[HN Gopher] Show HN: Stipple Effect - a scriptable pixel art edi...
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Show HN: Stipple Effect - a scriptable pixel art editor to make
game art faster
Author : flinkerflitzer
Score : 156 points
Date : 2024-08-13 13:29 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| abetusk wrote:
| I found the name confusing, thinking this was a tool to create
| stipple effects or implemented a stipple effect algorithm,
| whereas it's the name given to the pixel art editor. It says so
| in the title and directly in the repo, it was just my oversight
| in not properly interpreting it.
|
| I think the name comes from trying to be a pixel editor analogous
| to what After Effect is for video, thus the play on words.
| flinkerflitzer wrote:
| Hi abetusk! The first tool I implemented in the program was the
| Stipple Pencil, which is a variant of the pencil that only
| colors over the target pixel when the mouse is pressed down,
| even if the cursor is dragged over other pixels thereafter. The
| pun was meant to be on that and the term "ripple effect".
|
| However, if I could go back, I'd probably change the name to
| something more fitting to what the program actually is.
| kaibee wrote:
| Hey this is a cool project, but from a selfish perspective: Why
| would I use this over Aseprite?
| flinkerflitzer wrote:
| Hahaha, I've grown to love this question over the past few
| weeks. I'm a huge fan of Aseprite, and I don't have a bad word
| to say about it.
|
| However, I could attempt to make the case for Stipple Effect
| over Aseprite a few ways.
|
| In terms of what Stipple Effect can do better than Aseprite, or
| what it can do that Aseprite can't, I'd highlight some specific
| applications of the scripting system. If you are a game
| developer making a 2D pixel art game with a lot of animated
| assets of the same form (physical shape, dimensions, pose,
| etc.), Stipple Effect can really expedite the art process.
|
| Imagine you are making a game with tons of NPCs, each of which
| has to have idle animations, walking animations, and a certain
| number of action animations. Or a game with significant
| character customization in the form of clothing and vanity
| items. At present, you would probably have to individually
| animate every NPC and every clothing item for each animation.
| Using Stipple Effect, however, you can spend a bit of time
| configuring a lookup relationship between a single texture and
| an animated UV lookup asset, and map the texture to the
| animation via a preview script. In the long run, this will save
| hundreds of hours of tedious work, as you will only have to
| draw a single texture for each item/NPC you are adding to your
| game.
|
| See this video for a visual aid:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj1foXYcHl4
|
| Besides that, Stipple Effect is much younger than Aseprite.
| David has been working on Aseprite for over 20 years as far as
| I know, while I have been working on Stipple Effect for just
| over eight months. The program is improving at a much more
| rapid rate, and will likely receive more substantive updates
| more often than Aseprite will.
|
| Stipple Effect is only a quarter of the price of Aseprite
| presently to reflect that it is still a nascent program with
| less polish, so there is an economic incentive as well.
|
| In summary, I would say you should decide whether Stipple
| Effect is the best fit for your individual needs, and whether
| you're willing to take a chance on less proven software with a
| huge potential upside.
|
| Cheers!
| maxbond wrote:
| That animation with the fish is impressive, it's very difficult
| to get pixel art to feel natural and organic like that.
| flinkerflitzer wrote:
| Thanks, I appreciate it!
|
| I am by no means a talented artist, and programming comes much
| easier to me than pixel art. That's a big part of the reason
| why I made Stipple Effect, which is essentially a program that
| you can get the most out of when you leverage your skill as a
| programmer to make making art faster/better/less painstaking.
| maxbond wrote:
| You've got a good eye for form and color, your art is simple
| but effective (as pixel art should be). I'm in the same boat,
| so I'm going to buy a copy of Stipple Effect.
| flinkerflitzer wrote:
| Thank you for your trust and for the compliment!
| flinkerflitzer wrote:
| I linked the GitHub repository in my post; you may also be
| interested in the following links:
|
| Store page: https://flinkerflitzer.itch.io/stipple-effect
|
| Scripting API: https://github.com/jbunke/stipple-
| effect/wiki/Scripting
| alstonite wrote:
| Out of curiosity, is there any workflow that exists for easy
| imports into Godot? I personally find that Asesprite Wizard
| (https://godotengine.org/asset-library/asset/713) has been
| incredible for easy animation transfer. I'd happily swap to
| Stipple if something like it exists.
| flinkerflitzer wrote:
| Thanks for your interest.
|
| Not presently, but it's definitely something I can look into
| adding. I haven't used Godot much, but I see the momentum it
| has behind it (especially since the Unity scandal a few months
| ago) and it seems like Godot integration will become a more and
| more coveted feature.
|
| For the time being, I welcome you to drop a comment about it in
| the feedback section at the bottom of the store page or to
| submit a feature request here:
| https://github.com/jbunke/stipple-effect/issues/new/choose
| nrjames wrote:
| Unity issues aside, Godot is awesome! I'd love to see an
| integration.
| hungie wrote:
| Couple of thoughts, as an indie dev:
|
| 1) Aseprite is already king in this space, yes, this may be more
| automatable but asesprite already wires into my engine. In my
| engine, I can write code to preview behaviors in more or less
| realtime on file save.
|
| 2) what's with the Eula? This is not an open source tool, but it
| appears to be a source available tool with some strict
| requirements. I cannot distribute the code or binary, which means
| that even looking at the code could potentially introduce legal
| liabilities for me. As an indie, not a risk I'm willing to take.
| (I have this complaint about Aseprite too, fwiw)
| flinkerflitzer wrote:
| That's fair enough. I guess the additional benefit that I am
| going for here is that the preview behaviors literally are
| real-time. The preview window re-computes a preview script's
| output every time the project state changes in Stipple Effect,
| so you'll see the effects of a brush stroke on your preview
| milliseconds after releasing the mouse. That way you don't have
| to save the file, switch contexts, and see the updated result.
| But I respect that your current workflow may be your
| preference.
|
| How does looking at the code expose you to potential legal
| liabilities? I'm a bit confused by that.
| whateveracct wrote:
| There's definitely room for an actually FOSS pixel art editor
| imo. But everyone who makes one wants to sell it for walking
| around money on itch.io.
|
| It doesn't matter to everyone but it does move the needle for a
| subset of people. I love to read my tools' source and fork/hack
| on/contribute to them.
| Blackcatmaxy wrote:
| https://github.com/Orama-Interactive/Pixelorama is FOSS (MIT
| license) and available for free on itch.io
| whateveracct wrote:
| wow - thanks for the tip! this looks very cool
| flinkerflitzer wrote:
| I hear you, but I think people often overlook that developers
| have practical considerations to take into account. I've gone
| full tilt with Stipple Effect this whole year, and I have
| living expenses to consider.
|
| I also don't see how the license prohibits you from doing
| what you expressed, though that may be an oversight on my
| part. I'm happy to be educated or listen to what specific
| concerns you have about how the license or distribution model
| limits what you would hope to get out of the program.
| moomin wrote:
| Everyone loves open source, but they pay for commercial
| products. You deserve to be paid for your work and your
| product.
| whateveracct wrote:
| Nothing wrong with making paid software! There's definitely
| a market for it and I wish you well.
|
| I'm just niche and not in your market :D
| flinkerflitzer wrote:
| Fair enough; thanks for giving me something to think
| about!
| efilife wrote:
| Check out Pixelorama
|
| https://github.com/Orama-Interactive/Pixelorama
| andai wrote:
| >asesprite already wires into my engine
|
| Do you mean you have some kind of Aseprite plugin, or are you
| just hot reloading the sprites?
| CaptainFever wrote:
| For a free as in free speech pixel art editor, check out
| LibreSprite (a fork of Aesprite):
| https://libresprite.github.io/
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