What's the best way to increase small pixel art without distortion?

Minolta Level 1

April 17, 2017, 3:40 pm

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What's the best way to increase small pixel art without distortion?

A friend of mine asked me to contribute some cute pixel art for a retro game that he is making. I have created something similar before but this time need to ensure the pixel art is a little larger. My biggest issue is that my image gets really blocky looking if I increase the size too much. Is there a way to increase a pixel art image without distortion?

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DenisP

DenisP

Much like idealmike has stated, the problem is that you aren't using vector images, and that is a big problem at that. There are two types of images, and those are raster and vector. The main difference is that while raster images will have the quality distorted when being blown out, vector images will retain 100% of their sharpness at any resolution. That being said, there is still some hope. When I was making pixel art in Photoshop, I actually wasn't working with vector images. I made the sprites at an extremely low resolution, and then increased the resolution by setting the resampling to "Nearest Neighbor (Hard Edges)." I saved the original low resolution image as a reference, and was able to increase the size of the sprite to any resolution using this method.

Still, I'd recommend using vector art over this.

7 years ago

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Martinsx1

Martinsx1

You have explained this more than I can ever do, and I'm quite sure that it's going to be very understandable for any reading it. Raster images will have the quality reduced and blurred when being blown out, but vector images will retain 100% of their sharpness at any resolution, so therefore it's very important to stick with vector images.

7 years ago

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DenisP

DenisP

I appreciate the compliment! But yes, that's the exact reason why many--if not all--professional graphic designers work in Adobe Illustrator as opposed to Photoshop. When working with clients, you never know what sort of changes they're going to want. Perhaps they stated they wanted an image in 1280x720 resolution, but then decide that they want it at 1920x1080. If you were working with a raster image, you now have to start everything all over again because the quality is going to be distorted. With a vector image, you literally just scale it up and done. It's important to work with vector images as often as possible.

7 years ago

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Martinsx1

Martinsx1

This is so very true. I read one recently review not long about how good Adobe Illustrator is when compared to Photoshop, the graphic designer made a vehement statement that it offers more when being used to work. Photoshop sometimes is hard to understand and use for some work and if you aren't versed well in its usage, you will find it very hard to get the best out of it.

7 years ago

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fishmonk

fishmonk

Like the comments above, using a vector Image is better so you can resize images to any size without any loss in quality. This makes them ideal for company logos or other objects that have to be re sized frequently.

We can convert your logo from a bitmap or raster image to a high quality vector graphic using Photoshop. You may export as .svg, .eps, or ai formats.

7 years ago

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Barida

Barida

Great explanation and one that I would definitely look forward to using in the future. I never knew that vector image can perform such an amazing work.

7 years ago

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Martinsx1

Martinsx1

When you look at getting the same image quality when you resize your pictures, it's only by the use of vector images. The software offers you a residual that would enable you have the same image quality in different sizes of the same image in other proportions. Site members appreciates it when the images used on the site is of high quality even when the image size has been reduced drastically.

7 years ago

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Authord

Authord

I don't it's really possible without distortion, that's vector images are recommended in these types of work.
But you try this method, because the solution is to compensate for each enlarged pixel, so that it matches the properties of its nearest pixel. This method is called
Fractal Interpolation or simply Fractals. It produces a much better
result when an image is enlarged using this technique.
But you have pay a few bucks, before you can use the Perfect Resize software, it's a software that allows you to resize your images smartly. It is available as a standalone software as well as a plugin for Adobe
Photoshop.
The regular version costs $50 and the premium version which contains
plugin for Adobe photoshop costs $150. Both versions are also available
for a free 30 day trial. If you resize images on a regular basis, then
we recommend you to go for Perfect Resize. It is expensive, but it is
the best way to enlarge images

7 years ago

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Baburra

Baburra

My recommendation would be to translate the image into a vector version first before resizing. This way, the sprite that is being resized will remain the same no matter how large or small you scale it up or down, whereas keeping it as an image will definitely distort it even with the slightest adjustment. I would recommend checking out tutorials on vectors or in terms of software, using something like Adobe Illustrator as opposed to Adobe Photoshop. The transition is not that difficult if you already know how to use one of these.

7 years ago

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Barida

Barida

I've had difficulty using Adobe Photoshop for my picture upgrade and all that. Would be happy to learn how I can get information about it too.

7 years ago

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