Photoshop

retrothunder

New member
Hello Everybody,

I wanted to ask a question, I've never used photoshop, but I was thinking of using it (photoshop) to make graphic assets. Now If I end up using it (photoshop) would it allow me to use CHR file to use on NESMaker?? Thank you all for your time :?:
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
If you never used photoshop, I will not recommand you to use it for your graphic assets.
Use paint.NET instead, it’s free and have all the functions you would need.

And to reply directly to your question, no. Photoshop (like every other editor) make images files: png, bmp,...
Then you need to use something like shiru nes screen tool, to generate your CHR file (+nam).
 

Gazimaluke

Member
I draw most of my pixelart in an app on my phone or in the pixel editor in NESmaker. Photoshop is pretty easy to use for pixel art and you can set up grids to show 8x8 and 16x16 areas. And just save as BMP file and load it in the pixel editor and then save it to the graphics folder.

But if your already by the computer why use Photoshop instead of the pixel editor?
 

Mihoshi20

Member
I use photoshop but only because I have photoshop and have used it a lot over many years but it's by far not the best and I would strong urge one to seek alternatives as I've also been doing that. The problem with photoshop is in it's name photo shop. It's not designed for pixel editing and it's very difficult to rig it into doing photo editing and also pixel editing with the same setup. The problem comes with the fact that photoshop hates hard edges of pixel. It always wants to 'feather' or blurr them. It's also not the best at resizing pixels either for the same reason. Even using 'nearest neighbor' it tends to distort pixels making them of varying sizes unless the image is exactly 1:1 and even then it's a gamble.

Long time ago. I'm talking Win98/early WinXP era I used a program called Paintshop Pro which was way better at handling pixels but I haven't used it since then so i can't recommend it these days either.
 

opt2not

New member
One thing going for photoshop is that you can find A LOT of tutorial videos for it’s basic usage, and how to make pixel art.
So it’s not that bad to learn since there are lots of resources to refer to.
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
Yeah like every software, you can learn... but it needs to have Photoshop.
If someone already have it, I agree, why not using it ;(
 
if you already have photoshop, it works perfectly fine.

if you're looking to just make stuff for nesmaker, there's plenty of easier options.
pyxel edit is great for tiles, and mockups. aesprite is great for sprites and animation.
i think both combined cost somewhere around 15 - 20 bucks.

paint works, gimp works, etc.

i'd say just watch some youtube videos and find the workflow that appears to work best for you.
 

tornotlukin

Member
Photoshop is a great tool that can do much of any digital artwork ever needed. It will serve well for anyone that already use it. I think what is more important it knowing what is needed for NES sprite drawing. There are some awesome posts that explain a lot of what goes on.

Some things that are helpful for "pixelated" artwork. (For those who are still a little new to PS)

72dpi, no need for anything larger

RGB color space when creating new documents. One could also creat a custom palette limited to the NES colors.

Nearest Neighbor when resizing and transforming

Pencil tool for detail

Aliased selections (uncheck the anti-aliased box)

The animation palette to check on character movement

And the previously mentioned grids and guides for multiples of 8.

Am i missing any other suggestions?
 

cargo

spam bots yandex
Mihoshi20 said:
I use photoshop but only because I have photoshop and have used it a lot over many years but it's by far not the best and I would strong urge one to seek alternatives as I've also been doing that. The problem with photoshop is in it's name photo shop. It's not designed for pixel editing and it's very difficult to rig it into doing photo editing and also pixel editing with the same setup. The problem comes with the fact that photoshop hates hard edges of pixel. It always wants to 'feather' or blurr them. It's also not the best at resizing pixels either for the same reason. Even using 'nearest neighbor' it tends to distort pixels making them of varying sizes unless the image is exactly 1:1 and even then it's a gamble.

Long time ago. I'm talking Win98/early WinXP era I used a program called Paintshop Pro which was way better at handling pixels but I haven't used it since then so i can't recommend it these days either.
For what it's worth I am long time Corel Paint Shop Pro user and it's excellent for this type of use. You can easily turn off anti-aliasing and feathering by clicking on a checkbox on PSP's toolbar. It has features like pixel resize, color replacer tool, layers (just like Photoshop), create mockups using screen grabs from your emulator, use 8-bit text fonts, create custom color palettes, have a separate overview window, etc. It's also very affordable (no subscription based licensing like adobe uses). Worth checking out.
 

Mihoshi20

Member
cargo said:
Mihoshi20 said:
I use photoshop but only because I have photoshop and have used it a lot over many years but it's by far not the best and I would strong urge one to seek alternatives as I've also been doing that. The problem with photoshop is in it's name photo shop. It's not designed for pixel editing and it's very difficult to rig it into doing photo editing and also pixel editing with the same setup. The problem comes with the fact that photoshop hates hard edges of pixel. It always wants to 'feather' or blurr them. It's also not the best at resizing pixels either for the same reason. Even using 'nearest neighbor' it tends to distort pixels making them of varying sizes unless the image is exactly 1:1 and even then it's a gamble.

Long time ago. I'm talking Win98/early WinXP era I used a program called Paintshop Pro which was way better at handling pixels but I haven't used it since then so i can't recommend it these days either.
For what it's worth I am long time Corel Paint Shop Pro user and it's excellent for this type of use. You can easily turn off anti-aliasing and feathering by clicking on a checkbox on PSP's toolbar. It has features like pixel resize, color replacer tool, layers (just like Photoshop), create mockups using screen grabs from your emulator, use 8-bit text fonts, create custom color palettes, have a separate overview window, etc. It's also very affordable (no subscription based licensing like adobe uses). Worth checking out.

I'm very happy to hear it still has this functionality as I hadn't used it since Paintshop Pro 6 when it was still owned by Jasc before Corel picked it up so I had no idea what the state of the program was these days. I need to check it out now.
 
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