Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Zettman on July 07, 2009, 06:21:22 pm
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So, I'm working on a game and I need some help to keep the "consistency" of all my work, so far this is the first problem with the consistency (Although it shows up several times in other works)...
How I want my shading to look
(http://i32.tinypic.com/1iiz9k.png)
(I could also use some help with the bins on the second floor, they don't seem to fit well either)
Palette is not mine
And What I'm trying to fix
(http://i32.tinypic.com/2hqc7xf.png)
Palette is not mine
As you can see their saturations and what not are off, so when put in the same map next to each other it kills the picture... I'm also pretty horrible at making Palettes, that needed being said I'll show you what it looks like when I de-saturate the entire thing...
(http://i25.tinypic.com/971co3.png)
I thought it would work, but it ended up just giving it a "Gray" effect... Still better than explosive colors in my opinion -.- So yeah, need a push in the right direction ^^;
Final edit (For now)(http://i25.tinypic.com/2ivedrr.png)
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The main problem I think is inconsistant contrast between the 2 objects. If you look at the roof of the ramen joint, the outlines are much closer to the wood colour then in the arch.
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So just the roofs outlines, or the entire things outline (wall, doors, etc)...? I can see what you mean btw, it does appear like the outlines for the roof of the gate is a bit more "Rough" :/
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Not just the roof, the whole thing.
Here you can see nicely how much the contrast differs overall.
(http://ptoing.net/edit/gateramen.png)
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Oh wow, I see it better now... Going to fix up these Outlines then and put it up in a bit, but should I do something the walls shading? it seems a bit rough :/
EDIT: Ok, here is the "Soft Outline" version, picked a bit at the walls aswell, wasn't satisfied with the contrast between those colors neither.
(http://i30.tinypic.com/280inv5.png)
Out of lazyness I left the green doors alone >.<
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how are the gates attached? magic? magic isn't a great method for a protective gate, and i doubt that a decorative one would be close to 3 stories high.
if you close them, they will each also span the entire doorway, rather than meet in the center.
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I already figured the proportions were wrong, but to be honest... It would take me hours to resize them again x.x I'd rather hope nobody notices instead, since the gates never close...
Edit: Nvm, I figured an easy way to make the gates close in right, even though they probably never will~
(http://i29.tinypic.com/99m6ar.png)
Ok, so I made the space inbetween wider... Gotta fix the bottom steps a little, and I didn't understand what you meant by the gates being attached by magic o.o
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He meant that your gates are in no way attached to the walls, by hinges of some sorts. However, I think he did not notice that at the top the main vertical beam goes on into the roof. On the contrary however, this is still not good enough, as it is poorly readable, the bottom is not attached, and absolutely a weak construction without some decent hinge-like attachments inbetween
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i think even another 8-16 pixels would make the gate width more convincing.
i don't think one lighter pixel in a pattern counts as a vertical bar going into the roof. they still look like two giant playing-cards balanced in the space.
When it comes to protecting a town, don't be shy about hardware! (http://xs841.xs.to/xs841/09283/suggestion153.png)
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Wow, I never looked at it that way... My knowledge of architecture and hardware structure is very slim :( Is there anything else I should edit? I really appreciate the help given by you guys ^^ this forums great :P
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I reckon a proper protective gate would also be much thicker.
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Another thing that's usually done to unify screen elements is a shared palette. You have the same materials in your first structure as your second, but they aren't the same color.
The first one is much more appealing because of the softer desaturated colors.
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Oh! snap, forgot to post the references and what not up there... :P The first isn't my Palette... I'm still incapable of creating my own, unfortunately... But I'm learning! Until two days ago I didn't know about saturation of colors =o everything had been done in bright in the past.
Oh you're right, the doors should be thicker...
Also, Yeah the wood colors differs and the roof tiles are different colors... I could just recycle the old Palette, but it wouldn't diverse much and it'd end up looking boring :/
(http://i25.tinypic.com/2884mqv.png)
Kay, so... I made the doors wider, gave it some "fortification" like ndchristie showed me, edited the planks a bit and I redid the small wood platform under it like I said I would, out of unsatisfaction. I guess It's starting to look much better, even tho It's still isnt... "Consistant" to the rest of my map :/
This is what I mean when I say It's inconsistent to the rest of the sprites... (Base excluded)
(http://i26.tinypic.com/25pqn7q.jpg)
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as previously pointed out the problem IS mainly the contrast.... while you changed the softness of the lines thats not the only thing with high contrast on your wall and gate.
The contrast of the whole thing needs to go down, watch this...
(http://www.xaoss.com/uploads/contrast.gif)
see how it seems to fit in better?
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What I would really do is just match the palettes. If you've got buildings in the city made of the same material and same style, why not? I swapped the palettes over to see how it looks and it seems fine to me, and fits together a whole lot better.
(http://www.gerla.us/paul/edits/2884mqv.png)
If you don't want to do that, I think you've got about three major problems, first being that your wall's colors are way too saturated, and the next that the roof is darker than the walls, if you just modify it a bit so that the roof is darker than the walls, as it is in the soup kitchen, everything should look a lot better. Also there's the contrast problem as stated before.
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Quick question, did you do swap it by hand or did you use a Program? if so which one o.o tbh I think I'm going to leave it swapped, it looks alot better :/
I guess I just need to learn to make one big desaturated Palette for the next buildings I make, then. ;.; Man, anyone got any tips for palette making? lol.
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Be carefull that the colors of the palette are harmonizing with each other and that there's a transition for possibly each for preferencial smooth gradients.
When making palettes think of the black/white balance, depending what it is for, dull things are often not so balanced and often have a gray tone to it, like a city would happen to be!
Best thing you can do is play around with different color variations, studies mostly! You will get into the teachings of colorusage pretty easy if you deal with it :)
Most artists prefer to use pastel-tones, as they are easy for the eye, instead of high-saturated colors as shown above, those do not match with the Ichiraku Ramen shop you've shown as example, it is rather unsaturated, I guess it's been mentioned before...
Yeah...
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Did it by hand, just looked at the color values of each color in the palette and changed them one by one. Didn't take very long. What program are you using to make these?
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Well, I've been using Paint since forever, but I use Graphics Gale for things like "Full desaturation" and what not, but I feel more comfortable on paint tbh :/
Thank you for the tip Tsukasa :) I've been looking at the palettes people use on their pieces, in detail of course and no one uses a sat higher than 200 for each, as far as I've seen... I guess only if you're looking for a cartoony feel to it.
Edit: Is it me or is the new wooden flooring under the gate starting to look off dimensional a bit @.@ I tend to confuse myself alot with dimensions and what not :/
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Well, I've been using Paint since forever, but I use Graphics Gale for things like "Full desaturation" and what not, but I feel more comfortable on paint tbh :/
Thank you for the tip Tsukasa :) I've been looking at the palettes people use on their pieces, in detail of course and no one uses a sat higher than 200 for each, as far as I've seen... I guess only if you're looking for a cartoony feel to it.
Edit: Is it me or is the new wooden flooring under the gate starting to look off dimensional a bit @.@ I tend to confuse myself alot with dimensions and what not :/
Slightly, I believe it is because the heigth of the stones is not the same, compare the side heigth and the middle, it's only 1 Pixel though I think.
Best thing to do is look at palettes, aswell, yea.
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Off topic a little, Elk? I just realized it was you, big fan by the way ^^ (I know you through a friend, Hulio-G)
I've gotta admit, I have no idea what you meant in your last post @.@ the side height and the middle only 1 pixel difference?... @.@
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Well, I've been using Paint since forever, but I use Graphics Gale for things like "Full desaturation" and what not, but I feel more comfortable on paint tbh :/
You can do palette swaps fairly easily in paint.
Select the eye dropper tool and select the color you wish to replace as your left click, and the color you wish to replace it with as your right click.
Then select the eraser tool. Hold control, then press and hold +(on the numberpad and While still holding control!) until you have a nice, big eraser. Then just hold right click and draw over the object until the colors are completely swapped. You'll probably want to use an eraser that is close to the size of the image though to insure you don't miss any pixels.
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Oh thank you! I've "accidentally" done that, and ruined many pieces xD at least now I know how to manually do it :blind: thank you. Hmmm... I guess all there is to fix is the dimensions on the footsteps... But like I said, I don't understand Elks post :/ I'm bad at reading comprehension...
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AUGH, use graphics gale instead, right click to select a colour, make sure colourdepth is 256 or lower, and then just .. change rbg values. Much better workflow, I'd say
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or better yet! Click the little arrow down below the palette in GG, save the palette of the first one and then open the second one, and load the palette you just saved. It has a nice little "Load palette" window where you can click a color from the loaded palette to copy it and then click a color on the current one to plop it in!
And if you select the whole left palette and drop it into the right one, GG will even do a really nice job auto-assigning each color to the closest one! =;3
yay GG! yaaaaaay 777 views
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Vegeta, what does the scouter say about my post views? It's over nineee hundreeeed < lol.
I'll make the wall go vertical next, and I still think that the stone path is off dimensions... Btw how does the rock pillars look inbetween the doors? They might be the cause of the off dimensions actually... Help?