Hixel it!

[ptoing]

I had the idea for this in late 2005, but was too crap back then to do something nice enough.
Attempted again yesterday and this came out.



The idea is to use "hexagonal pixels"

Here be the template:



Use this and a maximum of 16 colours (as the res is quite low actually it should be more than enough)

[Sherman Gill]

Cool!
Any easy way to fill large areas?

[ptoing]

I used the template as a frame/layer below the actual one where I pixelled, using a hixel shaped brush. That worked rather well in promotion. Dunno about other progs. Be creative, whip those grey cells!

[Shrike]

This is a really cool idea. i made a uber quick doodle:

ill make a real one later today.
cant wait to see some results!

[Terley]

lol I think theres still such a thing as pillow shading with this coran 

awesome idea I must try it.

[Kren]

I really like this idea!

[madPXL]

It was fun to made it :

[chriskot]

The idea is to use "hexagonal pixels"

Seems more diagonal than hexagonal to me, but I guess "Dixel" doesn't exactly have the same ring to it.

Anyway, I'll probably give this a shot tomorrow. Looks like a lot of fun.

[Joseph]

lol, nevermind this entire thing.

[skw]

wow! this is a hella idea, ptoing! AFAIR there actually were some triangle pixel attempts already made as well as other different/weird/crazy approaches to the pixel medium already done (including the last seen ‘textured pixels’ by Superbrothers (which ain’t pixels tho, in the sense we understand pixel art)), but that’s something like I’ve never seen before. . . and must tell you it works pretty cool, your Hixelton is lovable! thumb up for creativity!

that it seems pretty challenging may put off some, as filling the gird is going to be a real pain in the ass. . . I wonder whether I’d be able to force the ‘lock gird’ tool to work as I’d want it to. anyway, I’ll deffo try my hand at it!

PS: BTW, this thing reminds me of my now departed C64 Hi-RES pixel-ANSI concept, where you simulate text mode characters by using 4*8 blocks on a 80*25 matrix having virtually no restrictions whatsoever. haven't come up with anything worth releasing yet, tho.

* * *
why so, Joseph? you can just paint a brush (conventional way), save it in the brush container, then use left mouse button to paint with any color you want. make sure the Brush/Make single Color option is turned off.

[L___E___T]

I'm really excited about this - I haven't finished my ISO grid tile yet so I'll do that first.  Gonna start this today though.
Had some trouble making the right brush in Photoshop, but got there in the end.
I take it it's 16 colours plus black?  And that we don't have to use Arne's 16 colour pallette, though I like that idea quite alot so I may do anyway.

Fook, I've just realised what's so excitingly familiar about this!!

http://bp1.blogger.com/_Merw-VWEh78/RaIaZQzw-7I/AAAAAAAAAEU/Je9MZ-Qi_ik/s320/supermariobrothers.jpg

well, sorta..

[Faceless]

I'm about halfway done with one of these, and I think it's very interesting when you try to create something vertical, but when using diagonals (like most of the entries in this thread) it is not really any different to pixelling normally.

[Helm]

Exactly. Try to have some vertical quality in there otherwise it looks like rotated pixel art, really. I started a hixel attempt ages ago but I can't even find it anymore. Now that I have a bit more free time, perhaps I'll do a new one.

[Larwick]

What a great idea! It works especially well with the 45degree stylized angles i feel, like on Ptoing's piece. I guess i should try it out sometime. 

[Faceless]

http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/7817/hixelad0.png


Plan to add an explosion to the top left, and a smoke trail extending from it down towards the mid-bottom area.
This is actually re-using an old sprite of mine; so it feels kind-of like cheating, but hopefully by the time I'm done there will be enough original content to justify it.

edit: Small update.Probably going to ditch the cloud idea.

[ndchristie]

in photoshop, paste the grid and put it to about 10% opacity, it should be barely visible.  then, in another layer, use a fill can set to "use all layers, contiguous" and click click click.  it's a drop at a time but it's a non-destructive way to preserve the working grid.  (edit - as opposed to all of those other destructive ways of preserving )



pure hixels - my grid (the difference of hues makes it easier for me i think, gray they run together sometimes)
grid overlay with working doodle beneath.

[skw]

thought of it as impossible. . .



now, I'm gonna make something cool out of it!

there really should be layers implemented in ProMotion!

[ptoing]

You can missuse the onionskinning as layers. Make one layer with the template and put the other one on top, setting one colour to transparent, or you could also set the top layer to something like 50% opacity, so you could check quite fast if you are on grid.

Also when using my template, if you have a hixelshaped brush and set the lockgrid to 2,2 with 1,3 alignment you are pretty much halfway there

[Cow]

there really should be layers implemented in ProMotion!

I think I remember hearing from a tester that there was gonna be an update with layers added sometime. I really hope so.

[Vertigo-zero]

For all you newbs, you can also do this quicly in paint... make 1 hixel, select it, then move it while you hold control. This basicly works as a custom brush

[skw]

there really should be layers implemented in ProMotion!

I think I remember hearing from a tester that there was gonna be an update with layers added sometime. I really hope so.

yep, I think I've heard something about that, too.

For all you newbs, you can also do this quicly in paint... make 1 hixel, select it, then move it while you hold control. This basicly works as a custom brush

nah. . . too much phucking with that IMHO, ProMotion is easy to get a handle on enough.

[Shrike]

in photoshop, paste the grid and put it to about 10% opacity, it should be barely visible.  then, in another layer, use a fill can set to "use all layers, contiguous" and click click click.  it's a drop at a time but it's a non-destructive way to preserve the working grid.  (edit - as opposed to all of those other destructive ways of preserving )



pure hixels - my grid (the difference of hues makes it easier for me i think, gray they run together sometimes)
grid overlay with working doodle beneath.

this, i think, is the best method. tried it and i liked the fact that i could recolor one hixel in a group of same-color hixels. its hard to dither (hither) with these. :/

EDIT:
im working on Captain Falcon, heres my ref:

im working with this under my hixels. would that be considered illegal?

[ptoing]

As it is not your own art it is a bit cheap. If anything do not put it underneath, but next to your hixelpiece.

[Shrike]

okay, thats what i thought. ill redo it then. 

[Faceless]

  Illegal.

10 years for tracing, life for recolouring and or minor edits.

[Talos]

I had this idea so long ago but never even thought about low res. I thought it was something that wouldn't happen until I tipped my monitor.

[Jonas]

This is a portrait of a hixel artist.

[megane]

Hmm, premature thread death?

My neck hurts now.

[Peach]

Hi all... first post in this forum... I was too much attracted by this challenge
here is my little work.
Any C+C before submitting it?

I've clearly lost my mind.

[wah_wah_69]

Hi, this is my first post here and my first pixel thingy, I'm more of a vector guy.

I'm not asking for C+C I think I know why it sucks, by the way it's supposed to be a toast.

[skw]

first of all, well, welcome to Pixelation, folks!

@Jonas: not bad, tho I'd gladly see something more; if you covered the whole canvas using that style, we'd certainly have some cutting-edge stuff here!

@megane: I think people approach the concept eagerly, but seeing how much effort is needed to craft in hixels, they are put off by the obstacles. anyway, I really love the lighting effect you have evoked here. looking forward to seeing the background finished. yay!

@Peach: that's a hell of a hixelwork! I know it's goddamn hard to keep the work in one piece all the time while working on such restrictions, but IMO it deserves more attention. I'd work a little more on lines (some of them still appear jagged) and anti-aliasing (some portions are over-aa'd, some are left plain). also, you should do something with the pillowshaded hixels nearly the beard.

@wah_wah_69: okay, so if you ain't asking for that, I won't criticize. oh, one thing maybe -- the background spotted pattern. . . I don't think I really like it.

[wah_wah_69]

first of all, well, welcome to Pixelation, folks!

@Jonas: not bad, tho I'd gladly see something more; if you covered the whole canvas using that style, we'd certainly have some cutting-edge stuff here!

@megane: I think people approach the concept eagerly, but seeing how much effort is needed to craft in hixels, they are put off by the obstacles. anyway, I really love the lighting effect you have evoked here. looking forward to seeing the background finished. yay!

@Peach: that's a hell of a hixelwork! I know it's goddamn hard to keep the work in one piece all the time while working on such restrictions, but IMO it deserves more attention. I'd work a little more on lines (some of them still appear jagged) and anti-aliasing (some portions are over-aa'd, some are left plain). also, you should do something with the pillowshaded hixels nearly the beard.

@wah_wah_69: okay, so if you ain't asking for that, I won't criticize. oh, one thing maybe -- the background spotted pattern. . . I don't think I really like it.

Yes, the background was something that didn't convinced me but I'm more ashamed of the flat look it haves, I tried adding two lines of butter as war face paint but it didn't look right.

Removed the lame dotted background and added something that aims to be a dish:



Anyone feel free to C+C !

[skw]

pattern's okay for that kind of piece, but everything is better than just one hixel dots. I think it'd be cool to see some flying forks or even other toasts instead.

your work looks flat because the perspective's off in some places. the darkest shade inside the mouth-hole(?) suggest the form is deeper than it actually is. this one simple fix should do the trick (my rough edit on the right):



search for one-point perspective tutorials if you're still having troubles with that sort of thing.

[wah_wah_69]

Thanks for the advice!

This is the last iteration, yes some more elements would make it seem better, but for a first "serious" approach at pixeltweaking I think it's ok.

I shouldn't have started with this whole "hexels" thing,its too restrictive and time consuming for a newbie like me.

[Peach]

@Peach: that's a hell of a hixelwork! I know it's goddamn hard to keep the work in one piece all the time while working on such restrictions, but IMO it deserves more attention. I'd work a little more on lines (some of them still appear jagged) and anti-aliasing (some portions are over-aa'd, some are left plain). also, you should do something with the pillowshaded hixels nearly the beard.

hehe I just went crazy on this I choose the palette too early, and hence I think I should even rework the blues. let's see what I can do. I just need some spare time to dedicate onto it.
I really like the legs and the rays. but the dark blue... damn it's too saturated I think I'll also add another color in that ramp (just because I've there're only 14 colors + black in it sorta bonus)

[megane]

That big area of green is bothering me, but i don't really know what to do with it; I might have to add in another shade of green, since neither of the ones currently adjacent to it seem subtle enough to shade it without looking garish and drawing attention away from the beam.  Or I could, like, add in some features or somethin'. 

Hixels make my head feel funny.

[Sherman Gill]

That just got really fucking badass, Megane.

[Peach]

hooooo
da face is harder than I thought
I'screaming "HIXELS" around my house...


added one more color to my palette (still one unused) but still the face do not convince me...

[skw]

That big area of green is bothering me, but i don't really know what to do with it; I might have to add in another shade of green, since neither of the ones currently adjacent to it seem subtle enough to shade it without looking garish and drawing attention away from the beam.  Or I could, like, add in some features or somethin'. 

yea, that's pretty freakin' chill! maybe try some flora? a blade of grass or two wouldn't hurt it.

added one more color to my palette (still one unused) but still the face do not convince me...

hmm, why are you keeping colors that are useless in your palette? still, the lower part of the tunic look a bit harsh: I'm thinking about those jaggy lines just above *his* right foot.

[Kren]

Welll, here is another update.. I will not finish it :/, to many colours for just a skin tone...

Still it was a fun test..

[Malor]

Megane, that is ridicadank. Really.

[Anything!]

Croc-rockets! 8D

[wah_wah_69]

Croc-rockets! 8D

You could call them crockets and sell them for 4th July!

[zuloon]

They're not hexagons... rhombi is more like it.

Rixel it?

[Anything!]

You could call them crockets and sell them for 4th July!

Actually, I was going for the 'crotch-rocket' joke with a literal twist. 83

[wah_wah_69]

Actually, I was going for the 'crotch-rocket' joke with a literal twist. 83
[/quote]

But I already own one of those, you won't be selling much in that case.

[Anything!]

Off-topic: Do you have one that is an actual rocket? 

On topic: Fixed image. Stray red pixels...

[wah_wah_69]

Of course it is, I will give a nice description on how it works/looks in full detail:
This response has been censored in order to maintain law and order.
What kind of forum do you think we run? Will you ever think of the children who hang around this forum?

Oh and by the way it's spelled lecherous not leecherouse.

[zephiel87]

I would think a grid like this would be a better approximation of hexagonal pixels:

[Crow]

I would think a grid like this would be a better approximation of hexagonal pixels:

That's more like octagonal or whatever the word is.

[zephiel87]

The pixels themselves aren't exactly hexagons, but they tessellate more like hexagons, which I think would ensure the result looks less like rotated pixel art.

[Frimkron]

Ah zephiel87 you got there before me. I'd been trying out different hexagonally-tessellating patterns such as these tiny 'T' shapes:


(terrible art I know, it was just an experiment)

But your blob pattern works much nicer. I guess the pixels have to be roughly square or round for them to be useful.

Based on this, you could reduce the size of your blobs even more and get the same pattern:



I think having the hixels touching diagonally and vertically works better than diagonally and horizontally (like ptoing's original pattern), if only because it makes isometric stuff much easier. I'll have to try doing some iso work on this 2x2 hixel grid...

[pixelarg]

 

[legofreak]

isnt this all the same as pixelling something regular and turning it 45 degrees?

[tocky]

I think it's more like tilting your head 45 degrees and then pixelling something (except of course without the backache). This is a cool idea, just that the execution (setting up the hixel grid, painting on it) is pretty difficult. I kind of want a program that does it.

[Argyle]

Wanted to do a background for this eventually, smooth out the animation with more frames, and add some more elements to it to adapt into an avatar, but spent long enough on it as is 

Found this hixel idea very intriguing so had to try it out!

[balls01]

The idea is to use "hexagonal pixels"

hexagons have 6 sides this only has four dont you mean diamonds so the name should be dixel it

[Helm]

This is implied.

[ptoing]

Nicely done, Helm. Even with redundant aa 

Also technically a hixel has 12 sides, but let's not get into that