Color Palette Restrictions
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: The Lounge
Forum Name: Resources and Support
Forum Discription: Help your fellow pixel artists out with links to good tutorials, other forums, software, fonts, etc. Bugs and support issues should go here as well.
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=21602
Printed Date: 13 September 2025 at 5:26pm
Topic: Color Palette Restrictions
Posted By: Stealsteel
Subject: Color Palette Restrictions
Date Posted: 26 February 2015 at 3:46am
|
Hey, I am using Pro Motion v.65. I admit, all my pixel art in the past has been done using MS Paint, and Im a little overwhelmed with options.
When I painted in Paint, I had unlimited colors to choose from. When I wanted darker, I just lowered the brightness. When I wanted it more grey, I lowered the Saturation. However, now, in Pro Motion, whenever I change these things, anything I've already painted changes color too. Do I have to constantly change the color in the palette? Or is there a way to disable this auto update of the picture when I edit the palette? Anyone information will be appreciated :) Thanks, happy painting! |
Replies:
Posted By: neota
Date Posted: 26 February 2015 at 5:23am
|
This is how Pro Motion, GrafX2, and other 'indexed' paint programs work. Your image is drawn using a color palette, which contains up to 256 different colors. You can pick between those colors. The image doesn't contain any color values, it only references particular slots (indices) in that palette. What you seem to be doing presently is asking Pro Motion to edit the color at the current palette index. Naturally, since the image pixels already refer to that index, this causes the colors in your image to change. So yes, you do need to select an unused palette index before you then change the color assigned to it and paint with it. ------------- absolutely. |
Posted By: Stealsteel
Date Posted: 26 February 2015 at 5:28am
| Ah yes, I do see what you mean. It's a shame, I do prefer the idea of just being able to select a color out of a window and use it, as opposed to having a palette. I am pretty sure I know the answer, but theres no way to turn off a palette is there? And just use any color I want at any given time? |
Posted By: neota
Date Posted: 26 February 2015 at 6:14am
|
Not in Pro Motion AFAIK -- it is designed around the assumption that this is what you want to do (which is usually correct for pixel art) and has various tools that are only possible with indexed images. I guess it's worth mentioning: are you aware you can move through the palette (ie change the palette index you are drawing with) with keyboard shortcuts? This is one reason that drawing with a palette can be very fast. There are other tools you can use, of course. For example, I occasionally use GIMP to pixel out something quickly when I can't be bothered with palette management. However, I do not use it for substantial projects, because dedicated pixel art programs like Pro Motion and GrafX2 make many tasks much easier. ------------- absolutely. |
Posted By: Stealsteel
Date Posted: 27 February 2015 at 1:38am
|
I am aware, thank you for mentioning it though.
So if someone wanted to do a large, multicolored picture in Pro Motion, they essentially couldnt? Im talking using all sorts of colors, a rainbow style artwork. |
Posted By: neota
Date Posted: 27 February 2015 at 4:54am
|
Well, 256 palette slots are available -- how many do you need?
------------- absolutely. |
Posted By: yrizoud
Date Posted: 27 February 2015 at 11:59am
Yes, if you try using an indexed color mode, you'll realize that you don't need so many different colors to do something detailed and smooth. For example, this old little thing : consists of 16 colors. I kid you not. |