AuthorTopic: A couple of questions about GraphicsGale  (Read 23447 times)

Offline Mayor Pirkle

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A couple of questions about GraphicsGale

on: July 05, 2007, 02:26:41 am
1.  Is there a place where I can get new pen shapes and sizes for GraphicsGale?  By default the only square pens are 1x1, 9x9, and frickin' hugexfrickin' huge.

2.  This is the first pixel art program I've used.  All my current works have been created on GraphicsGale.  Is there a better program out there that I should be using?

3.  I keep hearing a lot of talk about colour selection being a big part of good pixel art.  Is GraphicsGales default palette good enough?  Or do I need to go through and edit it?

That's all for now.  Thanks for all the help you may offer!

Offline Sherman Gill

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Re: A couple of questions about GraphicsGale

Reply #1 on: July 05, 2007, 10:54:29 pm
Quote
2.  This is the first pixel art program I've used.  All my current works have been created on GraphicsGale.  Is there a better program out there that I should be using?
That is a matter of preference. Most people on this board use GraphicsGale or ProMotion (The latter costs alot though).

Quote
3.  I keep hearing a lot of talk about colour selection being a big part of good pixel art.  Is GraphicsGales default palette good enough?  Or do I need to go through and edit it?
I don't know anything about the default pallete, but I do recommend you make your own palletes regardless. You'll learn more that way, in theory.
Anyway, just set the color depth to 256, and you'll get a pallete with some default filler colors and a ton of pure black. Also, when working in lower color depths, when you change a color on the pallete, that color on the image will change too. Good for experimenting :D.
Oh yes naked women are beautiful
But I like shrimps more haha ;)

Offline Mayor Pirkle

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Re: A couple of questions about GraphicsGale

Reply #2 on: July 06, 2007, 05:47:26 am
Thank you very much Sherman!  I was starting to get worried that no one was gonna help me  :).

Well, on to more pixeling.

Offline Turbo

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Re: A couple of questions about GraphicsGale

Reply #3 on: July 08, 2007, 11:48:30 pm
You can add more pencil shapes to the program, as well as new "tiles" (what i'd call "patterns", and some would call "aslkgjrtkyddsa", which i think is silly).
You create a folder called "pen" on the graphics gale instalation dir, create your pencil image in a 2-bit 1 bit*, 32x32 image in only pure black and  white (one will mask, the other will lay pixels), and save it on that dir, as a bitmap .bmp (any name will do). To add new tiles, i know you can only do it at 16x16, similar process, but i don't really remember the details on this. It's in the documentation, although somewhat obscuredly hidden.

To check how (or if) this can be done, go to your Graphics Gale help file,
Select "Contents",
"4 - Exposition of screen",
And click on the palette and tools floating bar (middle of the screen, on the right).

A bigger image of this floating toolbar should appear, and you would click on the brush size zone, or below, on the tile (pattern) zone.
You're redirected to a screen which says:
"Pen - Chooses a shape of a pen. A pen can also be made."
Click on "a pen can also be made" link, and you're sent to a page which has that info somewhere in that screen. It says:

Reload Pen/Tile
Reloads pens and tiles user made.
Pens and tiles must be BMP file, and must be placed in the folder named "pen" in GraphicsGale's folder. (ex. c:\Program Files\GraphicsGale\Pen)
Besides, the BMP must be a monochrome(1bit), the size of a pen must be 32x32, and the size of a tile must be 16x16.
In a pen, white area will put a color in the canvas. In a tile, white area will be replaced with the first color, and black area will be replaced with the second color.


Enjoy it!

This is how i added 2px wide pencils, spray brush type, and new dithering patterns, therefore becoming the proverbial "bom".

* thanks Eyecraft :)
« Last Edit: July 16, 2007, 09:59:19 pm by Turbo »

Offline Mayor Pirkle

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Re: A couple of questions about GraphicsGale

Reply #4 on: July 09, 2007, 03:22:01 am
Ah, thank you much Turbo!  This'll cut down the work I need to do on some pieces.

I'll try to make something that's presentable to show off, though you shouldn't get your hopes up.  :)

Offline EyeCraft

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Re: A couple of questions about GraphicsGale

Reply #5 on: July 11, 2007, 10:21:39 am
Cool, I didn't know that about the brushes. So making some now...

In regards to GG's palette, I don't use it at all. I just flip it over to HSV and slide my way to a colour bananza.

EDIT: Oh and Turbo, don't you mean 1bit images, rather than 2bit?

Offline Atrophy

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Re: A couple of questions about GraphicsGale

Reply #6 on: July 11, 2007, 09:26:23 pm
Thanks Turbo, though I'm having slight troubles with this. Does it only work with the full version? If not, does there have to be a specific name? :sigh:

Offline Sherman Gill

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Re: A couple of questions about GraphicsGale

Reply #7 on: July 12, 2007, 01:32:56 am
Yeah, I couldn't get custom brushes to work either. :-\
Oh yes naked women are beautiful
But I like shrimps more haha ;)

Offline Turbo

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Re: A couple of questions about GraphicsGale

Reply #8 on: July 16, 2007, 10:00:26 pm
Ok, updated the previous post with some correction info and some info that was missing. Thanks for the pointer Eyecraft!

Offline Atrophy

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Re: A couple of questions about GraphicsGale

Reply #9 on: July 26, 2007, 05:10:35 am
THANK YOU! I didn't select 1 bit when making a new image. so I saved as a 24bit bmp which screwed me up. Works now, But screwed up the first time I got it to work. Black is the transparent color btw.
So Yes, Thank you SO much Turbo.
Edit: OOH yes, and for the free version users it does work with that version.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2007, 05:12:15 am by Atrophy »