Pixel Joint Forum: How do you color animation ?

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   Hello everyone,

In many video games that use pixel art I see the sprites are painted in an illustration-like way. For example this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6tzPGT79uw

Is this done manually? I mean, I know color and animation. In order to determine where the light falls in each frame, so it matches the other frames, it would require multiple microcalculations from the artist = incredibly slow productivity, or, some kind of filter that indicates where the light falls according to the changes in the outline perhaps? So you paint over some kind of guides?

I have heard an inteview of an SNK director explaining briefly how they made this game, and he said something about smoothing filters. I don`t know if that is the case.

Do you have any knowledge on the subject?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Edited by Animator111 - 16 October 2014 at 8:07am

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Animator111 Midshipman Joined: 08 September 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 60	Topic: How do you color animation ? Posted: 16 October 2014 at 8:05am
	Hello everyone, In many video games that use pixel art I see the sprites are painted in an illustration-like way. For example this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6tzPGT79uw Is this done manually? I mean, I know color and animation. In order to determine where the light falls in each frame, so it matches the other frames, it would require multiple microcalculations from the artist = incredibly slow productivity, or, some kind of filter that indicates where the light falls according to the changes in the outline perhaps? So you paint over some kind of guides? I have heard an inteview of an SNK director explaining briefly how they made this game, and he said something about smoothing filters. I don`t know if that is the case. Do you have any knowledge on the subject? Many thanks in advance for your help. Edited by Animator111 - 16 October 2014 at 8:07am
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yrizoud Commander Joined: 03 May 2021 Location: France Online Status: Offline Posts: 343	Posted: 16 October 2014 at 11:32am
	People who draw a lot of fighter sprites know "by heart" the typical interesting patterns of shading for a humanoid figure, with a light that comes roughly from above. Anyway, lighting consistency is important when a "pose" is visible for a long time (mostly non-moving), but as soon as there's a very dynamic motion, it's much more important that the colored shapes flow smoothly from one frame to the next to convey motion. A lighting inconsistency will only be visible if the game is paused mid-animation. You can see a WIP post by MaseOne to see how an animation is typically designed. http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13279&KW=offset His deviantart (here) has other animations which keep a small number of colors. As long as the color count is low, animation can easily be reworked. When it seems good (and if you still have many hours to spend), you can rework frame by frame to smooth the transitions between colors. Edited by yrizoud - 16 October 2014 at 11:35am
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AlexHW Commander Joined: 19 June 2019 Online Status: Offline Posts: 285	Posted: 16 October 2014 at 2:26pm
	You can't really expect to draw/paint something completely accurate to reality if it is imagined to some extent. Like yrizoud said, with practice, you develop a feeling of how to represent certain characteristics from reality in an imagined form in a way that is believable. One way of developing this understanding is by simplifying characteristics of reality into more generalized concepts, like comparing forms to primitives of similar shape- like a cylinder to an arm. If you can master drawing a cylinder, then you're closer to being able to draw an arm than those who can't even draw a cylinder. Studying how light interacts with simpler forms allows you to develop that grasp on reality and how to translate it into imagined forms.
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jtfjtfjtf Commander Joined: 17 July 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 162	Posted: 16 October 2014 at 3:12pm
	I think for a lot of fighting games they just set up lighting rules for the character and then just follow them on every frame when drawing/coloring the character. For example, top down from the front lighting. So every frame of that character is drawn/colored with that lighting in mind. And it doesn't matter where the character is in position in the scene. The same characters facing each other will just be mirror images. The lighting was already applied when they drew the characters. I think for special attacks or things that require a certain dynamic light to be thrown in they might use filters for that. For example the back lighting on Akuma from the fire in the first part of your video.
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Animator111 Midshipman Joined: 08 September 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 60	Posted: 17 October 2014 at 1:12am
	Thanks to everyone who replied ! Especially Yrizoud, I found your information and links very helpful ! I will make such a sprite and post it for critisism, to see if I understood well what you said. Where is the best place to post it? Here or somewhere else? I have another question: So I want to present pixel art samples in my portfolio. Pixel art I read is about limited color. How do I determine the number of colors my pallete will have? Is there a standard limit that if you exceed it, people will say "This is not good pixel art, it has too many colors..." Because otherwise, I can take a full color illustration, turn it into index which allows only 256 colors but at that level, it makes no difference to the eye. I guess in the old days, that was determined by the engine`s power, eg SEGA Genesis could not afford more than 64 on screen. But now engines afford unlimited. So what are the limits? Edited by Animator111 - 17 October 2014 at 1:25am
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yrizoud Commander Joined: 03 May 2021 Location: France Online Status: Offline Posts: 343	Posted: 17 October 2014 at 2:41am
	The WIP section is more suited, probably more people follow it. > So what are the limits? Time / needed work. If you double the number of colors for detailed design, smoother shading, or antialias, it tends to quadruple your drawing time. This has to be repeated on the hundreds of frames for a typical fighter sprite. It's very demotivating if you detect an issue late (like: this kick is too short to be useful) and you have many detailed frames to redraw from scratch. Keep shading with FLAT colors until you're certain that a move 1) looks perfect (animation is not awkward) and 2) plays well is game engine prototype. This is true even for animation as generic as walking! The support feet must stay on the ground while walking, no gliding or moonwalking. > How do I determine the number of colors my pallete will have? People usually start with a tiny number of colors, and expand as they need it. For fighter animation, you have a lot of images with the same character so it's extra important to stay consistent and re-use the same colors. (The exception is when a "special effect" is meant to redefine the lighting on a character : fire, rage, poison, electricity, black hole, holy halo...)
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jtfjtfjtf Commander Joined: 17 July 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 162	Posted: 17 October 2014 at 11:39am
	You can start with very broad color placement. For example, put your midtone, and then put your shadow and highlight depending on your lighting. For example, if you look at this pixel of Ryu from Street Fighter 3 you can tell his big color forms are for shadow, a midshadow, midtone, highlight, and the rest of his colors are pretty much for outlines, AA, and transitions. The entire sprite has 38 colors spread among the different materials such as skin, white cloth, red cloth, black cloth, and hair. http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080324054744/streetfighter/images/c/cd/Ryu-ts-stance.gif Edited by jtfjtfjtf - 17 October 2014 at 11:45am
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Animator111 Midshipman Joined: 08 September 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 60	Posted: 22 October 2014 at 1:38am
	Alright, to start I made a horse here Horse post, any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.( anxious about what you will say...)
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