast. You have to rest the hoop on your knee to get this to work. But your basically tossing the needle from hand to hand.

- Place a light either behind your project and you can see the needle through the fabric, and be able to poke the hole you're going for faster. Or place a light to your left or right, (you can use daylight for this) just enough to cast shadows across your cross stitch. When you are searching for your hole with the needle, you can more clearly see where the bump is. (Searching requires a ballpoint needle, which I mention in the next step).

- Don't use a sharp needle. Consider using a larger tapestry or ballpoint needle. Makes it so you never poke yourself and you're less likely to miss the hole you're going for and split the weave.

- Use beeswax or thread conditioner to make the thread less prone to clotting and knotting.

I can make some videos if anyone is interested, can't do it now because I'm on a bus, hehe).

Good luck!
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: RAV on December 05, 2015, 07:21:05 am
Sounds great. I like this topic. Been looking at a lot of old cross-stitches from flea markets to study their technique. And that sensation of a physical feeling to pixel art is so nice. Btw, I noticed some of them making good use of mixing the half-pixel in, since only one half of the crossing double stitch is like a corner tile. It happened very often that I found surprising parallels to computed pixel art quirks. Another example is how stitching with different materials gave them sometimes either more CRT colour bleeding fuzziness or more LCD like sharpness. It's funny even they knew this difference pre compute era.

Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: wzl on December 06, 2015, 04:02:57 pm
That is fantastic jengy!
the tips are great, though i figured them out myself except using the bees wax :P
I have the fabric mounted differently since i don't have a frame to work with, but using both hands is really comfortable i find.
I did use a backlight when i was experimenting with dark fabric, because that was a pain to work with otherwise. Didn't try that with a normal piece. will certainly try it next time :D

I do wonder though how you fix your outer borders after cutting them. can you show a closeup picture of that maybe? i'd be so afraid of the fabric falling apart :P
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: gomi on December 10, 2015, 02:27:41 pm
Nice! I just returned to the forums to get my pixel mojo back before tackling some larger mosaic pieces.
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: MikePixel on December 10, 2015, 10:47:10 pm
Those are so cute. I have to make one myself.
I would love a video jengy!
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: Theoden on April 18, 2016, 03:56:17 pm
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12237727/Art/Stitches/Toasterdog.png)

This is awesome! You should do more.
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: wzl on April 19, 2016, 09:19:31 am
Why thank you! Actually i thought the same recently. I'll probably get some more done at some point :)
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: DigitalYerf on September 12, 2016, 09:18:52 pm
Cinnamon cake

A delicious but very low resolution rendering of a fox. 19 x 16 pixels, 6 colours, 5 hours of icing:

(https://flashasm.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/030-copy.jpg?w=150&h=112)

Original picture: http://bluewater-publications.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Fierce-Fox.jpg (http://bluewater-publications.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Fierce-Fox.jpg)

More pictures, and how it was done: https://flashasm.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/this-rendering-algorithm-is-incredibly-slow-aka-cinnamon-cake-pixel-art/ (https://flashasm.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/this-rendering-algorithm-is-incredibly-slow-aka-cinnamon-cake-pixel-art/)


Hand-made antialiased text

The antialiasing value of each pixel was calculated by hand, based on how much was inside the text shapes. Approximately 64 x 32 pixels, 9 levels of antialiasing, 36 colours, 7 hours of painting:

(https://flashasm.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/005.jpg?w=640&h=478)

More pictures, and how it was done: https://flashasm.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/this-rasterization-algorithm-is-incredibly-slow-but-at-least-uses-antialiasing/ (https://flashasm.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/this-rasterization-algorithm-is-incredibly-slow-but-at-least-uses-antialiasing/)


Fox

320 x 220 (approx) pixels, 25 colours, 130 hours of painting. Not a great photo, to be honest:

(http://i.imgur.com/tZUoC04.jpg)

Original: https://www.flickr.com/photos/levitateme/3735905630/ (https://www.flickr.com/photos/levitateme/3735905630/)

More pictures, including some close-ups: http://imgur.com/a/Yg5Lw (http://imgur.com/a/Yg5Lw)

How it was done: This blogpost is for a different picture, but it's the same principle. https://flashasm.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/more-incredibly-slow-rendering-algorithms-cupcakes-pixel-art/ (https://flashasm.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/more-incredibly-slow-rendering-algorithms-cupcakes-pixel-art/)


Cupcakes version 2.0

My first attempt at painting these cupcakes was disappointing, so I decided to try again. 256 x 320 pixels, 64 colours, 300 hours of mixing and painting. Original picture on the left, painting on the right:

(https://flashasm.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/0051.jpg?w=640)

Original picture: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wvALB7YcVwc/USasHfsD1PI/AAAAAAAALGk/cjP7Nm2eZI4/s1600/SprinkleBakes+Roy+G+Biv+Rainbow+Cupcakes.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wvALB7YcVwc/USasHfsD1PI/AAAAAAAALGk/cjP7Nm2eZI4/s1600/SprinkleBakes+Roy+G+Biv+Rainbow+Cupcakes.jpg)

More pictures, and how it was done: https://flashasm.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/81920-pixels-of-64-colour-cupcake-goodness/ (https://flashasm.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/81920-pixels-of-64-colour-cupcake-goodness/)
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: wzl on September 12, 2016, 11:09:59 pm
That is insane. mad props!
would eat the fox without second thought though :D
Title: Re: Physical pixel art
Post by: maruki on September 15, 2016, 05:49:46 pm
This is so awesome! I love to see the pixels on the screen "get real", hahaha
I'm terrible with any kind of craft, though D: I once tried cross-stitching when I was a kid and, man, that was painful.