AuthorTopic: How to make a small trace of the big image?  (Read 4910 times)

Offline Lunarovich

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How to make a small trace of the big image?

on: May 27, 2014, 08:21:40 pm
Hello!

I am trying to trace my own drawings and I am running into the problem. When I draw, naturally, I draw an image which is bigger than the pixel trace I want to make.

For example, a drawing that I produce is about 600x400 while I want to do the trace of 64x64. The problem is that I don't want to resize my drawing, since I lost all the details and, what is more, even the contour outline becomes indistinctive.

So, is there a solution which allows me to have a drawing image in one resolution and to trace over it in another resolution?

Thanks in advance!

Offline rikfuzz

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Re: How to make a small trace of the big image?

Reply #1 on: May 27, 2014, 10:12:40 pm
Draw at 10x the final size, using a 10 pixel wide brush. :y:

Offline Pix3M

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Re: How to make a small trace of the big image?

Reply #2 on: May 27, 2014, 10:51:56 pm
You will want to adapt into a different art style for your pixel art. Many drawing styles may use thin, fine lines. At the resolution you're working on, even 64x64, any line work is going to be very fat and very bold.

It is more efficient to design characters with fewer details but more prominent details. Think something like the hairstyle of Goku from DBZ, or the characters you see in Secret of Mana or Chrono Trigger - big exaggerated shapes that in the case of said SNES games, their designs work in an even smaller resolution. Compare to something harder to do in pixel art like the cast you see in Ouran Highschool Club, which I tried, but cannot do in a 16x32 resolution.

Pixel art introduces new challenges that you may want to draw your character at 64x64. Working in larger resolutions will mean you create details you cannot be sure if it will still be visible downscaled.
« Last Edit: May 27, 2014, 10:58:33 pm by Pix3M »

Offline Lunarovich

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Re: How to make a small trace of the big image?

Reply #3 on: May 28, 2014, 10:47:07 am
Thanks for your answers. However, they are not responding to my question exactly.

To be more precise, I would like to have, for example, one background layer in 100% zoom and one frontground layer in, lets say, 800% zoom. In that way, I could trace 8 times smaller 1px wide contours of an object and its details, still keeping all the sharpness and exactness of the initial sketch as a guideline.

@Pix3M: The sketch does not have to detailed at all. It is rather matter of shapes, which I am good drawing at, than the excessive details. Resizing down the sketch, however abstract (that is, without details) it might be, destroys its lines. Anyway, thanks on your advice.

Offline yrizoud

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Re: How to make a small trace of the big image?

Reply #4 on: May 28, 2014, 12:33:37 pm
I can't think of a program that has exactly this feature. The closest I know is Pixelformer (Windows, freeware) with its "supersampling" : If I remember correctly, you draw in higher res (like x8) and the program dynamically displays (and can export) the reduced-to-1/8 version. The program is not updated for some time but it seems very well-rounded. Maybe what you seek. But it will not help produce and get skilled in low-res sprites, with crisp edges.

edit: or you can somehow emulate the behaviour that you describe in Grafx2 : Put your line art in the front layer, edit in the back layer. Set the grid to 8x8, snap-to-grid ON, pick a 8x8 square brush, and use only the "discontinuous freehand" tool (so that the program only pastes the 8x8 blocks at coordinates that are multiples of 8.)
« Last Edit: May 28, 2014, 12:37:51 pm by yrizoud »

Offline Lunarovich

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Re: How to make a small trace of the big image?

Reply #5 on: May 28, 2014, 01:44:48 pm
Thanx! The 8x8 makes sense. Although, I don't want my trace to be dynamically scaled. I just want to trace 1px wide directly. Something like this hypothetical setting would do the work:

Let's say that the drawing software (graphicsgale or similar) canvas window is transparent and that the desktop shows thru. Now, open an image of the sketch in some image display software (irfanview, or similar) and put it just behind the semitransparent drawing software canvas window. Now, zoom in to 800% in drawing software and voilą! I am looking for exactly something like this.

Offline 32

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Re: How to make a small trace of the big image?

Reply #6 on: May 29, 2014, 06:43:03 am
I couldn't recommend one since I haven't touched them in years but there are stand-alone programs that can make any program window semi-transparent, I'm sure some googling will lead you there.

Offline Ai

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Re: How to make a small trace of the big image?

Reply #7 on: May 29, 2014, 08:59:01 am
Taking a different tack, you can use morphological operators like Erode (GIMP: Filters->Generic->Erode) to thicken lines before downscaling. You should in any case be sharpening the image before downscaling it, this is the 'standard' measure against blurring-out of detail when downscaling.

The GrafX2 idea also works fine, I've used it before. There is no dynamic scaling involved, I've got no idea why you think there is.

If you insist on being pessimistic about your own abilities, consider also being pessimistic about the accuracy of that pessimistic judgement.

Offline yrizoud

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Re: How to make a small trace of the big image?

Reply #8 on: May 29, 2014, 02:43:16 pm
I re-tested Pixelformer, it's not suitable for your needs : the higher-resolution layers are in higher res only while you are editing them. As soon as you switch to a different one, what you see is the downscaled "snapshot". It's not suitable to preview line art, but it's useful for shapes of solid colors : If you draw a black symbol on white, the program will produce the grey levels for antialias. Also, the edges will have the right amount of transparency (alpha)

--

Here's what you can do with Grafx2 using the "grid" mode , if you can excuse the low artistic level :




I found the "line" layer quite distracting while drawing. It's probably best to keep switching its visibility on and off, and rely on visual memory.