Can Spine also be effectively used for creating pixel art animations?

DDominokorean · 7 天前

I'm an indie artist who primarily uses pixel art and 3D.
Initially, I used a program called Pixel Composer to create simple animations. Recently, I tried several times to animate humanoid characters using the Armature (bone-based animation) feature in Pixel Composer. However, this feature only allows moving joints between separate images. In other words, it's impossible to bend or deform images using bones. Moreover, being developed by a single person using GameMaker Studio, Pixel Composer has many limitations, such as optimization issues and numerous bugs.

Therefore, I'm considering purchasing and learning Spine for pixel art bone-rigging animations. However, it's challenging to find examples of pixel art animations created using Spine. Recently, I learned through this post
https://ko.esotericsoftware.com/forum/d/10230-gif-export-of-quotpixel-artquot-animations-not-pixel-perfect/5
that Spine has a pixel art rendering feature. Still, I'm hesitant due to the lack of information available.

Would Spine be suitable for creating pixel art animations with low frame rates and low resolutions?

Spinebot · 7 天前

Yes, Spine can be effectively used for creating pixel art animations. Spine offers features that are well-suited for pixel art, such as the "Pixel grid" setting, which helps maintain the pixelated look by preventing pixel rotation during animation. This feature is particularly useful for maintaining the integrity of pixel art when using bone-based animations. Additionally, Spine allows for smooth interpolation at the pixel level, which can be adjusted to suit the retro aesthetic often desired in pixel art. There are examples of successful pixel art projects using Spine, such as "Dan The Man" and "Axiom Verge 2," which demonstrate its capability in this area. While there may be fewer examples compared to other styles, the tools and settings provided by Spine make it a strong choice for pixel art animations.

Nate · 7 天前

See:
https://esotericsoftware.com/forum/d/7532-using-spine-with-pixelart-in-dan-the-man
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/axiom-verge-2

Yep, give it a try in the trial. You can enable pixel grid:
https://esotericsoftware.com/spine-settings#Pixel-grid
There are a few other settings that are helpful for working with pixel art, like smoothing 0.

There's a button on the main toolbar that keeps region attachments on whole number coordinates:
http://n4te.com/x/1678-5wB3.png

There is a hotkey Highlight Pixels that highlights attachment image pixels that don't match 1:1 with screen pixels at 100% zoom.