Here's the latest revision! Just a few things to fix and it'll be ready:
- Paintprogram details
- Full progress animation
- A proper link to the paintprogram details subsection
I've previewed it and it looks well. Other than the above, only cosmetic cleanups remain to do.. unless anyone else has a contribution to make before it's committed to wikipedia, which'd be much appreciated!.
{{Cleanup-rewrite|September 2006}}
{{Expert}}
[[Image:Samus sprite.png|thumb||right|Progress of a customly made sprite.]]
'''Spriting''' is used to refer to the creation of a [[sprites (computer graphics)|sprite]] (EDITING/RIPPING FOOTNOTE MARK HERE?).
The term '[[Sprite]]' is frequently confused with 'pixel art', since pixel art was first extensively used and gained popularity through it's use as game sprites. A sprite is a particular usage while pixel art is a form of art. Sprites can be created by any method that you can turn into a 2d, partially transparent image; The most common art form used for sprites is pixel art (seen in GBA or mobile phone games); The second most common is 3d-rendering (seen in real-time-strategy games and RPGs (eg Diablo)). Another noteworthy technique (which you can see in the games 'Flashback' and 'Out of This World' by Delphine software) is rotoscoping -- the realistic movement of the main character is due to that technique.
Other methods sometimes used for sprite creation include scanned people (Mortal Kombat),
clay models (DOOM) and vector graphics (Alien Hominid)
Spriting requires the creation of one or many associated [[Film_frame|frames]]. As 'sprite' refers to the concept of a movable graphic object, a collection of frames (for example, the frames that make up a walk cycle) is still referred to as a sprite. The individual frames are also considered sprites, but this usage of the word is less common.
Certain limitations may be imposed on sprites (15 colors + 1 mask color per sprite is a common limitation, seen on GBA for example. restrictions on dimensions are also very common (8x8, 16x16, 32x32, 64x64 are common limitations)) These limitations may be imposed to make the sprite fit with the technical limitations of the target system, but they may also be imposed to achieve a certain aesthetic/control, or to speed up the drawing process.
The most common tool professionals use is [http://www.cosmigo.com/promotion/ Pro Motion] , which is designed specifically for creating game art and has many features that are very useful for game art, including sprites.
A fine free alternative is the combination of [http://www.gimp.org GIMP] and GIMP-GAP(GIMP Animation Package).
For editing static images or getting feet wet, [http://mtpaint.sf.net MTPaint] is a good package.
BROKEN:
[[More details on these and other paint programs|#Paint program details]]
=Main details=
* Animation. Many sprites will be animated. General [[Animation]] principles apply, and there is also individual pixel movement to consider.. because sprites are made up of relatively few pixels, any 1pixel difference or lack of difference can cause a twitchy appearance. Shapes and flow is somewhat more demanding than it is in anime/cg/cartoon animations, because you have to attend to the interaction of the individual pixels as well as the shapes that they seem to make up in separate frames.
* Transparency. Sprites almost always have transparent parts. There are two different common methods: index-based (a certain index into the palette represents transparency) and colorkeyed (a certain color represents transparency.) RGB 255, 0, 255 (bright magenta) is the most common colorkey. There is a third option, but it is rarely used for non-special-effect sprites: alpha channel (where the transparency is specified directly).
* Progress animations, while useful for any digital artwork, are particularly simple
and compact to make for sprites.
DODO:
IMAGE- A full progress animation, as seen occasionally around here.
At least 8 frames, with a large enough delay so you can see each frame (so, 1.5 - 2.0 seconds between frames)
=Paint program details=
DODO:
gimp gimp-gap
ggale
pshop+imageready
pro motion
{{Uncategorized|September 2006}}
URLS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_raster_graphics_editors