The Recorded Pixel Art Project :: FOURTEEN VIDEOS!

[Helm]

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING REGARDING THESE VIDEO TUTORIALS, DOWNLOAD THE TECHSMITH CODEC
(needed for recording/watching)

For recording your own videos use:

- Camtasia Studio (costs money, but they have a 30day trial available on their site)
- Auto Screen Recorder (freeware)
- AviScreen Classic (freeware)


Video-tutorials done by our community members:

- Robot - By Helm
- Creature - By Evil-Ville
- Shooter -  By robotriot
- Dawn Razor Portrait - By Helm
- Shooter - By pkmays // Currently Down
- Robot - By Lawrence // Currently Down
- Ruins - By Helm
- Another Shooter (Mirror) - By pkmays // Currently Down
- Insect - By Sherman Gill // Currently Down
- Platformer Mockup - By Helm
- Index Painting a Quake Texture - By Ptoing
- Robot - By Rhysd
- EGA Owl - By Ptoing
- CGA Portrait - By Lackey
- Sprite - By setz
- Sailor - By Monsoon2D

- Matriax Flash Tutorials - Video tutorials done by Matriax in the past (various links on that post).

Reformatting of post by Panda, and now Pkmays. Thanks, you guys!

[Gil]

We should have a program that records only the changed pixels over time. Our own pixel codec if you will. That would mean we have to make a recording program too though, which is kind of hard.

Didn't Matriax make video's before? What did he use? You around Matriax?

[Helm]

Is there any capable coder for something of the sort?

Matriax only captured a bit of the screen, and he worked super-slow, but I remember the videos being only like, 30 pixels of alteration in 5 minutes.

[Frychiko]

Yes there is an excellent peice of software good for this, I recorded a few of my sessions a couple of years ago.. still have one of the files at least.
The name of the software is Camtasia Studio, it costs money though (or you can obtain it other ways It uses it's own codec. It has settings to tinker with timing.
Looks like there is a free trial edition (I'm not sure about its limitations, didn't check)

http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp

And you can use this codec which is ideal for capturing applications/game/low-color/resolution content:

http://www.techsmith.com/download/codecs.asp

[Helm]

Through secretly-practised occult means I have aquired the above software and will begin my testing.

[Scotteh]

i could record me making a simple sprite but it would be done within 10min's, perhaps i could do a bigger more detailed one to

[Pawige]

http://www.canadiancontent.net/tech/download/AutoScreenRecorder.html

This seems to work very well with the codec that Frychiko posted, and it's freeware.

[Skull]

That's a pretty swish Idea, I like the sound of it.
Not only will it be something cool to watch, it can also help several pixel artists learn how others work, and in turn develop their skills. 

[Helm]

Holy shit, the Camtasia/Techsmith Codec combo, without much fiddling, produced a 16 minute clip (30 minutes, sped up twice), 500x500 capture screen, lossless avi of 6 megabytes.This is perfect. Here is the upload, I will make something more interesting and less hurried next time I sit to do this, so don't mind the test-subject-robot.

Here be robot video!

This is the end result:


 

If anybody needs exact specs I used, I can supply those as well, but it seems to me it was pretty easy. Let's get this rolling, people! Record yourselves!

(I suggest people listen to Maitreya - .74 while watching this, as that is what I was listening, and it suits it.)

EDIT: Since people have already asked, if you can't see this, you'll need to get the codec discussed above first! It takes 3 seconds to install.

[Evil-Ville]

Great video, I learned a lot from it. I'd try to make something too but I always tend to mess things up when I am recording, I guess I am not confident enough.

I couldn't resist, I made one already but I'll upload it tomorrow. Here's the sprite though.

[government.agent]

Great idea, but holy moses it takes me 30 minutes just to figure out what palette I want!

[ptoing]

[Larwick]

Guys, i love this idea so much. i learned a fair amount from watching Helm's vid aswel, including that that colour editing thingey is utterly amazing. 

I'm definetely going to give it a go, although i use MSPaint usually, so it may take some time... heheh 

[robalan]

That is quite nifty.  I learned several things from watching that video, not least that MSPaint sucks even more than I though and I should stop being lazy and get something else

[Larwick]

  Goddammit... i just started it, about 10 minutes in i realised i couldnt edit colours on mspaint because the recording thing disables double-click, and so i tried to the shortcut for pause, then after i pressed it i realised that was the one for cancel...

Owel, i'll try again and finish that sprite some other time. Pre-defined palette seems like the way for me to go.

[Cow]

  Goddammit... (yeah, ditto) Stupid IDraw decided to have a DIB Copy Failure. Which seems to happen quite a bit. Wasn't that great of a sprite anyways, but it sure was annoying.

I'm gonna try the shaping-> lines method soon. Seems that it's where all the cool cats are.

[Terley]

When I do it, it doesn't record anything that takes more than like 15 minutes. Just creates an empty avi file that can't be played. 

ah well, Thanks tons for this recorder Pawige and Helm for takin time to do that guy right dar..

I'll get it workin and post a clip tmz hopefully, cus Im gonna blow you all away with my skillz. 

[pixelblink]

just found and tried AviScreen Classic. It's free and it works.
http://www.download.com/AviScreen-Classic/3000-2194_4-10394589.html?tag=tab_pub

[Evil-Ville]

Here's my video. I think it's alright considering I had no idea what the black blob was going to be at first.
http://ville.poronet.com/host/ville/pixel2.zip

Some of it was cropped a bit because of the settings I used, should have tested first. :/ The video is about 12 minutes long in doubled speed. I zipped it because the server doesn't allow avi files to be uploaded.

[Helm]

If we get a good number of these, we'll set them up serverside on pixelation.

EDIT: Evil, you process is pretty solid. These are my comments:

Don't dither until you have all the shades you'll be using in there, otherwise you'll end up replacing the dither again later.

Start with more anatomically and volumetrically investigated designs. You can pixel well, time to step it up subject-matter-wise, I think.

Try shading different textures, more porous, hairs, less shiny luminescent highlight, as it seems you've done that a lot.

Good usage of Pro Motion for the most part. Similar to mine, so I can't rightly critique

Not a lot of indecisiveness, mouse always moving, not a lot of errors or backtracking.

Use the preview window instead of zooming in and out all the time, why not?

[Evil-Ville]

Don't dither until you have all the shades you'll be using in there, otherwise you'll end up replacing the dither again later."

I am aware of this, I always want to punch myself when I find out that I am replacing the dithering again.

Start with more anatomically and volumetrically investigated designs. You can pixel well, time to step it up subject-matter-wise, I think.

I'll try but I can't promise anything.

Try shading different textures, more porous, hairs, less shiny luminescent highlight, as it seems you've done that a lot.

Yes sir.

Use the preview window instead of zooming in and out all the time, why not?

I use the preview window too but for some reason I like to see the piece in the main window. It's just a stupid habit I guess.

[Panda]

Maybe at some point some Flash Video Player system could be added.
(Think of youtube, just for pixelart education more or less)
I guess it would be more accesible and user friendly.
(I found this with some Flash video player source code http://jeroenwijering.com/?item=Flash_Video_Player )

Or simply upload them to youtube or a similar service and then link them here, so pix's bandwidth isnt overused.

[Helm]

Can we upload avis to youtube that use such an odd and not well-known codec as this? if so, that would really help bandwidth concerns. If not, we'll just have to deal on our server.

[Filax_666]

I installed the codec, but I still can't see it...uploading them to youtube seems a nice idea.

[Helm]

Use a decent media player like Media Player Classic or VLC

[Panda]

Uhm, I suppose you can still upload them to youtube, but maybe the video quality would be reduced.
Somewhere I read that vimeo is a better option for keeping quality, but alas, I havent used either of them (uploading-wise) so I cant really say.
:X
Has anyone tried uploading their pixel videos to any videosharing service for checking?

[.TakaM]

I uploaded a video of an old twinsen demo to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS5aSELmWy8
quality is acceptable, infact the visual glitches and lagged sound was because of the program I used to record it

[Helm]

That quality is unacceptable for pixel art specific videos.

OT: nice game. Heaven knows why you chose to use Little Big Adventure IP for this when you could easily use your own characters. Is the game coming along? I'd love to play this by the look of it.

[.TakaM]

well, keep in mind I did record it at 1:1.. not that thats much of a point I just needed to say that so this post wasnt completely off topic...:
I could have easily made it an original character, but before I started work on the game I recently found and played through both little big adventure games, so I recalled twinsen is awesome and I thought I'd pay him a bit of respect and maybe even get some people interested in the official games.
I'll make a topic when Ive got a public demo ready in a week or so

[Froli]

This is freaking amazing, I'm downloading them now and very much excited to see some skilled pixel artist in action! I really thank you guys for doing this.

[Conzeit]

Helm I watched the vid...and I found the experience...nerve wrecking XD I feel like going in and taking the mouse at almost all the times...I dont grab a 1 pixel brush until late in the production phase.....and some of the colors really made me go wtf....that desaturated yellow midtone specially, and those blue highlights that you didnt change until the end.

I found it very enlightning, made me realize there are many more ways of making sprites :p I look at the final result and I feel fine about it, but when I see how you made it I wouldnt have made almost any of the same choices.

I am a lot more about blocking in the colors and then adding the extra stuff than you are, I dont think I could work that monochrome in the begging phases

I'm surprised about how much you made use of color cylcing with the keyboard, I never thought that'd be really useful at all...I guess it's the best alternative to that mechanic I keep blabbing about that should be done but nobody cares to do or even understand c.c

[Froli]

I downloaded the trial version of Pro Motion yesterday, and tried it out. But I can't seem to find the edit single color menu like what evil-ville did and Helm also was able to rotate the colors very fast.. What are the shortcuts for those 2?

[Helm]

double-click for edit single color

[ ] for rotating

read the manual.

Conceit: thanks.

[Matriax]

I use camtasia studio, and after recorded the gxf i convert the avi to flash and with camtasia player(in flash increase a 50kb +o- ).

Matriax only captured a bit of the screen, and he worked super-slow, but I remember the videos being only like, 30 pixels of alteration in 5 minutes.

thanks for the comments  . Yes is true i using now promotion and i go more fast, but usually use MsPaint i think is a drug.

A question, Helm or anybody, yes is good view the great skill of the video, i like much the robot, process and the techniques. But is possible make a video showing the techniques/tools/hot-keys for learn to use correctly promotion ?

i think for me and for more people this will e more interesting  . For example i think now i have a good skill level and i can make great pixel-pieces but im slow, and think if every body show their "tricks" or how use promotion is a good start to understand after how Helm or anybody make the pixel-arts in this program(I beleive).

A thing i not understad is, my robotic dragon have a big resolution : 717x427 13mins = 2mb / and helm robot is 500x500 16mins = 6.9mb and helm use frame-skip i not ¿?.


I begin to make video-tutorial to show the people of remakes how make the gfx, this 3 are simple videos.

Refine and coloring
http://videotuts.webcindario.com/videotutos/videotut1/videotuto1.html

Refine isometric gfx
http://videotuts.webcindario.com/videotutos/videotut2/Untitled.html

Colorng a isometric GFX
http://videotuts.webcindario.com/videotutos/videotut3/videotut3.html



And well how i view the people like and want more dificult, and want view more things i make other 3 more.


Making textured fonts with paint:
http://videotuts.webcindario.com/videotutos/videotut4/videotut4.html

Program: MsPaint
Time 3:41min
Resolution : 717x427
Size: 1.19mb
15 frames per second(real time no frame Skip)


Robotic dragon leg:
http://usuarios.lycos.es/perromano/videotut5/videtut5.html

Program: MsPaint
Time : 12:49
Size: 2.18mb
Resolution : 717x427
15 frames per second(real time no frame Skip)


Making a isometric circle in MsPaint
http://videotuts.webcindario.com/videotutos/videotut7/isometric_circle_paint_matriax.html

Program: MsPaint
Time 1:52min
Resolution : 716x428
Size: 0.414mb
15 frames per second(real time no frame Skip)


Well i hope is useful for anything...

[Helm]

I used double-time to make 30 minutes into 15, and I run this at 15 frames a second I think. We don't need any more.

About promotion tricks, Ptoing is the one blazing at them, I just use CTRL for color-picking, [ , ] for going through the luminance ramp, f2, f3, f4, Alt-f2 for Paint Mode, Darken Mode, Lighten Mode and Dither Mode respectively ( Ctrl-T for options ) and of course my hand hovers over the undo combo (Ctrl-Z) almost at all times. That's it, really. Double-click on a color on screen to edit its rgb or hsl values as I said, and I'm set, for one.

[Matriax]

Yes, understand you record 30min at 15fps and after put 30fps to play video and its 16min. ¿how you make this? With camtasia too?

About the mins well my video is 15fps real time 2mb, if double is : 30fps 4mb=26min, and again escale : 8mb=52min, And yours 7mb=32min. ¿ is correct ? i think any is wrong, or when you apply the 30fps occured anything ¿or my scale is not correct? i use also the tcsmith codec.

And thanks helm for the hot-keys.

This is a similar project i was want being in my spanish forum but the people not have much time, or not like very much the idea etc...

The idea was a web with the avatar or each pixel-artist, with nationality,web url, etc... and video-tutorials of each pixel-artist. And each pixel-artist have theis speciality:

Matriax :textured
asdfsf : Color selection
sfafffas: Tricks promotion
sdfasf: Spriter

And each person make video-tutorials of their speciality, for not repeat video-tutorial show the same techniques etc.. and a menu to chose what thing you want view, how "design spriter","tiles" etc... And other list With all the pixel-artists want to up own video-tutorial. And with the possibility to vote the tutorials, comments etc...

[Filax_666]

I can see them now, probably had to reset computer Nice stuff Evil-Ville

Going to whatch Helm's now!

[vedsten]

great post, very educational 

i've had PM for while now, but i never really took time to learn it. Been pixeling in.... mmf... forever (just cause im used to it), and the videos finally pushed me to start exploring PM, taking the time to learn it, so THANKS!!! 

[Ensellitis]

these are great!  helm, yours taught me alot as well as keeping me in awe

anyone who has troubles palying videos, get VLC, it plays almsot every format out there

[Ryumaru]

nice videos guys, i would definitely make a video if there was anything to learn from my process

[Ai]

On Linux, while VLC usually works well, I had to use MPlayer (and ffmpeg needed to be installed, too -- it provides the needed codec.)

Helm:
You're not as frighteningly fast as I thought. I was somewhat surprised by your starting at a middle shade. I can see why you didn't use any brush but 1pixel; They go together. Using a larger brush can speed things up, but mainly if you draw from the darkest shade.
Your frequent color adjustments led me to an idea , and, initially misunderstanding Conceit's idea of what you were doing  led me to create a plugin which provides realtime color adjustments using only the keyboard, no dialog. Your adjustment speed was fairly impressive, but I think this system will tend to be faster and more usable.
The way it works is, you pick up the color that you want to change, then you use:

1 2 3

to change the HSL values of that color.
It moves by 10% of the entire scale by default. so.. 1 to increase hue 10%, shift+1 to decrease hue 10%, ctrl+1 to increase hue 1%, ctrl+shift+1 to decrease hue 1%..

My first comprehensive test of the idea, showing the progression of color changing:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/neota/tech/pop-bendy-anim.gif (non pixel art- sort of)

and later, after I became more used to it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/neota/tech/wuff-x-coloradjust-anim.gif

The obvious 'gap' in functionality is that it doesn't allow adjustment of whole ranges. I don't intend to address that yet, since I just invented, implemented, and tested this scheme in the last few hours

Conceit:
color selection via keyboard is a great help to speed drawing; the more colors and shades involved, the more it is an advantage -- but it is even an advantage with as little as 4 colors.

I'll consider making a video myself, if I can figure out what programs I should be using.

[robotriot]

Ok, here's a really crappy attempt. I messed up a lot of things, like the weird angle on the wings and did a couple of mistakes I normally don't do, I'm just too nervous when recording

http://omr.planet-d.net/trash/dassault.avi

[pkmays]

Pro Motion's symmetry tool can beast out something like that in literally half the time it takes with Photoshop. All I could think of while watching the video was how much quicker it could be done using the right tool.

[edit]

Yeah, I'm a dick, but I'll prove it.

*fires up Pro Motion*

[Helm]

Dawnrazor video here

Tero was awesome enough to re-format this for me at a dazzling 22 megs, and I thank him muchly for it. It's a c64 pic, and i'm chatting with ptoing all the while, not really eventful, but maybe interesting to some. There you go. Post more videos!

[legofreak]

gosh... you make it look so easy...
of course, it does look like you have a better program than mspaint >_>

it takes me forever to do simple crap like this

[Ryumaru]

wow helm, i watched and payed attention to all 26 minutes and 43 seconds of that movie.
you must have the latest timanthes program, because i dont think mine has the dither brush things and that tool that i think made it so you can paint "under" colors.

edit: actually, silly me hasnt even looked at all the tools on the tool bar apparently.

[pkmays]

I like your pink Winamp skin. *giggles*

I'd be interested to know how Tero was able to shrink the AVI further. I get a good size-to-smoothness ratio in my tests by putting the quality slider in the middle, but if there's some other way to crush the file I'd like to know.

[Helm]

Don't kill quality. Anything but quality. Run it at double-speed, 15 frames per second. I'll alert Tero to post on this thread with further video-editing wizardry skillz, as it seems he's had extensive knowledge on this stuff. He made a 50 meg file into 22 megs, so there's lots to learn there.

Looking forward to your video.

[ter-o]

Yeah, don't kill quality. You can do that afterwards more efficiently by compressing it badly

There's no special tricks to compressing movies. Just open them in some video editing program (I used Adobe After Effects), choose framerate, video size, lenght etc. Then adjust codec (in this case Techsmith).

It all comes down to adjusting codec. First of all, choosing a right codec makes a difference to the filesize/quality. But the form "more compression = smaller file" usually apply.

In this particular case, I adjusted also compression quality. The higher quality, the longer it takes to "render" the video again with new compression settings (it's because the computer tries to compress the image with minimum loss in quality, so it takes time to calculate). Just play around with those codec settings and see the results. Find the best setting for your needs.

[Filax_666]

That last video had a problem none of the other had, though...when fast forward it, images overlap, disapearing a while after I put it on normal speed.

Didn't find this last video that interesting, though your first, Helm, showed a really nice progress I'm amazed by how you change colours...so fucking beautiful...but I found that I can do that on Photoshop as well

[pkmays]

Ship created in Pro Motion using the symmetry tool.



Download

I was aiming for 30 minutes, but ended going over my goal by 12 whole minutes. I know this isn't a speed-spriting thread, but watching the video helped me to see some areas where I could optimize my workflow.

This took way longer than I wanted it too. I didn't have a concrete concept of the rear wing design, which slowed me down in the beginning, and came to haunt me later. I also did some awkward fuddling with the new Palette Editor plug-in. I'm still uncomfortable with some of the controls, but overall I find it a great addition.

Speaking of the Palette Editor plug-in, if you don’t have it, get it! My biggest gripe used to be that there wasn’t an easy way to sort the palette by hand. The palette dialog just lets you swap and copy color values based on the index value, which will screw up the image if you try to organize your palette (and as you can see in the video, I tend to just plop a color down randomly in the palette and ramp it). The new plug-in lets you move the palette entries around in a non-destructive fashion, and it reassigns the correct index value to the pixels on the canvas. There are lots of other cool features too, so check it out.

Unlike to other two videos that where recorded in Pro Motion, I prefer to use the on screen palette to edit colors rather than the double click method which pops up the Edit single Color dialog. I use a tablet while I work and it feels faster moving my pen over to the sliders rather than double clicking, moving sliders, then pressing Enter or the OK button. I'm really not sure if either way actual is any faster than the other. *shrugs*

The preview window is an absolute must. As Helm mentioned it keeps you from having to zoom in and out all the time, which makes the workflow that much faster.

One big boo-boo I made was setting only one background color and sticking with it throughout the piece. It’s good to try out different hues, saturations, and values as you work to see how the outlines are looking. If I had changed the background to something light and desiderated before I considered the piece finished, I would have noticed how jagged the nose and parts of the wings were and would have made the appropriate changes.

I enjoyed making this and hope it was useful. Definitely will be making more soon. I’ll probably make a few more videos that use some of the useful Pro Motion tools, like creating tiles and using brushes.

And I'm absolutely craving to see some more videos from you guys. Don't make me name names.

[Helm]

looks excellent. Downloading video.

Watched video: You know the program well, and you know how to pixel. Your palette usage needs to be optimised a lot I think. You add colors in the last 5 minutes. That's a great way to make certain you're not going to use the new colors optimally. Each to his own, and you saw how haphazard I can get as well, but I think you should become a bit more systematic there. Tying a palette together is a good thing on most sprites.

Also, you drew a lot of outlines you replaced anyway. Every pixel you place that you later replace is a place to look if you want to get faster... place. Place. Anyway, make sure you have the shapes and tones right, and then when you outline/aa, you only have to do it once.

Interesting video.

[pkmays]

Your palette usage needs to be optimised a lot I think. You add colors in the last 5 minutes. That's a great way to make certain you're not going to use the new colors optimally. Each to his own, and you saw how haphazard I can get as well, but I think you should become a bit more systematic there. Tying a palette together is a good thing on most sprites.

Agreed. My palettes are generally created by-the-seat-of-the-pants, which isn't a huge issue on a simple sprite like this, but on more complicated pieces it's important to get everything unified. Will work on it.

Also, you drew a lot of outlines you replaced anyway. Every pixel you place that you later replace is a place to look if you want to get faster... place. Place. Anyway, make sure you have the shapes and tones right, and then when you outline/aa, you only have to do it once.

Again I agree. I waste a lot effort redrawing lines and shapes. I've got a tendency to try and get something absolutely perfect and tweak it to death, which slows me down a lot. I'm trying to get into the habbit of adding AA to everything as the absolute last step.

If you're taking any requests, I'd like to see you make a 16 color 64x64 sprite with the palette visible, so I can see how and when you get your colors organized.

BTW this Camtasia codec OWNES. Better compression and image quality than Quicktime H.264 in my tests. Plugins for Mac Quicktime also means it'll work on Macs and PCs. I think I'm gonna buy the full version and support these guys.

[Helm]

If you're taking any requests, I'd like to see you make a 16 color 64x64 sprite with the palette visible, so I can see how and when you get your colors organized.

I will do as requested.

[Lee N]

Helm: How do you get Timanthes to paint widepixels? It only paints single pixels here, and I can't seem to find any options.

[Ryumaru]

layers- layer properties- check indexed color and then in the drop box choose unrestricted double pixel or some of the other modes.

[Matriax]

About promotion.(i download promotion 5.1 trial...

How i make appears the "edit single color"?

I look in the help on promotion "key shortcuts" and find "p" but..

I view in the helm video appear instant. I download promotion 5.1 and presh "P" and show "edit RGB table" and "edit single color". ¿how make to appears only  "edit single color" ?

¿ And is possible change the shortcut keys for others ?

layers- layer properties- check indexed color and then in the drop box choose unrestricted double pixel or some of the other modes.

Where is layers in promotion? i not view layers in any site.... ¿?

[Evil-Ville]

He was talking about timanthes.

[Helm]

double-click on the color, Matriax.

[Matriax]

He was talking about timanthes.

Ops! oks

double-click on the color, Matriax.

Yes i make Double Click in the color and appears the box "gradient"... but now i make double click in other sites and now appears the "single color" thanks.

After using a time promotion im very lazy, too many controls, hotkeys, and to make a thing i go slow, but i view things interesting. The best are the symetric tool, dither(and intensity of the dither) and the "edit single color" this tools make more fun make pixels, but im a little confused with the keys, zoom,etc.. i hope have practice with promotion soon 

And other problem... I use the tool with a discontinuos rectangle and scisors, and get a part of the image how brush.... but how change to the normal brush? if i leave the mouse above said "right click" says "right click to restore last brush" but i make right click in the image, in the tools and not...¿?

I think need stop pixeling in promotion for today....

[pkmays]

Pro Motion does have a large amount of shortcuts, but most artists will only need to learn the ones that they use the most in their workflow. Commands that aren't used that often are best accessed from the menu.

Here's a little guide to the keys I use and how I remember them:

Essential
Ctrl S - Save

LeftMouse - Paint with primary color
RightMouse - Paint with secondary color

Ctrl Z - Undo
Ctrl Shift Z - Redo

MouseWheel - Zoom in/out

Toolbox
D - Draw
AKA the pencil tool
F - Fill
AKA the paint bucket
V - Vertical line
Actually, this draws a line at any angle, but that's how I remember the shortcut.
B - Brush
This is what other apps refer to as the Rectangular Selection or Marquee tool. A brush is more powerful than a marquee because brushes can be stored in the brush container, thus allowing you to save multiple selections. You can also save a set of created brushes and use them in other projects.
. - Single pixel brush
If your brush looks funny after using the brush tool, press period to get back to the default brush.

Colors
[ and ] - go to the next or previous color in the palette

P - Palette Editor
Q - Gradient Editor
On a QWERTY keyboard, it's on the opposite side of the P key

Ctrl LeftMouse - Sample primary color
Ctrl RightMouse - Sample secondary color

Ctrl DoubleClickLeftMouse - Edit single color

Brushes
Shift - - Decrease brush size
Shift + - Increase brush size

H - Halve the brush Size
Shift H - Double the brush size

F2 - Paint mode
The regular painting mode. Paint modes are on the functions keys. F1 opens up help so F2 is the first mode key.
Shift F2 - Dither mode
The second most used paint mode.

F3 - Brighten mode
F4 - Darken mode

View
Shift S - Stencil Enable/disable
Shift T - Tweak the stencil

G - Grid enable/disabled
Enables grid snapping, tile drawing, or mirroring. RightClick the icon in the toolbox to change the settings.

Learning these keys will probably take a week or two at the most. As with most learned skills, practice makes perfect.

[Jamie]

the colour one's interest me  i should start useing these hotkeys

[Helm]

Pkmays, thank you for being a proactive member of the community.

[Matriax]

Thanks a lot Pkmays!

A question:

This topic is for videos and have much post of questions of promotion etc.. ¿is possible create another topic (ex: "Learning promotion...") and move the posts with promotions references to the new topic?

For put all the questions of promotions, hotkeys, videos to show the correct use of PM, etc... and with this the people like promotion but not have idea of use can learn it.

[Helm]

I think people should read Pro Motion's manual. That's the best 'Learning Pro Motion' thread right there. If there's bits of technical wizardry that aren't covered in the manual, or somebody can't find something they need in there, then yeah, I can see the point for a Pro Motion thread.

[.TakaM]

I want to make one of these videos, but Im quite certain some of you would go insane watching how I work with mspaint and photoshop

[Feron]

I want to make one of these videos, but Im quite certain some of you would go insane watching how I work with mspaint and photoshop

I think it would be interesting.  Work how you feel comfortable, no-one is judging.

[Lawrence]

I've made a video, but my damn googlepages isn't uploading it for some unexpected reason. Help

[Jamie]

I've made a video, but my damn googlepages isn't uploading it for some unexpected reason. Help
[/quote

upload it to rapidshare or megaupload.

[miascugh]

pkmays: Is that palette editor where you could selecta batch of colors at once something like a plugin? Or miascugh use different version? I could'nt find it anywhere.

Good video.

[pkmays]

Is that palette editor where you could selecta batch of colors at once something like a plugin? Or miascugh use different version? I could'nt find it anywhere.

http://www.cosmigo.com/promotion/?Plugins/Palette+Editor

Press Crtl Alt P to launch the plug-in. The interface is a little odd, click the help button for an explanation of how the plug-in works.

[Lawrence]

ok, here's the video (1024x744)
I know there are a lot of anatomical/lighting errors and I usually put down all of the form before colouring but I was just eager to start recording. I'll make a proper video of a smaller, better piece soon.

[Helm]

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/upload/pixelvids/K_ruins.avi

there it is, 40 minutes, 64x64 visible palette. Tried the Korean approach to coloring, pretty happy overall. Watch me squirm as I try to find something to draw! Watch me set a separate black to use in the picture, then decide not to, and therefore have a 15 color palette!

EDIT: oh ok, yea I save the color later.

[Feron]

DAmn you - that not far from amazing - can you post the final image please?

[Helm]

[Gunne]

  wow Helm that's amazing, it makes me want to travel! First thing I'm going to do tommorrow is watching the video, but now I'm going to sleep before it gets any later!

  goodnight

[pkmays]

Lawrence
I like the video. It’s a pretty solid piece, actually. It’s also good example for the beginnings of an AA & dither heavy Atari-era demo piece. Look forward to seeing more from you.

Helm
Thanks a lot! You have your colors pretty much set up at the ¼ mark in the video. Your apparent confidence with bold palette choices is impressive. I do think you lost the distinction between the mountains and the clouds along the way, mostly when you added highlights to them both.

I wonder if you’ve ever had issues with mixing so many colors that you end up going overboard? My problem is that I never seem to have enough colors to work with, but I’d like to get to the point where I have to restrain myself from going color crazy. :-)

I think I’m going to have another go at a more efficient shooter sprite video, incorporating some the pointers I’ve received.

[ptoing]

pkm: about getting better with low colourcount and weird palettes just do some oldschool pixelling. C64, EGA, ZX Spectrum are good choices to get you further in terms of colour conversation in some way or another.

[Helm]

Agree on the clouds. Wasn't happy with them anyway. Highlights don't work on clouds, and they stood out too much. Edited.

- 

Less flashy but better, I think.

I wonder if you’ve ever had issues with mixing so many colors that you end up going overboard?

Define "overboard", heh. 16 color palettes of wildly different hues are second nature to me after the last few years of juggling the c64 palette. You can represent anything you want with 16 global colors.

[Joseph]

ive downloaded a few of these videos now...and none of them work.  I open them and it says error reading codec or something.  why arent they work?    also, excellent piece of there helm.

[Panda]

ive downloaded a few of these videos now...and none of them work.  I open them and it says error reading codec or something.  why arent they work?    also, excellent piece of there helm.

Did you download the needed codec mentioned on the first page?
(This one http://www.techsmith.com/download/codecs.asp I think)

[Joseph]

I highly doubt it...thanks for pointing that out to me, ill edit this reply once I find out if this was the problem or not.

[pkmays]

Helm, if the tutorials keep growing at this rate, it might be a good idea for the first post to have some red text at the very top that says

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING DOWNLOAD THE TECHSMITH CODEC!!1!111

...or something to that effect.

It would also be convenient to have all the tutorials linked in the first post.

[Joseph]

hurrah.  thats what I needed.  thanks again.

[Gunne]

ow man, I had the trial version of ProMotion once, and didn't really do anything with it. With the only reason that I was to lazy to get used to a new program, but when looking those vids I really regret not using it. think I should give it another try

[Panda]

Helm, if the tutorials keep growing at this rate, it might be a good idea for the first post to have some red text at the very top that says

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING DOWNLOAD THE TECHSMITH CODEC!!1!111

...or something to that effect.

It would also be convenient to have all the tutorials linked in the first post.

Done

[Nonamezleft]

I downloaded the codec but it still doesn't work for some reason, it stills says something about error requesting codec or something like that.  If someone could tell me what I'm doing wrong it'll be greatly appreciated. Ooh and Happy Halloween!

[Evil-Ville]

The easiest way to get the videos working is to download vlc media player.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

[Nonamezleft]

The easiest way to get the videos working is to download vlc media player.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

I did but when I press the link to the video's it automatically uses windows media player..

[Helm]

Right-click, open with, browse for VLC.


Read uh... windows documentation?

[pkmays]

Also try Control Panel --> Folder Options --> click the File Types tab --> scroll down to AVI --> click the Change button --> if you don't see VLC in the list, click the Browse button --> navigate to where you installed VLC (should be C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC) --> click on vlc.exe --> click the Open button --> click OK to return to the File Types window --> click OK to close the Folder Options window

[miascugh]

pk: Thanks a lot. I never really thought about looking out for plug-ins like this to pimp my pro motion.

[Sohashu]

OK.  can people give me the lowdown on promotion?  I just want to know if I have to pay.

[Helm]

Yes, you do. That's the lowdown.

[Sohashu]

Ah crap.  Oh well.  IM too poor for Promotion.  IT looks so good too. 

[Akira]

well you don't have to. your tools just become limited after a 30 day(?) trial. it still kicks ass after that... just not as much.

[pkmays]

Download
Alternate Download

Grrrr... I WILL get one of these made in under 40 minutes. I had more problems with the palette than anything, so it's actually longer than the previous attempt.

[Helm]

Megaupload is being a bitch. Mirror?

[Aleiav]

I'm really REALLY glad to see something like this utilized. I tried to do the same with another forum I had but I didn't really have the materials to make it happen.

<3 this is awesome guys. 

[Faktablad]

Damn.  I recorded this whole thing with AviScreen Classic.  Turns out I recorded it in "Uncompressed 24bits DIB" and now Windows Media Player can't open it.  I had downloaded the whole original codec thing in the first post, but that didn't seem to help.

[st3ady]

glad to see a post like this with such great content, thanks to all of those who contributed really interesting to watch how others work. Moar!!1 

[pkmays]

Alright, just thinking of some subjects that might make for useful videos.

Tiles
Grass, dirt, bricks, ie the stuff everybody should know. Basic videos for the way to create tiles in any app, advanced videos using Pro Motion's tiling capabilities.

Large character sprites
Fighter, RPG battle screen, side scroller, etc. Larger sprites would probably need to be divided into multiple movies, lines, colors, shade, AA.

Fonts and interfaces
Title screens, HUDs, dialog boxes.

Index painting
Pro Motion specific. Never tried it before, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it's done/thinking of trying it out myself.

Animation
A big project to tackle, would probably be a long video. Setting up basic motion, key frames, tweens.

Scene
Some work of art, fairly large and detailed. Best bet would be a timelapse, 4X or maybe even 8X speed.

[Sherman Gill]

Here's a video:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7K8PP0JL
And the product:


I shrunk the video down a little. A decision I now regret, as the pallet and preview window are difficult to see.

[Radioactivity]

Can't view on a mac...as the codec doesn't exsit for os x

[pkmays]

Yes is does. Use the EnSharpen codec, it's on the same page as the TechSmith codec. AVIs play back fine in the latest Quicktime.

[Helm]

Congrats on hitting 10. I wanted to say I will now take a request. I can go up to 128x128 or something, ask me of something that'd be interesting to see, 'cause you've already seen my basic pixelling methodology. Going outside my comfort zone is okay.

[Rydin]

I never watched any of them yet, but have you done anything with sliced pixels  ?

[Helm]

No, but that's an extremely boring thing to watch someone make.

[Cow]

It'd be interesting to see you do something on Paint. Interesting, and tedious.

EDIT: Or maybe some kind of underwater scene. That could be pretty kickass.

[ptoing]

What are sliced pixels? Am I missing something here?

[Ryumaru]

i also vote for you making something in paint.

[Panda]

I doubt Helm will open MS Paint at all, so stop trying.
Oh and there are 9 videos (+ Matriax's post with loads of old videotutorials) instead of 10 videos.

[pkmays]

I wanted to say I will now take a request. I can go up to 128x128 or something, ask me of something that'd be interesting to see, 'cause you've already seen my basic pixelling methodology. Going outside my comfort zone is okay.

Do a wide piece, say 192x96. Have it depict some sort of scene like a city scape or important structure, or maybe just some natural scenery. Give it a strong sense of atmosphere, like the hazy dusk before sunset, or a smog filled city during a rain storm. I dunno, something artsy like that monolith you made. 20 colors max.

Do a 128x128 3 quarter view of some sort of military SciFi hover tank or drop ship. 16 colors max.

Create a 32x32 grass tile, then create an alternate one that still tiles with the original. 16 colors.

Color another one of Tremulant's lines. ZOMG PLZ!!1!

[Helm]

I think I'll combine a few of those, since I need the tile practise: I'll do a mockup tileset, wilderness, with variated grass tiles, rocks, whatnot. It'll be frustrating as I am not good at this sort of thing, but hey. 192x96 is fine

[Helm]

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/pixelvids/mockup.avi



Not very happy with it. At least I learned. 1:35 hours, 4x speed, down to 25 minutes or so again. I dislike the rubble tile a lot. I like the tree.

[Jamie]

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/pixelvids/mockup.avi

Not very happy with it. At least I learned. 1:35 hours, 4x speed, down to 25 minutes or so again. I dislike the rubble tile a lot. I like the tree.

you should be happy, that tree is deffo the best part 

wow, i watched a few mins of it and learnt alot about pmotion watching rest now 

[Evil-Ville]

Helm: Thanks for showing how awesome the tiling feature in pro motion is, I am going to buy the full (non-lite) version for sure now.

[Helm]

Man, cosmigo should be cutting me checks!

[ptoing]

Me too!!

[Ryumaru]

wonderful video helm, its amazing that you do this all in one sitting. i might make a video some time, of course i would be using paint and we know how everybody LOVES paint.

also, the way you pixel when you do tile work is, very, very, unorthodox. you go from generic to detail sometimes, detail to generic the other.  doing stylistic stuff before even getting the forms all the way down. either way it still comes out great.

[Ai]

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/pixelvids/mockup.avi



Not very happy with it. At least I learned. 1:35 hours, 4x speed, down to 25 minutes or so again. I dislike the rubble tile a lot. I like the tree.

Pretty nice demo (more interesting to me than your other movie, too). Looking at the time you spend copy+pasting tiles, perhaps ProMotion would benefit from the ability to cycle the brush through the unique tiles in the image.
I should definitely make a video now... I found myself thinking 'wow, he's fast' and I still think you are.. just not as extremely as I initially thought (on recent pixels, my speed has been reasonably comparable. I think that making a video would give me some perspective on my exact speed.)

the way you pixel when you do tile work is, very, very, unorthodox. you go from generic to detail sometimes, detail to generic the other.  doing stylistic stuff before even getting the forms all the way down. either way it still comes out great.

In my experience, that is exactly what's useful for creating a small tileset, because of often needing a tile to match multiple other tiles on a given border. It makes composition strange.

[Ryumaru]

sometimes he started adding details in the tiles before he even changed the tile color from the bright, menacing red.

[pkmays]

Looks good Helm. The problem with recording videos is that they need to be done quickly, so they tend to be missing the TLC that goes into a production piece. Plus any piece will usually get worked on even after it's "finished." All in all that's an excellent example of rapid prototyping a mockup. Not sure if that's the best way to say it, but it sounds cool.

Alright, I've decided I'm going to make a similar recording using tiles. It'll be a top down RPG style view of some grass, with some dirt patches/other random things thrown in to keep it from looking too monotonous. Going to do a couple of test runs so I don't embarrass myself too much.

[Blick]

Jesus Christ, Helm, a little over an hour for a mockup is ridiculous. I feel so inferior. It takes me days just to muster up the courage to try my hand at a single tile.

[Helm]

Thanks, guys.

Totally, Pkmays. I want to go back and change almost all the ground tiles, add slopes to the level and whatnot, but now it's a done video, and that's that. I had to be fast and relatively precise, and I sorta failed. A presentation of a prototype (imagine me going "...it's going to play like a cross of shadow of the beast wilderness exploring and prince of persia gymnastics!" to my employers) is what this is, you are correct. And everybody's shouting at me for not snapping my tiles to grid when I move them around! Oh well.

Looking forward to your video.

Ai: it's not just how fast you are, but what you do with your fastness. I'm pretty damn fast (as my girlfriend would complain to you) but the end result must'nt look like some sort of oekaki madness wippy mess. I don't think that helps anyone. That being said, go right ahead and make a video, I'm interested in seeing your setup in action and everything.

Blick: why so slow? Is it a matter of motivation?

[Ai]

sometimes he started adding details in the tiles before he even changed the tile color from the bright, menacing red.

actually, you can also see he places aa pixels as black, and then adjusts the color to its quite light final color. The color you chuck down doesn't matter much when you can change it quick-smart, it just has to have sufficient definition to distinguish it initially.

I've investigated codecs; It doesn't look like Techsmith is available (Only decoding is supported by ffmpeg) ; JPEG-LS, which  strangely and ironically supports losslessness, is available, so I'll try that.  I have a few things to do which should make good test cases.

[Blick]

Blick: why so slow? Is it a matter of motivation?

Indeed. Not necessarily having a reason or deadline to make tiles and animations other than practice, mixed with my hatred for making them because I'm so horrible at it from lack of practice doesn't make for a good combination.

I will admit though, if I had Pro Motion, tiles would be easier. Perhaps animation too. The palette system looks convenient, but it'd take me a while to get used to. I'm stuck on manually going in and right clicking with the eraser tool to change an existing color and using the eyedropper rather than a indexed palette. Maybe if I get enough saved up from Christmas money, I might get Pro Motion.

[Feron]

Can't view on a mac...as the codec doesn't exsit for os x

download the codec for mac.  works perfect for me.

[Helm]

YES. KILL THE MSPAINT GENE INSIDE YOU. GET PRO MOTION. ALL WILL BE BETTER SOON

[Frychiko]

Thanks for that last video Helm, I've always wanted to see how Promotion does tiling/mockups.
The updating multiple tiles at once feature looks handy. Not to sure about drawing a background merged into the tiles (foreground). Seems a bit cumbersome especially if changes are going to be made to either. Is there no way around this?

[Helm]

ProMo isn't made for layer work. Next version will however, support layers.

[ptoing]

There is a way around it. By abusing the onion skinning, you can just set the layers so that you have a transparency colour and each layer is 100% visible. this way you can set up as many layers as you want, but they are not as dynamic as normal layers and not really seperate. all it does is that it shows the frame underneath or above, whatever distance you want. ace for animation and i abuse it a lot for other things.

and yeh 6 will have layers.

[Terley]

maybe a totally cheeky question but, would you mind if I show some of these vids on another forum (question to everyone) some people just can't think outside Ms Paint, and most of these are perfect examples of why paint just slows you down.. also I know someone who wants to know how to go about making a platformer (mockup atleast) and Helm you've just summed all that up into 23 minutes and 30 seconds of video. its all self explanitory.. 

Also am I free to post a vid of my own, I got the software, just feelin reluctant to post anything.. 

[pkmays]

I doubt anyone would have a problem with you linking to the thread. Just don't hot link a file if it looks like it's being hosted on someone's personal website. Direct linking to Rapidshare or MegaUpload probably wouldn't be an issue.

Any yeah, anyone and everyone can post a video. Odds are at least one person will learn something, and watching yourself and your work habits is useful in finding ways to improve your workflow.

[Helm]

Terley, I see no problem with either of these propositions.

[Gunne]

great video helm you are fast..

In time I might do a video about animation, sounds like fun haha!

btw, Helm how do you keep the size of the AVI that small?

[pkmays]

I already asked that question, check ter-o's post on the first page.

The settings I've been using are:

TechSmith Compression Codec (TSCC)
Highest quality setting
15 frames per second
Keyframes every 10 frames (makes seeking nice and smooth)

Captured in 32 bit, screen res 800x600, recording res a smaller region that only displays most important windows/palettes.

This can all be set up really easily in Camtasia--it's a simple but powerful screen recorder/video editor.

[Souly]

Hey Helm.
What program were you using in that video?

[Helm]

Cosmigo Pro Motion

[Froli]

I'm totally sold with pro motion. <downloads the helm mockup>

[ptoing]

Because pkmays was molesting me via pm I made a quick video doing a quake texture.
Be warned, this will be extrfemely confusing if you don't know ProMotion and it might even be if you do.



VIDEO - ~33 megs

[Helm]

Downloading video. I enjoy these textures and I think you should try your hand at some no-nonsense (meaning, not claiming to be 100% HANDPIXELLED LOL I AM FROM THE AMIGASCENE) index painting and document your results for us.

[ptoing]

I might, but not anytime soon prolly

What is really funny about that texture is the amount of thinking about the subject that went on in my head.... about zero.
When I showed it to a friend he said, "what's with the castle thing" and I was "castle?? oh, haha, I was just drawing some shape that looked good to me."

[halu]

I watched your Robot one Helm, really fun to see it evolve
This is a great idea, and I hope to have a video up on it some time.

[pkmays]

Thanks braugh. I'm gonna screw around with the Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM palettes now.

[edit]

Watched this a couple of times thru now, and I'm really impressed. I must say of all the videos I've seen so far, this one has taught me the most about cool unknown PM gizmos. I'll be replicating this workflow and posting a breakdown of the steps taken.

[ptoing]

Glad you liked it pk. A lot of it is dow to me using Promotion since almost 2 years now virtually daily at work. I would say that i have around 4000 hours in Promotion so far no problem.

I think I will attempt some proper index painting soon, with the plan to make a video as well, but that will take quite a bit longer, as it will involve more pixelling towards the end of the workflow and it might get quite massive. MIght have to go 8x speed or something

[Helm]

Index painted. Sadly didn't video. Very fast to make art like that, it has its merits and its deficiencies. This, with a layer of pixel-by-pixel work is how demoscene people worked, I guess. Dirty tools make everything too blurry, you have to go in and fix stuff by hand always. Otherwise, it's an interesting thing to try.

[Ai]

Because pkmays was molesting me via pm I made a quick video doing a quake texture.
Be warned, this will be extrfemely confusing if you don't know ProMotion and it might even be if you do.



VIDEO - ~33 megs

Cool, the only thing I don't understand is how you have 4  images in one document.
One Is the stencil, One is the spare frame, One is the current frame. Where's the 4th come from?
For the kind of video you did, it really needs a little keyboard status display, because you do a lot of things with the keyboard that are 'invisible' from the point of view of the video.
I don't really understand why you painted over the same thing many times.. Only the last few times actually seemed to *partially* apply paint (doesn't ProMotion have a way to floodfill the paintable area using the current paint mode?). It looked like you got a bit flustered actually.
I'm gonna go through the video again and note the stuff that I could use (like multiple grid settings; and is the stencil automatically refreshed based on the content of a particular frame? I know color-stencils (ie. protected colors) are possible, but I couldn't tell if what you did was as permanent as that, or would just last until the next time you manually edited the stencil mask.)

EDIT: actually, with the amount you used blur, it really should wrap around edges. That'd have to be an option. Know if it's going to be in the upcoming version of PM?
Or a way to offset by w/2, h/2 would also work around it.

[Akzidenz]

Good god. These videos make me want to partition a windows XP drive on my mac just so that I can get pro motion.

So, quick question to those who use it - have you been able to duplicate many of the techniques that pro motion uses in Photoshop? And if not, is it worth $80 and a few hours' worth of time in order to get it and use it?

[Frychiko]

I don't really understand why you painted over the same thing many times.. Only the last few times actually seemed to *partially* apply paint (doesn't ProMotion have a way to floodfill the paintable area using the current paint mode?). It looked like you got a bit flustered actually.

Err, He kept tinkering with the texture until he was happy with it?

[Ai]

Err, He kept tinkering with the texture until he was happy with it?

'Over' being the keyword. I'd understand painting all over it, not liking the result, and then undoing it -- but what ptoing did was just do something, do something else that leaves no trace of the previous, do another thing that leaves no trace...

[Frychiko]

Painting over it with the current tool, or undoing it, would it have made any difference in this case? Both cases would result in the same effect, though undoing it would be slightly slower.

[Helm]

have you been able to duplicate many of the techniques that pro motion uses in Photoshop? And if not, is it worth $80 and a few hours' worth of time in order to get it and use it?

Pro Mo is made for pixel art. It has stuff photoshop can't replicate. It's worth the money and effort to have it if you're serious about pixel art.

[Ai]

Painting over it with the current tool, or undoing it, would it have made any difference in this case?

Yes - In particular, the incremental application of blur produces different effects than applying only (more or less) what turns out to work well.

[Frychiko]

Yes - In particular, the incremental application of blur produces different effects than applying only (more or less) what turns out to work well.

Sorry, you've lost me.

[Ai]

When applying blur to an indexed image, the amount of detail that is lost is necessarily much greater than it would be if the image is RGB, due to quantization. You can see after a few iterations of blur that the edges are excessively rounded, and the overall shapes are by then markedly different than before blurring.

If you have an appropriate palette, you can avoid uncontrolled data loss when colorizing, darkening, or lightening (or several other painting modes provided by PM). unlike blurring.

It's just like recording the sound coming out of your computer speakers as a WAV, then playing that back and making a WAV recording of your speakers playing that WAV back... The amount of meaningful data drops quickly, esp. when there is quantization included in the process.

[Frychiko]

How does that relate to the original question? You mentioned you didn't understand why he was painting over and over leaving no trace. I just said because it's faster than undoing and having to reselect the drawing tool again. (in my opinion of course).

'Over' being the keyword. I'd understand painting all over it, not liking the result, and then undoing it -- but what ptoing did was just do something, do something else that leaves no trace of the previous, do another thing that leaves no trace...

Sorry for spamming this will be my last comment in this thread unless I have something relevant again to say.

[niceidiot]

So Helm, the mock-up made me dump Photoshop and grab Promotion for the auto-tile completions stuff.  And I read the manual and could not find much about that mode.  So I took matters into my own hands, slowed down your video and wrote a page for my personal manual.  I hope nobody minds if I share it, as this is the promotion feature that excited me most.  Please forgive spelling and grammar errors or outright lies.  Also, sorry for no visuals, but Helm's video should provide you with a reference for what is happening, since this is in part a transcript of what he did.

Using Cosmigo Promotion's Auto-Tile Completion Feature

In Promotion's auto-tile completion mode any grid tile that is identical to another when in this mode will be edited simultaneously. This is much like the tile-painting mode but vastly more powerful. If used properly, this will effectively give you a map drawn with a set of tiles instead of one giant image. Finally, using the Tile Map Export plug-in, you can then take this a step further for one-and-done game map development.


*****Some useful shortcuts to know for this*****

Fill brush with single color:
Shift-D

Show/Hide zoom grid:
Alt-G

Turn on/off Auto Tile Complete:
Ctrl-A


*****How to*****

Part 1. Set-up and display your Zoom Grid

Options>>Zoom Grid>>Adjust Zoom Grid...

The bottom two radio buttons should be checked, use the settings for the tile size that you would like best.  Keep in mind your project frame has to be a multiple of the zoom grid size, so make sure you can fit an whole number of tiles in your image.

Select Options>>Zoom Grid>>Show Zoom Grid OR Alt-G


Part 2. Mock in your tiles
Using the Get (animated) brush marquee (The tool that looks like a dotted-line box with scissors. Make a selection that is the full size of one tile.  You will notice it automatically switches you to the Paint Dotted Tool.  You are going to use this full-size brush to mock-in your tile areas.  Select a palette color and press Shift-D to change your brush to that color. 

Now mock in the areas that you want to use the same tile.  Remember, the areas must stay within the constraints of the zoom grid boxes, and must be identical.  When you are done, you may switch colors, Shift-D to apply the color to this brush, and draw what will indicate other tiles. 

When you have roughed in all of your tile areas you can proceed to actually use Auto-Tile Completion.

Part 3.
Press Ctrl-A to turn on auto-tile-completion.  Edit your tiles.  You will notice that tiles that are identical are being edited at the same time.  At anytime you can turn off auto-tile-completion and add more areas, or change individual tiles so that they are no longer the same, doing this will take them out of the tile-group they are currently in when you reenter auto-tile-completion mode.

Part 4.
Export using the free Tile Map Export plug-in.

NOTE: When I was using it I was having trouble using any tool other than the basic brush tool. but working at tile scale it did not seem like an issue.


I hope that helps!

[Helm]

Oh I'm sure a lot of people will find that useful. Good job. I had Ptoing who taught me the ways of atcompletition originally but I still benefit from seeing it all in one place. The community thanks you, niceidiot.

[RhysD]

Hey, just a simple colouring vid of me colouring some lineart. Any comments on my shading technique would be great as I've only really just started trying to learn shading sprite objects more-so than isometric stuff.

Original:

Mine:

Video: (9 mins - 3.59mb) http://rhysd.syntesis.org/robot.avi

Thanks

[QuickSilva]

Any chance of you guys adding some new videos? I realise they must take some time to make but I have really learnt tons of cool stuff from watching how the masters pixel.

Pretty please I especially like your work Helm as I`m sure lots of others here do to. How about having this section as a regular feature?

Jason. 

[Helm]

I'm not sure what's left for me to show about my methodology in a video.

[QuickSilva]

Anything you do would probably help lots of people. I know it would help me for one. More of the same would be really great. How about some more tile ones, using ProMotions auto tile feature or maybe some five minute pixel sketches? I struggle with how to place my shadows and highlights in my pixel art, a video on that would be most helpful. Maybe you could simply colour some of the small linearts in the other thread and film your progress?

Please don`t feel obliged to make any new videos, the ones you have already done have really been great. I just thought it would be nice to see some more added as it`s something you don`t see much of, pixel video tutorials I mean.

Jason.

[Helm]

This would devolve into ego-stroking 'look how nicely I pixel' whereas I'm more interested in showing actual technique which other people can learn from. For one person, I've made enough videos for now. What I'd like to see is more videos by people who haven't already exhausted their own methodology, like pkmays or snake or panda or or or

[QuickSilva]

Fair point and I can see where you are coming from. Lets hope that some other talented people add some new videos in the future.

Jason.

[Ryumaru]

snake should make a video of him finally making himself an avatar.

[Helm]

So you're asking for someone to hold your hand through learning the program? Isn't that a bit too much to ask for? Read the manual.

[Rerg1]

Helm, you and David could of made a pixel by pixel video of your collabaration.

O well..

[pkmays]

I like video tutorials. They've helped me a lot in Maya and Max. But I'd never use them as a crutch.

Unless there's a clear demand for a Pro Motion for Beginners video from the community, I think RTFM is the most appropriate suggestion.

[dragonrc]

hey pkmays wheres your avatar? That reminds me of making myself an avatar soon to...

Anyway I like this, keep up the good work

[Sherman Gill]

Augh! Three people without avatars posted in a row! What evil is this?

Also... Err... I kinda feel that making another video isn't worth it since neither I nor others would benefit from it.

[pkmays]

I think we're getting a little too highminded about these videos. When you think about it, there's really nothing wrong with sitting down in front of your monitor, playing an enjoyable tune, and watching a pixel art time lapse for the hell of it. Might not be as socially redeemable as a tutorial video, but at least that's one more recorded pixel creation in a world void of such goodness.

[Helm]

Get at it, then.

[ptoing]

A little owl in EGA. If you wonder what's with the frame, you will see soonish



CLICK ME!!!

[Lackey]

I knocked up a CGA portrait and recorded it in Camtasia.  It's far from perfect.  I could have been a lot more careful and reworked a lot of it, but speed is of the essence here.

Clicky!

[QuickSilva]

These are all great to learn from. Thanks for taking the time to make these guys, they`re great fun to watch. Just out of interest, what spec computers do you have? I remember trying to record before and my computer not being up to the task sadly.

Are there any low spec video recorders out there? I think it was Camtasia I tried but it was quite a while back now. Maybe I should try again.

Jason.

[eck]

haha! always wondered about how to go about CGA..  thanks lackey, that helped a ton.

edit:



<3  first cga.  thanks lackey!

[Conzeit]

PLEASE someone, anyone post one of these vids as a reply here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElrldD02if0

let's not be asses about it and call this guy a jerkoff or anything, but let's show people what real pixelart is

BTW, hadnt been to pixelation in a while and you guys seem to be doing really well, thumbs up!

[Helm]

You'd have to get people to use the techsmith codec to watch our stuff, and good luck with that and internet idiots. If anyone is really up for it, they could upload one or two of our videos in a lossy format for youtube and just link 'CLEAN VERSION IF YOU USE TECHSMITH CODEC FOUND HERE, and pixelation link HERE' but it ain't gonna be me.

[.TakaM]

mind if I upload your platform mockup helm?

[Helm]

Go ahead.

[.TakaM]

ok, I've uploaded it, the dude who uploaded the mspaint car vid just has to approve it

Once its up, I'll let you guys know, then let me know if you want me to change the description or anything

[Helm]

What does it have to do with mspaint car dude? Is it 'this video is in response to that video' ?

[.TakaM]

well, I posted it as a video response to that mspaint car, that way anyone who watches that video will see your video helm, and perhaps click it out of curiosity

[Froli]

Takam, can I have the direct link to the video response. Thanks

[setz]

I never noticed this thread, I made this video a while ago, but I suppose someone could find it useful.
linkage.

Just a quick sprite drawn in MSPaint, yeah, paint. 10 minutes long

[Rawsushi]

http://www.monsoon2d.com/videos/m2d-sailor-01.avi

This WIP video will end up as multiple parts, and possibly edited together as one video. I stopped only because my hand began to cramp up. There are several areas that I never touched up, but those areas will be addressed later.

The work is done in MSPaint. When this piece is finished, I'll post another created in Pro Motion.

The video is about 20 minutes long (sped up 600%).

[The B.O.B.]

Wow. It's funny, though, I knew you sometimes used MSpaint, but you seem to start off like I do. However, as detailed as your pieces usually are, I found it strange that you laid only one base of color, and detailed everything as you moved on, as opposed to the order of "blob, lines, small details, and final details."  Have you always drawn this way, where details came in the first stages of the piece, or was it a habit that you got used to?

[Rawsushi]

Yeah, I usually just skip to the fun stuff. I blob, roughly chisel, detail. However, if I were working on something more substantial, there would be several blobs on the page in a few different shades. Yeah.

[Feron]

monsoon2d: master of dither.

thats so awesome.

[0xDB]

I found another fine tool to record screen activity, which is called CamStudio and it is opensource.

When I started with recording my drawing practices, I used AutoScreenRecorder but quickly found one very big flaw in it: it was impossible to set the temporary directory for recording, so if you had little drive space available on c:\ it would force you to make a pause every n minutes (when recording to uncompressed MSVFW1.0 codec (in my case, I only had 1GB available on c: and had to pause every 30 minutes))

CamStudio can set the temporary file directory to anywhere you want and I'm currently using it to record the full progress of the Chickens Title Screen (it's already 760MB of recompressed DivX video data, no sound) and I'm very pleased by the performance.
To cut, combine and recompress the different recorded sessions, I'm using VirtualDub.

[lollige]

I have made this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2l6lB7unNQ4

[eck]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OC487C2A


ive gotten a bit better since last time i was here?  possibly?

anyway, colored some lineart i found by adarias in the ot creativity thread.  i gave him credit in vid, hope he doesnt mind to much...

btw, its 1.2 gigs in aa .zip file, dunno why.  100% mouse, about 1.5 hours.

[smiker]

well i'll make my own video in here too! if you (help) allow me...

[inkspot]

Nice videos!
For all you Paint users, how can you work with pencil? I mean, I love the pencil tool, but I am just afraid to use it because it is buggy and has ruined my work many times, no undo will help. You have the solution?

[Zero]

Nice videos!
For all you Paint users, how can you work with pencil? I mean, I love the pencil tool, but I am just afraid to use it because it is buggy and has ruined my work many times, no undo will help. You have the solution?

I personally use the pencil tool for pretty much everything. The only time I actually use it by dragging the mouse though is when I do lineart. Other than that, I use it just to place individual pixels.

[fawel]

We should have a program that records only the changed pixels over time. Our own pixel codec if you will. That would mean we have to make a recording program too though, which is kind of hard.

Didn't Matriax make video's before? What did he use? You around Matriax?

An in-dev Pixel Recorder
The creator could really use some encouragement and critique, and you guys are qualified for that
It has quite a few features as is, and there's also an interface design competition for it going on

[smiker]

you have several videos down, why don't you update the header of this topic?
i'm not blaming or else, just want to update a video or two,...and i wouldn't like that people think: "oh, my god, this topic is dead..."
thinking that this topic has to be a section lol

[Hotelsinus]

HI.

Please tell me what Painting Software u use in this video.

- Dawn Razor Portrait - By Helm

THank you.

[ptoing]

He used Timanthes.

You can get it here http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=30789

[x0adam0x]

Do I have to be registered to grab Timanthes? Or is it just broken?

[ptoing]

You have to click on the link that says Timanthes.zip

[QuickSilva]

Not sure if many people know about this option in ProMotion but in a recent conversation with Jan Zimmermann (ProMotions creator) he pointed it out to me and it is very useful.

There is an option under the Animation Menu, Create From Undo Buffer. You can use this option to create an animation of the steps that you took to create your pixel art without the need for using a seperate video recorder program. Also, this has the added benefit of hugely reduced filesizes and no extra steps inbetween putting your pixels down. The only drawback is that you cannot see what options\ menus and so on the user is selecting.

Hope this is helpful to someone

Jason.
 

[ptoing]

That kinda works, but in the current version you only have 128 undosteps so you have to fiddle stuff together and do it every now and then.
The next version will have unlimited undosteps (depending on how much ram you have).

[QuickSilva]

True, but it is handy if your computer cannot handle a proper video recorder (like mine). You can always create several parts too, for each time you have used up your full 128 undo levels.

Jason.

[ptoing]

True. Though I think that a full capture where you can see the options and other stuff are better because you see more of the actual workflow and not just a magically growing picture.

[Ai]

I've just recently got a setup where I can record reasonably. Recording overhead still makes my movements a little like flying through molassess. Don't have anything interesting yet, just a video of me doing some minor touchups on a pixel-art logo -- honestly the most interesting part is at the beginning where you can see the terminal window recordmydesktop is running in and it says "Your window manager appears to be awesome."

Still, I've got to recommend recording yourself, if only to see where you waste the most time. In my case I spend a lot of time zooming in and out when I should arrange a preview window instead. Even if you don't think your results are worth posting here, it's still worth doing it and reviewing the footage

[Metaru]

i grabbed camtasia, the Timanthes codec, and Sony Vegas 7. i probably overdid the edition a bit...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwHZtYpxUEM

[Helm]

You need to spend more time with construction and perfecting your pixel clusters. The amount of revision you do for a sprite means there wasn't any forethought put into it. Perhaps in next editions the amount of pixel tech will be useful for someone watching, but for now that was pretty tortuous for me to see you try to fit that arm in, this arm in that leg in until something stuck. It's not a very good artistic practise to improvise what appears to be game art is what I am saying.

[Metaru]

i see what you mean. the main problem with me is that i usually don't plan what i'm going to do actually, as most of the time i jump into the canvas and start developing the concept as i draw it(to be honest i remember only one or two times where i actually made some sketches and planned carefully what i was going to do). still is not suposed to be finished, and i have yet to color it. and during that process, most of what was sketched is going to be removed or changed.

[Helm]

That whole process is not one that should be encouraged is my point.

[Metaru]

you mean, i shouldn't display it In public, or at least make it clear that others shouldn't take it as a good way to develop your work?(in terms of putting a warning in the video itself)

[blumunkee]

There is nothing wrong with playing it by ear. Nor is there any harm planning out beforehand. They are different means to the same end. Sometimes digging in and figuring things out as you go leads to happy accidents.

[Colonel Mustard]

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but all "good" artists plan things out, just more or less formally. Experience with planning things out a bazillion times eventually gets in your head, it might seem people skip some "basic steps" but don't they just do it unconciously?

So if it's a tutorial video, then that sounds like a really bad idea to me. Edit: Checked the video, and the description says clearly that it's not a tutorial, just a video on how you do what you do.

[Helm]

Metaru: as long as it's not a tutorial video then I am not saying you shouldn't show it... it's an indirect way of telling you that you should perhaps invest in planning your artwork in the future.

[Metaru]

oh, I did took the time to warn that it wasnt a tutorial in any way. (considering the massive amount of self proclaimed tutorials out there). as for the lack planning, well thats true, yet in some pieces i had to use a small planning of what i am suposed to do(considering that i can hardly sketch using a mouse) to give myself a rought idea of what i'm going to do. its like i always follow a completely random path until something random pops up.

[Mathias]

Not sure which I prefer more, that pixelin' or those pan flippin' skiznillz.

That was a crazy video. I thought it was several different things as it grew and morphed until it was finished. It would be far more useful to folks if you'd record yourself giving the result a decent shading and coloring.

[Atnas]

http://www.lolipopsicle.com/linky/GolemSprite.avi
Doesn't stream for me like other peoples' videos, but it's small. Sprite to left was from the game we're adapting, and what I'm pulling very loose designs from. Was a bit fickle but I think it was from being camera shy.

This Techsmith codec is amazing!

edit: oh yeah, a preview image added. watched the video and got back any good pixel placements I had lost.

edit: getting less camera shy. http://www.lolipopsicle.com/linky/TentacleAlien.avi

[Dr D]

Unfortunately it crashes my browser. I'm using Firefox 2.0, though. Just thought I'd let you know.

[EDIT] Err.. Maybe it's because I haven't yet downloaded that codec? Sorry, just noticed it.
[2] Nope. Still crashing.

[Atnas]

This is unfortunate. Try "save as"? Produced as avi in camtasia using the Techsmith codec. I uploaded it to youtube, with success, but the quality was unacceptable so I took it down.

Edit: so far no one else who has watched the video has had any problems.

[Nadiy]

how do you watch ?
sorry, im a noob :x

[skw]

Finally decided to do it!

http://www.vimeo.com/6301538



Thanks for watching!

[Jellybit]

Did anyone happen to get a copy of Matriax's video tutorials from here?  I'm pretty interested in checking them out.  Thanks!

[Helm]

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=9347.msg102059#msg102059

This is pertinent, I feel.

[Helm]

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=9653.msg106475#msg106475

This post also belongs here.

[CrazyMLC]

There also Camstudio, which works well for free recording software. You just have to optimize the settings, which is a hassle, but you can find tutorials on youtube. (It and my sound card also seem to be at an impass)
It has a lot of useful options like recording a whole window, or a set size, or clicking and dragging, and no watermark (unless you want one).

This thread seems like a win-win situation, help people and get critique.
It also seems to be a good way to be coached on the the means, not only the end.

I'll try a video later!

[Helm]

http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=9801.msg106845#msg106845

this too.


Is this helpful to anyone? Sometimes the original posters bail which is disheartening. Does anyone else have the fortitude to watch through those videos, if so, are they useful? Should I keep doing it? Perhaps keep to sped-up edits without text explanations? Some feedback, please.

[huZba]

Looking at those is definitely good for distancing yourself from your own bad habits, but sped up is the way to go. Gives a good fast look on how to achieve something, while at normal speed one might lose track of what's going on. Texts could be reduced to bullet points on what you're trying to achieve. Audio commentary would be best of course.

[Mush]

The videos are extremely useful to me, bt  at times I don't fully understand why you did something. I suggest keeping it at real speed and putting commentary to highlight important points.

[linx]

I remember that one platformer mockup you did helm, i downloaded promotion just to see how you did that thing where you made a tile in one square and it repeated in others near it but i never figured it out. Also the download is sort of big each time so sometimes i just dont bother downloading them but they are very useful!

[7321551]

I find them valuable. Not to same degree as the ground-up art demos, because the construction stage interests me most. But correcting flaws raises unique problems that you might not encounter otherwise.

For me, increased video-speed actually aids comprehension - I tested, & 3x seemed around optimal for me. Any slower & my mind wanders. Although real-time speed is interesting on a personal level, mostly as a yardstick for my own workflow.

If anything, I'd increase emphasis on text explanation. It's the give-man-a-fish/teach-man-to-fish dilemma.

Oh, & more prog. That's vital.

[Helm]

I'll perhaps attempt a voiceover track once on a double or triple speed video and see how it goes. Thank you for all the feedback.

[FrostPumpkin]

Here is my attempt to it :

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BJKXSFI2

Here is the result :

[Ai]

In Linux, key-mon (http://code.google.com/p/key-mon/) is instructive to see how well you utilize the keyboard . I dare say there are similar apps for Windows or MacOSX

[NickZA]

Any reason why these aren't all on YouTube/Vimeo? I think it would be a lot more useful for a great many more people. It would mean the effort you've all put in here would have a lot more value.

[ui]

dont know if this still alive or if this video would be count as a tuto/reference or whatever.

Here is the final art


and, here is the video
www.iloveui.com//img/vid/10fps_pocketrobot-by-ui.avi

[malkomk]

Through secretly-practised occult means I have aquired the above software and will begin my testing.

I think everyone or almost everyone knows what we mean here but can't say it out loud.
May I suggest that BlueBerry Software's FlashBack Express be added to the list of softwares? It doesn't seem to be mentioned.

[AlexHW]

was going to upload some old videos i had made, but decided might make more sense just recording any work I do currently..
So.. here's a portion of dragon: http://youtu.be/KR8VuCNsBxA

edit:
here is rock monster edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwmlaXdP1mA
and another editing hair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKp7nVq8sMM

[AlexHW]

[Kazuya Mochu]

Hello,
I made this:

[neofotistou]

Necroing this post, because there is a very cool screencap tool called LiceCap http://www.cockos.com/licecap/

It's free, and you can specify fps, it exports as .gif
It only records changes to the screen.
So a 1 hour timelapse can be condensed into a few hundred kbytes, that can be directly imported into any gif-compatible editor and studied pixel by pixel.

Here's one I made

[||||]

That's really cool Neofotistou! I may actually use that; it really captures a true WIP image. You don't have to feel pressured to rush like you would streaming or recording which is nice and cozy; how working should feel.

[Friend]

ive been wishing something like that exists.  I hope more seasoned pixel artists can include it sometimes, since noobies can learn a lot by watching it as opposed to a more static progression animation

[ilkke]

Another very nice tool is GifCam: http://blog.bahraniapps.com/gifcam/

It's a no-bs tool with some brilliant features. However it's windows-only afaik.

[Kazuya Mochu]

I have a few pixeling videos online. the most recent ones are star wars themed. I hope that's ok. I just wanted to do some tributes. So, enjoy them!

[Indigo]

I dont think i've posted this here yet, but I recorded the set up for my HD index painting technique in photoshop.