Home > Pixel art

Contents

1 Constraints

2 Categories

3 Uses

4 External links

Pixel art is art created on the computer through the use of a raster graphics software that allow images to be edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most old computer games or even in Game Boy games are considered pixel art. Generally, "pure" pixel art must be created by manual pixel-level editing, without the use of any automatic filters. In the pure form, it is generally said that "each pixel was placed carefully". Purists within the pixel art scene say that pixel artists should only use tools that place individual pixels (usually the pencil tool), and no tools that automatically creates shapes for you (like circle, square and line tools). Others say that the line tools and the bucket fill are acceptable, as they do nothing more than speed up the work without impacting on how the work looks. The use of automatic filters such as anti-aliasing, on the other hand, is generally considered not valid in a "true" pixel art, since the filters will add new pixels automatically, eliminating the careful placement. Icons for operating systems with limited graphics abilities are also pixel art. The limited number of colors and resolution presents a challenge when attempting to convey complicated concepts and ideas in an efficient way. Cross-stitch patterns resemble some aspects of pixel art.

1 Constraints

The aspiring pixel artist must remember to keep the color count low; the art is often to be used on systems where the number of available colors is limited, such as older video game consoles or mobile phones. The color constraint is also part of the genre.

Pixel art is preferably stored losslessly, that is, in a format that can save each pixel of the image without loss of precision. Because of the often-limited color space, using a color palette can be very efficient. PNG and GIFGIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a bitmap image format that is widely used on the World Wide Web, both for still images and for animations. GIF" is often pronounced giff with a hard g (that is, like "gift" without the final t), but the correct pronunc are two examples of formats that can do this space-efficiently. Run-length encodingRun-length encoding (RLE is a very simple form of data compression in which runs of data (that is, sequences in which the same data value occurs in many consecutive data elements) are stored as a single data value and count, rather than as the original ru is a possible tradeoff when memory or computational powerThe central processing unit (CPU is the part of a computer that interprets and carries out the instructions contained in the software. In most CPUs, this task is divided between a control unit that directs program flow and one or more execution units that is limited.

2 Categories

Pixel art is commonly divided in two subcategories: isometric and non-isometric. The isometric kind is drawn from an isometric perspectiveIsometric projection is a form of orthographic projection, or more specifically, an axonometric projection. It is a method for the visual representation of three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in which the angles between the projection of the x y a. This is commonly seen in games to provide a three-dimensional view without using any real three-dimensional processing. Technically, an isometric angle would be of 30 degrees, but this does not produce a good result since the pixels in these lines do not follow a pattern. To fix this, a ratio of 1:2 is picked, leading to an angle of, aproximately, 26.565 degrees ( arctan 0.5).

The non-isometric is basically any pixel art that does not fall in the isometric category, such as views from the top, side, front, or bottom.

3 Uses

With the increasing use of 3D graphics in games, pixel art lost some of its use. Despite that, this is still a very active professional area, since mobile phones and other portable devices still have low resolution and then require a skillful use of space and memory.

Some games still keep the pixel art tradition. A good example is the Metal Slug series and many fighting games.

4 External links

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Topics: Pixel Art, Constraints, Categories, Uses, External Links...

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Pixel artPixel art is art created on the computer through the use of a raster graphics software that allow images to be edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most old computer games or even in Game Boy games are considered pixel art. Generally, "pure" pixel art m	PixelizationPixelization is a video- and image- editing technique where an image, or part of it, is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a lower resolution. A familiar example of pixelization can be found in television news and documentary production, where veh	Pixels per inchPixels per inch PPI or pixel density is a measurement of the resolution of a computer display, related to the size of the display in inches and the total number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions. This measurement is often referred to as
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