Pixel Joint Forum: Overpixeling

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Tidybraveguinea
Midshipman

Joined: 04 January 2015
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 25

Topic: Overpixeling
Posted: 26 June 2015 at 12:18am

I've been always trying to squeeze as much detail as possible in my sprites, but recently I heard that it's actually not that good and called "overpixeling". But I can't find any tutorials to explain the term further. What exactly is overpixeling? How bad is it? How to avoid it?

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Uberlion
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 21 April 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 4

Posted: 26 June 2015 at 5:22am

I'm fairly sure it's something like using too much noise in an editor.

It can mess up the whole picture, I'll make one quickly to show you what I'm thinking.

Note how it messed up the grass?
Noise isn't all bad though. It's still a bit of a shortcut however.

Edited by Uberlion - 26 June 2015 at 5:23am

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jalonso
Admiral
Admiral

Joined: 29 November 2022
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 13537

Posted: 26 June 2015 at 6:24am

When you are pixelling you should only go as far as you need to have the viewer read what you draw. Any pixel over that is overpixelling.
As an artist you may be trying to draw something and get swept up trying to show all the detail you can when its not needed in pixelart because 'suggestion' goes farther than detailing as a general rule. For example, you can show grass and have it be detailed without having to show every single blade of grass.
There is no such tutorial for this kind of thing because every pixelart has its on particulars.

What Uberlion shows as an example is overpixelled to the point of being a pixel pudding and really jumps into NPA land.

PJs FAQ <•> Sticky Reads

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yrizoud
Commander

Joined: 03 May 2021
Location: France
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 343

Posted: 26 June 2015 at 8:06am

Originally posted by Tidybraveguinea

I've been always trying to squeeze as much detail as possible in my sprites

If you're doing actual game sprites, or mockups, readability should be a concern to keep in mind, from start (how big ?) to final pixel.
I see two aspects :
1) Plane separation : Characters need enough separation from the background for the player to quickly differentiate the two. Collectibles need to be visible (no green key in grass please?), dangerous bullets have to be instantly recognizable. Level of detail is one of the means to work on readability, if you insist on the same level of detail for everything, it leaves you fewer means to work on readability.
2) Sprites generally animate, so during animation, details can easily obfuscate the main character movement. If I take the example of your pretty dragon picture : Consider the scale highlights, they catch a lot the viewer's attention. If you animate the dragon, different images will have different scale highlights, but there ARE some consecutive images where a highlight will be at the same pixel position. This will trick the viewer's eye into thinking "something didn't move", even though it's different scales which randomly ended up at the exact same x,y position. For the viewer, the mix of movement and non-movement looks confusing and distracting.

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Author	Message
Tidybraveguinea Midshipman Joined: 04 January 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 25	Topic: Overpixeling Posted: 26 June 2015 at 12:18am
	I've been always trying to squeeze as much detail as possible in my sprites, but recently I heard that it's actually not that good and called "overpixeling". But I can't find any tutorials to explain the term further. What exactly is overpixeling? How bad is it? How to avoid it?
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Uberlion Seaman Joined: 21 April 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4	Posted: 26 June 2015 at 5:22am
	I'm fairly sure it's something like using too much noise in an editor. It can mess up the whole picture, I'll make one quickly to show you what I'm thinking. Note how it messed up the grass? Noise isn't all bad though. It's still a bit of a shortcut however. Edited by Uberlion - 26 June 2015 at 5:23am
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jalonso Admiral Joined: 29 November 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 13537	Posted: 26 June 2015 at 6:24am
	When you are pixelling you should only go as far as you need to have the viewer read what you draw. Any pixel over that is overpixelling. As an artist you may be trying to draw something and get swept up trying to show all the detail you can when its not needed in pixelart because 'suggestion' goes farther than detailing as a general rule. For example, you can show grass and have it be detailed without having to show every single blade of grass. There is no such tutorial for this kind of thing because every pixelart has its on particulars. What Uberlion shows as an example is overpixelled to the point of being a pixel pudding and really jumps into NPA land.
	PJs FAQ <•> Sticky Reads
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yrizoud Commander Joined: 03 May 2021 Location: France Online Status: Offline Posts: 343	Posted: 26 June 2015 at 8:06am
	*Originally posted by Tidybraveguinea* I've been always trying to squeeze as much detail as possible in my sprites If you're doing actual game sprites, or mockups, readability should be a concern to keep in mind, from start (how big ?) to final pixel. I see two aspects : 1) Plane separation : Characters need enough separation from the background for the player to quickly differentiate the two. Collectibles need to be visible (no green key in grass please?), dangerous bullets have to be instantly recognizable. Level of detail is one of the means to work on readability, if you insist on the same level of detail for everything, it leaves you fewer means to work on readability. 2) Sprites generally animate, so during animation, details can easily obfuscate the main character movement. If I take the example of your pretty dragon picture : Consider the scale highlights, they catch a lot the viewer's attention. If you animate the dragon, different images will have different scale highlights, but there ARE some consecutive images where a highlight will be at the same pixel position. This will trick the viewer's eye into thinking "something didn't move", even though it's different scales which randomly ended up at the exact same x,y position. For the viewer, the mix of movement and non-movement looks confusing and distracting.
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Topic: Overpixeling