AuthorTopic: Pixel Proof - Innovative pixel editor  (Read 4974 times)

Offline Jonny D

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Pixel Proof - Innovative pixel editor

on: August 02, 2016, 04:29:32 pm
Allow me to introduce Pixel Proof, a great new editor that approaches pixel art in a special way.  The interface is simple, the tools are fresh, and much of it is customizable.  Set up your palette and toolset and the layered file format will save them along with the image.  With Twitter integration, you can even tweet your art directly from the app!

The Pirate Edition is free and fully-featured.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!  If you like it, buy it!
https://dinomage.itch.io/pixel-proof

Offline Jonny D

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Re: Pixel Proof - Innovative pixel editor

Reply #1 on: August 02, 2016, 04:31:00 pm
« Last Edit: September 18, 2016, 11:23:58 pm by Jonny D »

Offline surt

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Re: Pixel Proof - Innovative pixel editor

Reply #2 on: August 02, 2016, 07:37:42 pm
Could you detail these innovations?

Offline Jonny D

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Re: Pixel Proof - Innovative pixel editor

Reply #3 on: August 03, 2016, 05:28:23 am
Could you detail these innovations?

Absolutely!

It starts with rethinking the interface.  All desktop pixel editors have a traditional menu system that takes up screen space, is completely text-based, and has options which lack spatial identity.  Pixel Proof uses a popup menu with visual icons at spatially consistent locations which use text on hover to further describe themselves.  Detailed settings are in submenus to stay out of the way until actually needed.  This is all a big improvement in UX.

Pixel editors could do more to adapt to your needs.  Pixel Proof approaches this issue in several ways.

Most pixel editors have a static interface.  You pick from the predefined set of all tools and a full palette to do your work.  Pixel Proof has customizable toolbars so that you pick the tools and colors that are appropriate for the work you are doing.  Your editing flow can be preserved if you don't have to navigate a menu or locate the right tool in a big box of tools over and over again.  Your toolset is saved in Pixel Proof's layered format so you can get right back to work next time.

You can set the background as either a flat color or as an image (with optional color modulation).  You can draw over that image or, as I like to do, set the image in motion so that transparent pixels are always apparent.

Other images can be loaded into reference windows.  These windows stay on top of Pixel Proof so that you can refer to the images as you work.

The pixel grid can be customized too.  You can choose the spacing and offset (great for spritesheets) of two overlaid grids as well as the colors for them all.

The tools available in Pixel Proof include standard pixel tools (pencil, eraser, line, flood fill) and go much further.  I considered the tasks that pixel artists handle and developed tools for making tedious work much easier.

Pixel Proof has tools for working directly with the alpha channel / transparency, e.g. a flood fill for transparency.

An outline tool helps to quickly render an outline around your figure.  In the future, I plan to do the same with a filter layer so that the outline automatically adjusts as you work.

Some other tools are implemented which will be extended in the future.  The Color Converge tool lets you adjust the painted pixels toward a chosen color, making shading, highlighting, and alternate colorings (e.g. ice, poison, stone, etc.) easy.  The Soft Undo tool gives you fine-grained control over an undo step instead of all or nothing.  The Selective Outline tool (a provocative name, perhaps) draws darkened pixels at the end of lines to form a suggestive outline.

And then, of course, there's the Twitter integration.  Once you authorize the app, you can tweet your work along with a message with just two clicks.  Pixel Proof can handle small pixel art by resizing it before upload so that Twitter renders it without blurring.  Now you can share with friends or @Pixel_Dailies for fun or critique with no headache.

There's much more on the horizon, but I need to hear from more people about their needs and dreams of what an editor could do for them.  I want more people to hear about Pixel Proof, share about it, use it, and see if it is right for them.

Offline Squiggly_P

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Re: Pixel Proof - Innovative pixel editor

Reply #4 on: August 25, 2016, 02:12:25 pm
I'll try it out. Always interested in new pixel art apps. I actually started learning C++ a while back with the eventual goal of making my own pixeling app, but I ended up stumbling upon aesprite and I've been using that ever since, as it tends to handle things a lot better than other pixel apps.

I'll try it out, but you should be aware that I run various antivirus / malware apps and all of them started freaking out about your executable, apparently because they've never seen it before and don't know what to make of it. I honestly don't understand. I've written my own apps that they would have never seen before and they've never freaked out like this. Avast is especially enamored with it and has blocked it while it awaits results of what I assume to be some kind of automated testing that is apparently going to take about 90 minutes at some other location. My PC isn't scanning it, it sent it off somewhere else to be scanned.

I highly doubt that it's malware or that it's been compromised, but you might want to be aware of that. I know there was a guy writing some painting software called "Verve Painter" who had a somewhat similar problem in that several antivirus software would nail it as malware and straight-up delete it off your hard drive. He was working to try to figure out why, but as far as I know he hasn't figured it out yet. So I'll let you know what happens. Just thought you'd like to know.

Offline Jonny D

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Re: Pixel Proof - Innovative pixel editor

Reply #5 on: August 25, 2016, 04:01:47 pm
Cool, thanks for checking it out!  If you have any thoughts, let me know.  I'm trying to do things differently with Pixel Proof.  There's still plenty on my TODO list (selection mask and animation are near the top), but it really is already a great way to produce pixel art that will only get better.

I can't do much about malware warnings, unfortunately.  I could digitally sign the executable, but certificate authorities charge between $75 and $200 per year for that.  Pixel Proof uses a generous and optimistic business model, so it really can't sustain that cost yet.