Help with sprites sizes

[Taven]

How do the sprite artists here resize images for use as sprites? Whenever I draw an image then resize to 64x64 for Doms 3, it comes out extremely pixelated.

Do you guys draw them at 64x64 to begin with, or is there some kind of trick to keep the picture clean? I've tried my original drawing and pics i've gotten online, and no matter what i do it always come out looking terrible. Any help is much appriciated.

[Amos]

If I resize original image it takes a lot of work to clean it up and make it look like I want it too. And many times even after a lot of work I dont get what I want and throw the image out. The best way, if you create your sprites from nothing, is too draw them in dimensions you want them to be at the end. But if you need to resize a large image, you should clean it while it is large, then make the surrounding field pure black. That makes it easier too clean it after resize.

[Agrajag]

Amos is right, but just one extra little tip, try to clip the original image until it is a size that is a multiple of 2^x of the required width and height, which usually makes it resize better.
So if you have a 600*500 image you want to turn into 64x64, first clip it to 512*512 if possible and then resize to 64*64

[zepath]

I draw my sprites in their "product" resolution and usually take it pixel by pixel. I use Paint Shop Pro X which has plenty of features and which I'm very comfortably with having used that series for years. Sometimes I see fantasy art that inspires a particular unit, but instead of trying to resize that and turn it into a .tga for the game, I simply look at the picture while drawing the unit in another window. If you must resize, as Amos says, clean things up beforehand and it will be easier once the image is shrunk. Also, don't get discouraged if it looks like poop. If it looks even remotely like you intended, stick with it, tweak it, and turn it into the kind of image you really want. I've noticed that with human-sized sprites being 31-32 pixels in height (in conformity with the "norm" found in Dominions), changing a single pixel or even the shading of a single pixel can have a significant impact on the way the unit looks in the game and on the battlefield.

[HoneyBadger]

What I do is physically draw an image with pen and paper, getting the best ratio of size (the smaller the better) to detail as possible-like Zepath says, resizing images that aren't intended to be used in a game is usually a bad idea, better to take inspiration where you find it and do it over, yourself. It'll take time to get a "feel" for doing graphic art that'll work in a game, and their's a lot of method to learn, but incredible things can be done, using simple tools-this again is an area where Dom3 shines. I love the art because it's not impossible to reproduce for anyone, but it still looks good, and thematic. Then I cut it out of the surrounding paper and scan it in, adjusting to the size I want. Paint Shop Pro is a good series, but I've used the free (atleast I think it's still free, if so you can probably find it on Google, it's like a much more handy version of the Paint program on your computer) ImageForge before. For more involved processes, it's sometimes a lot easier to take an image you already have in hardcopy and "graphics" it up with the tools a computer can provide. That said, does anyone know of some good companies that still make lightpens and lightpen-driver software? I'm sure they're out there, somewhere. I've done good art, pixel by pixel, but I don't have much patience for it. I prefer freehand, but ofcourse that's almost impossible with a mouse. If you can find a good lightpen and lightpen software to go with it, hold on to it with both hands. Better yet, I'll hold it for you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[PvK]

Are lightpens better than touch-sensitive pens and pads?