Pixel Joint Forum: How do I get bigger pixels?

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   Hi everyone! 

I have a quick question concerning the size of say a sprite for a game.

I found out most people use a 32 x 32 frame for sprites, which suits me fine. But there is one thing I can't seem to work out.

When I use GraphicsGale and draw a sprite of 32 x 32, the lines are thin. VERY thin. I would like to get the pixels to show more. So instead of a straight line, I'd like to see the squares better. 

How do I get this effect?

Many thanks in advance,

Berzerkin' Ape

Edited by Berzerkin' Ape - 02 April 2011 at 2:36pm

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Berzerkin' Ape Seaman Joined: 02 April 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Topic: How do I get bigger pixels? Posted: 02 April 2011 at 2:34pm
	Hi everyone! I have a quick question concerning the size of say a sprite for a game. I found out most people use a 32 x 32 frame for sprites, which suits me fine. But there is one thing I can't seem to work out. When I use GraphicsGale and draw a sprite of 32 x 32, the lines are thin. VERY thin. I would like to get the pixels to show more. So instead of a straight line, I'd like to see the squares better. How do I get this effect? Many thanks in advance, Berzerkin' Ape Edited by Berzerkin' Ape - 02 April 2011 at 2:36pm
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ellie-is Commander Joined: 12 September 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 706	Posted: 02 April 2011 at 4:31pm
	...use more squares? I'm not sure if I get your question.
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cure Commander Joined: 23 March 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2859	Posted: 02 April 2011 at 5:05pm
	firstly, I dunno what you mean by 'most people use 32x32 for sprites'. people use all sorts of different sizes, depending on the platform or personal preference, or what the games calls for, or what sort of sprite it is. by very thin, I assume you mean 1 pixel thin. that's how pixel art is made. one pixel at a time. ergo, it's gonna be small. if you want 'bigger' sprites (that is, larger sprites but not a larger resolution) then just... enlarge whatever your draw. make the pixelart, then resize it by a whole number (x2, x3, etc) so the pixels don't turn into rectangles or anything.
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Berzerkin' Ape Seaman Joined: 02 April 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 03 April 2011 at 2:24am
	Excuse me for my vague question. I have exactly 0,0% experience with pixel art, maybe that's why. Alright, let's try it this way. Take a look at these pictures. There's a huge difference. I'd like to have the sprites look somewhat like the first picture, but I don't want my sprites to end up 200 x 200 or bigger. I want my sprites around 32 x 32, maybe somewhat bigger, but with the effect of the first picture. The second picture has the thin lines I was talking about. Did this make it any more clear? Thanks in advance, Berzerkin' Ape
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jeremy Rear Admiral Joined: 25 November 2024 Location: New Zealand Online Status: Offline Posts: 1704	Posted: 03 April 2011 at 2:41am
	It's literally just changing the scale of an image. The pixels are the same size in each, but the fishing one is composed of 2x2 pixel blocks. they could easily look like this: another example:
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Berzerkin' Ape Seaman Joined: 02 April 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 03 April 2011 at 2:54am
	@ Jeremy Thanks for your reply. So if I understand you correctly: If I want to have this effect, I could just stay in the 32 x 32 frame, but just take my drawing and enlarge it? This way I'll keep the 32 x 32 but have it enlarged anyway? Thanks!
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jeremy Rear Admiral Joined: 25 November 2024 Location: New Zealand Online Status: Offline Posts: 1704	Posted: 03 April 2011 at 3:38am
	If you wanted the end result to be 32x32, you'd have to pixel something 16x16 in size. If you want it to be 64x64 or 96x96, yeah you can pixel something 32x32 and enlarge by 2 or 3 times respectively.
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Berzerkin' Ape Seaman Joined: 02 April 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 03 April 2011 at 4:15am
	Ah! Thanks for that! I think that is the answer I'm looking for. How would you suggest doing that? I'm currently using GraphicsGale. When I start working in a 32 x 32 frame, I can't change it to 64 x 64. Besides that, I'm using Multimedia Fusion 2 for creating a game. When I enlarge my 32 x 32 sprite to 64 x 64 it becomes vague. Any other methods?
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Blueberry_pie Rear Admiral Joined: 24 July 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2176	Posted: 03 April 2011 at 6:18am
	Besides that, I'm using Multimedia Fusion 2 for creating a game. When I enlarge my 32 x 32 sprite to 64 x 64 it becomes vague. If you're enlarging in the image editor, untick the 'Resample' checkbox before resizing. If you're enlarging in the frame editor, go to Tools -> Preferences and untick 'Resample images when resizing active and backdrop objects' under the Frame Editor tab. Also, if this is for a game, it might be a better idea to leave your sprites at normal size and render the entire game at 2x or 3x the size instead. Otherwise, you could end up having objects that move across the screen at 1 pixel increments, when the actual graphics are made up of larger pixels (if that makes sense). That always looks kinda weird, in my opinion. If you want, I can upload an example .mfa file to show you how to enlarge the rendered game size. Fellow MMF2 user here, if you hadn't noticed :)
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Berzerkin' Ape Seaman Joined: 02 April 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 03 April 2011 at 7:29am
	*Originally posted by Blueberry_pie* Besides that, I'm using Multimedia Fusion 2 for creating a game. When I enlarge my 32 x 32 sprite to 64 x 64 it becomes vague. If you're enlarging in the image editor, untick the 'Resample' checkbox before resizing. If you're enlarging in the frame editor, go to Tools -> Preferences and untick 'Resample images when resizing active and backdrop objects' under the Frame Editor tab. Also, if this is for a game, it might be a better idea to leave your sprites at normal size and render the entire game at 2x or 3x the size instead. Otherwise, you could end up having objects that move across the screen at 1 pixel increments, when the actual graphics are made up of larger pixels (if that makes sense). That always looks kinda weird, in my opinion. If you want, I can upload an example .mfa file to show you how to enlarge the rendered game size. Fellow MMF2 user here, if you hadn't noticed :) Thanks for your reply Blueberry! Awesome to see that I'm not the only one using MMF! I'm using MMFD2 though, so the developer version. I hope this does not change the enlarging process? I would like to try out enlarging the whole game, so the .mfa file would be very appreciated! Thanks in advance :)
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Blueberry_pie Rear Admiral Joined: 24 July 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2176	Posted: 03 April 2011 at 9:27am
	Alright, here you go :) There are some comments in the event editor that explain how it's done. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. And no, using the Standard or Developer version doesn't make a difference in this case.
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Berzerkin' Ape Seaman Joined: 02 April 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Posted: 03 April 2011 at 9:35am
	*Originally posted by Blueberry_pie* Alright, here you go :) There are some comments in the event editor that explain how it's done. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. And no, using the Standard or Developer version doesn't make a difference in this case. Great! Thanks alot! I'll be gone now, looking at the .mfa! I'll be sure to PM you, thanks for the help :)
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