[APP][2.2+/3.0+][open source] Pixelesque - Pixel Art Creator

[rjmarsan]

So I found out there's no pixel art creator/editor/drawer for android. Naturally I had to write one. 72 hours later: Pixelesque.

Backend is done with Processing, and all the android buttons were made with the app itself.

100% free

Market: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rj.pixelesque
Source: https://github.com/rjmarsan/Pixelesque

You can edit, export, share, etc.

I'm super interested in feedback; ease of use, feature suggestions, etc.

 

[silentheero]

Hey, thanks for working on this. It is a very good start and a good idea since it can be a quick few minute diversion while waiting in line, on the bus, etc.

Additions that would be cool to see-

• 
  ability to choose the size of the canvas and be able to add or remove rows/columns.

• see a preview of the picture quickly while creating it

• have an optional coordinate system (a la excel) to keep track of space, symmetry, etc

• (far off thought) social aspect! Have browsable creations from other artists, ratings, tagging and sorting, etc

 

[rjmarsan]

Hey, thanks for working on this. It is a very good start and a good idea since it can be a quick few minute diversion while waiting in line, on the bus, etc.

Additions that would be cool to see-

• 
  ability to choose the size of the canvas and be able to add or remove rows/columns.

• see a preview of the picture quickly while creating it

• have an optional coordinate system (a la excel) to keep track of space, symmetry, etc

• (far off thought) social aspect! Have browsable creations from other artists, ratings, tagging and sorting, etc

Good suggestions. The preview and coordinate system seem totally doable. As for the first one, do you mean resize things, or making new ones? I thought the 'new' dialog did a good job of choosing custom sizes.

The social part is certainly something I had thought a lot about, but don't have the time or skill to write the server/browser side (anyone want to help?)

 

[lauu]

awesome!! i am huge into low-res pixel art (weird, i know) so i am very excited about this. just got a warranty replacement on my phone so i have to upgrade to 2.2 again before i can install but i'm definitely going to try it out.

as for quickly resizing to look at the overall picture: in a pixel program i use (GraphicsGale) as well as photoshop and whatnot, you can set a little "preview" window of your image to see how it looks zoomed out. it really helps being able to glance over and see the image to make sure it's all coming together and the composition is right, and as it might be bulky doing something like that on a phone it would be equally useful to have a quick "zoom out/zoom in" button to look at the overall image. i'm guessing that's what the other guy was saying - but like i said, i haven't gotten to install it yet so i have no idea if this kind of thing exists yet!

 

[rjmarsan]

awesome!! i am huge into low-res pixel art (weird, i know) so i am very excited about this. just got a warranty replacement on my phone so i have to upgrade to 2.2 again before i can install but i'm definitely going to try it out.

as for quickly resizing to look at the overall picture: in a pixel program i use (GraphicsGale) as well as photoshop and whatnot, you can set a little "preview" window of your image to see how it looks zoomed out. it really helps being able to glance over and see the image to make sure it's all coming together and the composition is right, and as it might be bulky doing something like that on a phone it would be equally useful to have a quick "zoom out/zoom in" button to look at the overall image. i'm guessing that's what the other guy was saying - but like i said, i haven't gotten to install it yet so i have no idea if this kind of thing exists yet!

The preview is an excellent idea.

I'm slowly starting to realize I have more ideas than space on the screen. Is there anything that's less necessary, or confusing about the UI? I'm debating having a quick popup on startup explaining how to use it, but i sort of hate those apps.

Someone mentioned to me having the bottom bar of tools swipe side to side like launcher pro. Don't know if that's 'intuitive' or most people wont notice it.

 

[lauu]

The preview is an excellent idea.

I'm slowly starting to realize I have more ideas than space on the screen. Is there anything that's less necessary, or confusing about the UI? I'm debating having a quick popup on startup explaining how to use it, but i sort of hate those apps.

Someone mentioned to me having the bottom bar of tools swipe side to side like launcher pro. Don't know if that's 'intuitive' or most people wont notice it.

I finally got around to updating my phone to get pixelesque, and I love it. The UI to me is simple and straight-forward; if you're looking to downsize, the pencil/hand tools could probably be combined. It helps having the single-pixel option but I don't think it's totally necessary. I'm impartial to the whole "side-swipe" thing; if you add more options/icons yeah it could come in handy but for now I personally like it as is. One thing that could attract a lot more pixel art enthusiasts could be the option to begin with a canvas of large pixels (like it has now) or smaller (maybe half-size?) pixels, for better detail. Again I don't know **** about app development so I have no idea how difficult changes like this are

But so far I love it! I'll update here with some pixel art if I ever get the time

 

[rjmarsan]

One thing that could attract a lot more pixel art enthusiasts could be the option to begin with a canvas of large pixels (like it has now) or smaller (maybe half-size?) pixels, for better detail.

You and silentheero have mentioned the same point. Is this an extension to the "New" dialog, or something I'm missing?

Also, I'm almost done with making a 'fill' brush and some geometry brushes 'circle, rectangle, line'. I think I'll try to implement a live preview as well as a color picker for the next release (probably in a week or so), along with any more features you guys can think of.

Thanks so much for the ideas guys.

 

[rjmarsan]

New update, added a preview on the bottom, brushes (fill, rect, circle, and line), and upped the single image size to 64x64. Performance also has increased quite a bit.

No color picker JUST yet, still working out exactly how I'd like to implement it. Ideas? Thoughts in general?

 

[kasper hviid]

Someone mentioned to me having the bottom bar of tools swipe side to side like launcher pro. Don't know if that's 'intuitive' or most people wont notice it.

I tried if I could swipe the tools

No color picker JUST yet, still working out exactly how I'd like to implement it. Ideas? Thoughts in general?

How about holding the finger down on a pixel picks its color?


FEATURES I WOULD LIKE:

1) A textured background, so it is possible to distingush between a black pixel and a transparent one.

2) The ability to swich to fullscreen mode in the settings.

3) I can't save the file. I simply cannot figure out how to get a .png file out of the program. Export seems just wierd, I don't want to save at some other resolution than the one I draw in.

4) How about a simple in-game help text? I uninstalled Pixelesque once because I didn't discover most of the features (multiple canvas sizes, drag, zoom, auto-saved colors)

5) It would be nice if it was possible to import a high-res bitmap in the background, which I could trace as pixel-art. Then I could sketch naturally, either using a physical pencil, or another drawing app.


... Besides that, the app is perfect! Good work.

 

[rjmarsan]

How about holding the finger down on a pixel picks its color?

I like that a lot. I'll just have to make sure to put a short help guide when the app starts.

1) A textured background, so it is possible to distingush between a black pixel and a transparent one.

Yup. Haven't done this one yet out of laziness, but I should.

2) The ability to swich to fullscreen mode in the settings.

How exactly does this work? Would the bottom and top bars just go away, and you hit menu again for them to come back?

3) I can't save the file. I simply cannot figure out how to get a .png file out of the program. Export seems just wierd, I don't want to save at some other resolution than the one I draw in.

Yeah... for now you can dig out the actual .png from the program folder (that's all it uses to save the images itself), but I should add an 'original size' to the export menu, if that works?

4) How about a simple in-game help text? I uninstalled Pixelesque once because I didn't discover most of the features (multiple canvas sizes, drag, zoom, auto-saved colors)

Definitely. coming soon.

5) It would be nice if it was possible to import a high-res bitmap in the background, which I could trace as pixel-art. Then I could sketch naturally, either using a physical pencil, or another drawing app.

I was actually thinking of making this a 'paid' feature, as it's a pretty intense. Not sure if this app is at a point yet where anyone would buy a paid version.

... Besides that, the app is perfect! Good work.

Thanks a lot man. Thanks for the feedback too. I pretty much make this app based off what people here ask for. The only other feature I've been thinking that you didn't mention, is a way to shift and resize drawings.

 

[kasper hviid]

Yeah... for now you can dig out the actual .png from the program folder (that's all it uses to save the images itself), but I should add an 'original size' to the export menu, if that works?

That would be nice!

How exactly does this work? Would the bottom and top bars just go away, and you hit menu again for them to come back?

I would think of something like "stays fullscreen untill it's turned off again in the settings." I really like discrete minimalistic interfaces, so my ideal Pixelesque would probably be something like this:
img805.imageshack.us/img805/3075/pixelesque.jpg

I have removed everything, sized down the icons and removed the icons background, and added a bit of drop shadow.

After Chrome came out, Firefox copypasted its minimalistic GUI. So having less GUI must have some value. But I'm more fanatical about it than most.

I was actually thinking of making this a 'paid' feature, as it's a pretty intense. Not sure if this app is at a point yet where anyone would buy a paid version.

Making it a paid feature sounds reasonable, since it is more geared towards more ambitious users.

Another method would be to have a high-res sketching layer with a few basic sketching tools: Sketching pencil, larger pencil at the size of a "final pixel" and eraser. Colors won't be needed. That way, the sketch could be drawn to fit a certain pixel size, and the artist won't waste time with too small details.

A FEW SMALL IDEAS:

• Ability to turn the grid off
• Two-finger shortcuts like Menu+screentouch or Pencil+screentouch. Could be used to turn preview on/off or eyedropper.
• Toggle small/large/both by clicking the preview
• For some reason, the semi-opaque square at my finger "feels" sluggish, since it jumps to the current pixel.

 

[Native89]

Will definitely be trying this. Used to "draw" on my old ti-82 all the time.

Sent using Tapalk.

 

[maepchik]

People invent fantastic and simply things sometimes...

 

[1immortal]

maybe a dialog to save when exiting should be added ?
or some mechanism that saves the last made image automaticly when exiting ?

 

[player911]

I love pixel art but never got into it but as a person who never done it... I think the ability to import a picture in the background and create pixel art over it is an awesome idea.

It shouldn't be only in the pro version since I think this single feature will let everyone try it out and create pixel art.

Perhaps free version is limited to 16 colors vs 256 of pro + more tools.

Just the ability to import a picture in the background and use 16 colors to recreate it (don't need tools really just a pencil tool) = free.

Pro should have more tools, ability to resize grid, upload options (Facebook?), and more.

G2x - 2.3.7 CM7
Transformer - 3.2 Revolver OC/UV

 

[rjmarsan]

People invent fantastic and simply things sometimes...

Thank you very much. I really appreciate the comments people leave.

 

[rjmarsan]

maybe a dialog to save when exiting should be added ?
or some mechanism that saves the last made image automaticly when exiting ?

I spent all lunch discussing your comment. I think what I'm going to do, is it will automatically save right before the app quits. That way you can open an existing image, edit it for a while, save it as something else, but don't lose your original. However if you edit it and quit, you don't lose your work. Is that a fair tradeoff?

 

[rjmarsan]

I love pixel art but never got into it but as a person who never done it... I think the ability to import a picture in the background and create pixel art over it is an awesome idea.

It shouldn't be only in the pro version since I think this single feature will let everyone try it out and create pixel art.

Perhaps free version is limited to 16 colors vs 256 of pro + more tools.

Just the ability to import a picture in the background and use 16 colors to recreate it (don't need tools really just a pencil tool) = free.

Pro should have more tools, ability to resize grid, upload options (Facebook?), and more.

G2x - 2.3.7 CM7
Transformer - 3.2 Revolver OC/UV

I have a really tough time with making a paid app. I've never done it before, as it feels really mean. On the one hand, I want the paid app to be for hardcore users who want the 'power tools' that are tough to implement and only benefit them. On the other hand, I don't want to purposefully lobotomize the free version to force people to upgrade... The image as a background is a handy feature, albeit a bit of an intense feature. I think I can work it in the free version, or alternately just may give away the pro version to you awesome xda guys.

 

[1immortal]

I spent all lunch discussing your comment. I think what I'm going to do, is it will automatically save right before the app quits. That way you can open an existing image, edit it for a while, save it as something else, but don't lose your original. However if you edit it and quit, you don't lose your work. Is that a fair tradeoff?

fair enough
you're doing a great job, thanks for all your time and work !

 

[Badcam]

Yeah... for now you can dig out the actual .png from the program folder (that's all it uses to save the images itself), but I should add an 'original size' to the export menu, if that works?

Where is the Program folder? I can't find it on my SD Card.

This App is FANTASTIC. It's perfect for making my Rockbox Artwork. My suggestions so far are:

1) An easy way to export my created art in one go, rather than one at a time. The current way isn't that good for me. I see no point in having the option to export in the current Low, Medium and High resolutions. Like, what's the point? I'd just like to see it export the image(s) I've created in their existing size and be able to chose from one/many or all to export at once. ie transfer them to my PC.

2) The ability to Play the created files as an Animation or Flip Art. ie Let me choose a list of files I've created (all the same grid size) and the order I wish to see them shown and the speed. Similar to this:

https://market.android.com/details?...51bGwsMSwxLDEwNCwiYWlyLkJyaWRnZUludmFkZXJzIl0.

Check out the Vimeo link there.

3) The option to save them as bitmaps,preferably with colour options ie 2 colour Black and White.

4) I'd like to see the "Save As" option in the same Menu as the "Save". If I'm creating multiple files in succession, it would be nice to only have to tap the menu once and not click "More".

5) The option to choose Preview Size. I'd like a larger preveiw that what's there now.

Thanks for the great free app. It's a lot of fun.

---------- Post added at 07:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 PM ----------

I spent all lunch discussing your comment. I think what I'm going to do, is it will automatically save right before the app quits. That way you can open an existing image, edit it for a while, save it as something else, but don't lose your original. However if you edit it and quit, you don't lose your work. Is that a fair tradeoff?

I'd like this option.