Pixelation

General => General Discussion => Topic started by: P10tr3k on April 07, 2018, 10:15:05 am

Title: How is it done ?
Post by: P10tr3k on April 07, 2018, 10:15:05 am
Hi,
When I am looking at some scifi pixelart that is made from metal objects I always see that noise (probably to make it less plastic).
How is it done? Is it done pixel by pixel or there is some nice technique to achieve this?

(https://prnt.sc/izaed8)
https://prnt.sc/izaed8 (https://prnt.sc/izaed8)
Title: Re: How is it done ?
Post by: Ai on April 07, 2018, 11:01:36 am
I'd say, first off, that probably isn't pixel art. Most of the details look like an image that was painted at a larger size, and then shrunken down and given a few touchups to make it more pixelly. The "68" is the only thing in the image that I'm sure was pixeled.

The texture of the metal appears to be a pattern applied via a separate layer; probably with low opacity and a 'lighten only' type layer mode (eg. Screen). It may be a prefabricated pattern that is applied wherever needed.  If I had to paint the pattern from scratch, I would probably use GIMP, with a rectangular brush, low opacity, randomized size. If I had to use a pixelling program, like GrafX2, it could be similar -- rectangular brush, low opacity (but GraFX2 doesn't support dynamic brushes, so I'd need to manually apply different sized rectangles).

Given that the image was going to be shrunken down, the texture wouldn't need to be very detailed; you could just tweak a few pixels after shrinking.
Title: Re: How is it done ?
Post by: P10tr3k on April 07, 2018, 11:26:16 am
Hi Ai,
thank you for answering this :)

Do you think other sprites from this tileset are also done with that technique ?
http://pixanna.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/celianna_sciencelab.png (http://pixanna.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/celianna_sciencelab.png)

What about these ones. Thay look like first made in 3D program, rendered and then post processed ?
http://prntscr.com/j23yvf (http://prntscr.com/j23yvf)
Title: Re: How is it done ?
Post by: Retronator on April 08, 2018, 05:41:31 pm
I think they're all just digital paintings. The railings show that the outlines try to be pixel art(ish), but the way everything else is painted is like Ai explained.

As for how they do it, there are dozens way. Searching for a term such as "metal texture photoshop tutorial" should give you some ideas. Replace "metal" with whatever you need. But in general, any digital painting tutorial/technique applies here.
Title: Re: How is it done ?
Post by: P10tr3k on April 08, 2018, 06:02:38 pm
Thank you, I think I know what to do next :)