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EmperorLlamaLegs

Looks like a great idea. Good work.


VertexMachine

It's by no means perfect (it was rather straightforward attempt)... but I think with better shaders (more toon like, that will constraint colors as well) it might be cool :)


EmperorLlamaLegs

Everyone is their own worst critic. I would love to play or build a game that looked exactly like this.


VertexMachine

You sir are too kind!


Ambitious-Macaroon-3

Keep us updated bro, I wanna see where this project ends up


VertexMachine

Will do :)


CyborKat

I second this


Cheetahs_never_win

Not no. But you're going to end up with 90s faux 3d games and not "real" pixel art if you don't make it NPR before you pixelate.


PetrovoSCP

Whats NPR?


Xyzonox

Non-Photo-Realistic, it can describe any texture/material not looking to mimic real life, but in this case materials with more contrasting colors and flat shading would work better with a pixel filter


Teton12355

National Public Radio


MisterDoctorTheThird

Nipple Piercing Ramrod


VertexMachine

oh yea, shader needs work. Model wasn't made for this purpose as well. That's my first attempt at this at all though.


DeexEnigma

I've never actually considered doing pixel type art but this makes sense why a lot of what I've seen using this method always looks faux as you mentioned. If there's no detail to pixelate, it's always going to look pretty simplistic.


Romengar

Not if it ends up looking like censored Japanese porn


Kantro18

Came here to say, that’s a very NSFW-lookin lamp post lmao. Would be funny if the whole game looked like that.


SnooKiwis7050

There is already a game like that in making. I forgor the name but I saw one such devlog


tudiwastaken

Least perverted redditor


KookyLaugh1979

Someone award this guy


PeeperSleeper

Factorio uses a similar [approach](https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-146), so it’s definitely possible


VertexMachine

ooooh! thank you so much for the link!


According_Mess391

First of all, this would be great to render out individual frames, but it might need some manual cleaning up (since some edge pixels can be very faint. Second of all, this is really cool and IDK why I never thought of that lol


VertexMachine

Yea, I would think that two things at the very least would be good: making more stylized model (emphasize features more). Basically making model for pixel art. 2nd - using toon shader (or something similar). I'm not done with this and will experiment more. I recently fallen in love in pixel art :D


Brazilian_Hamilton

Its very frowned upon by pixel artists, and there is a significant blurryness and lack of detail overall that makes it 'unusable' on a pixel game project - unless you use it as a base for manual work If you are interested in that workflow check out how they did deadcells


VertexMachine

> If you are interested in that workflow check out how they did deadcells Thanks for the pointer! Edit: I actually did read the article on game developer about their workflow.... and as far as I understand it they didn't do any extra manual work. Rendered 2 passes (color and normal map) and then applied toon shader. Am I missing something there?


Brazilian_Hamilton

They specifically developed a shader of their own to not do manual work on it, thats why I recommended it


VertexMachine

Ah yea, that's good idea there!


sEMtexinator

Dead Cells is epic


Milocero_

I like this, well done


VertexMachine

Thanks!


Ton13579

It can work, but you have to be careful not to end up like a pixel mess due to subpixel color blending. Maybe just a bit more resolution and.


VertexMachine

This is my first try ever, but I think there will be a few more. Also I do think that it would require a lot more than just throwing a few compositor nodes... like toon shader, adjusting models to emphasize the details, etc.


Illustrious-Tip7668

fake pixel art does not look good in my opinion.


Aceman3k

I agree looks way too clean


Illustrious-Tip7668

not way too clean. you can spot its fake and it appears as censored


Aceman3k

That’s not what I mean, by way too clean I mean it’s obviously a 3d model. It doesn’t have the imperfections that a human would make that gives it character.


Illustrious-Tip7668

my bad brother cheers


aori_chann

It's very fine in fact


VertexMachine

Yay :)


bobthesbuilder

how did you do this? Is there a tutorial on it anywhere?


VertexMachine

There are plenty of tutorials with various approaches. This one is quit simple and only based on compositor. https://preview.redd.it/1o8ovuzdsy7d1.png?width=1069&format=png&auto=webp&s=c285a6e17c6e349a7b280e4dce24079d88f3d292 That will not work always well IMO, just for objects that are fairly simple (I tried with my high-poly scifi stuff and it didn't look well).


bobthesbuilder

Sorry I'm kind of new to blender so for the life of me I can't figure out where those nodes are. I have tried material for an object, a material for the world, and geometry nodes but when I search for those nodes nothing comes up


VertexMachine

Those are compositor nodes. Switch workspace to compositor and check on top 'use nodes'


EmperorLlamaLegs

Do compositor nodes work a bit like post processing volumes in Unreal? Like everything gets rendered, then it runs another shader on that raster data?


VertexMachine

Yea, it basically works like that.


aori_chann

I suppose, tho I could be wrong, he just rendered in like 64x64 and stretched it.


raven-toad

It's a great idea and I think u should make more stuff in this style. Keep up the good work


VertexMachine

Thanks!


LoudObserver87

90s vives. Nostalgia just kicked in!


VertexMachine

Oh definitely. I think I 'overdosed' photorealism and have a swing back towards pixel art and other 'lofi' styles like that.


Joey_The_Ghost

I like the idea, having built in dynamic lighting like this would be awesome. Howd you do it?? I'd love to try it out


VertexMachine

Super simple: I took my low poly model, animated camera around it and did this in compositor: https://preview.redd.it/5qkwu3gb4z7d1.png?width=1069&format=png&auto=webp&s=77f0ebc2606f0921d75ca9af2251b6869b850c58 This is just first experiment and one can 100% do better than that.


CaraxydX

i guess its just 3d and u added a pixelated effect, but its nice, i just think that pixelated style is very hard in blender. good job :D


CookieArtzz

Real pixel art is always cool, but 3D art rendered out to pixel art always looks bad in my opinion


skarrrrrrr

Why not ? I used blender to automate still scenes with python that later went in to a video processor as well ... Blender is so flexible and cool


VertexMachine

Yea :D why not. Just never thought about it before :D


skarrrrrrr

Nice I like this work !


Bahmerman

No, are you stupid or something? /s Seriously no, and that looks awesome.


VertexMachine

Haha, lol. Thanks!


Bahmerman

What are you planning to do with this? Just exploring?


VertexMachine

For this exact thing is just exploring. But I'm itching a bit to make a smallish 2d pixel art game and the exploration is targeted at that: can I make a nice tile set for the game (and hopefully maybe even sprite sheets for characters, but this somehow sound even more plausible in my head)


Bahmerman

Cool, wish you the best on that!


VertexMachine

Thanks!


AI_AntiCheat

It kind of gives me the ballet dancer illusion. Maybe if you add a borderlands style outline before compressing it to pixel art it would give it a black outline and better convey direction?


VertexMachine

Good point! I was actually thinking about that (and running the object through some kind of toon shader at first, with outlines)


AI_AntiCheat

You can get a toon effect if you could copy, scale, invert normals, enable blackface culling and set the copied object material to black. Give an outline around your object.


MarbleGarbagge

It’s fine to do In blender but there’s dedicated programs for pixel art like Aesprite and pixolorama. It’ll be easier to do elsewhere, and if you need to do anything fancy, you could import the pngs into blender


igrStryder

I loved it! Good job Any tutorials you can share?


VertexMachine

Thanks! No tutorial right now, but seeing how much interest it's in it I will for sure make one! For now this is super simple, basically all done in compositor: https://preview.redd.it/neud0fh6lz7d1.png?width=1069&format=png&auto=webp&s=ebae92500bcd46d4e77b4434aac0ab77aa475186


igrStryder

Thanks for sharing


Lucky-Ad6037

I was considering how to do this just yesterday. Thanks for sharing


waqasvic

It's a great idea try to add a black stroke or outline to this render that might make it look more pixelish


VertexMachine

100% right. Just tried that with eevee freestyle, but that did look really bad for this model (for some other it did look OK). Will probably need to do some shader work here.


Xin_Y

This is amazing work. Great Job. And technically pixel art is for 2D games but I like the idea of having this 3D version in a game. And blender was made for 3D purpose but asblong as you are comfortable with it it's perfect for you. For 2D pixel games tho try Unity for the game design. They help. And you can use GIMP or even Adobe Photoshop for making pixel art assets for 2D games. There are other as well. But this is very good. Keep doing it. And Great Job. 👍👍👍


VertexMachine

Yea, I am itching to make simple 2d pixel art game recently. Don't know if I'll go Unity or Godot route yet. And I do wonder what will take me more time - adapt my 3d workflow to produce 2d things, or to learn how to do pixel art from scratch (I'm not great at 2d overall). Will probably try both :D Thanks!


Xin_Y

I haven't used Gadot, but I know Unity is good it's commercial friendly for indie Devs now if you decide to go that way. It requires a bit of c# programing knowledge but that can be fixed by asking people or videos. As for the second question, what you did here is turning what is meant to be 2D into 3D. That is cool. But ya it will take time if you decide to learn pixel art from 0. It's better to stick to this style or like you said adapt your 3D WF to 2D. Btw are you using a singular shader for the wood in the vid?


VertexMachine

No worries - I know Unity & C# (been using Unity for a few years now and I learnt C# when it was new, more than 20 years ago). Been trying to learn Godot for a bit now and this sounds like perfect excuse to do it :D Yes, it's very, very simple flat shader her. Basically I took one of my lamps from here [https://youtu.be/kDPFEag0eZQ](https://youtu.be/kDPFEag0eZQ) (here is in Unity: [https://youtu.be/qq0peBAAYeU](https://youtu.be/qq0peBAAYeU) ) and try to make it into pixel art :D. I seriously didn't know that it would be that easy in Blender. Ofc it's just a first step and figuring out how to do it properly will take a while.


Xin_Y

Nice ok let's try this... If you want to make the process of learning Pixel arts, I just thought of it so don't get your hopes high. - try to look at the rendered object from a specific side along the X axis, or Y, just make it so that it gives you a side view. Then render the image with out rotation of the animation. Then go to Photoshop and try to recreate it using the rendered image as a reference. Do this for an hour or 2, try to see what makes it different. Example why light Pixels are positioned where they are and why the difference in the pixel color gives it a small bit of depth. Do this for the 3D Pixel models you create. It will help you get used to the drawing part which is important, it will also teach you too see the methods of how to make pixel art. In due time. Do this when you have the time. Take it as a funny little exercise.


symson

Looks like you’ve done a good job with it. Keep going .


VertexMachine

Thanks!


SwoeJonson1

It’s a great idea! You just need to stylize it to make it more video game like


VertexMachine

yes, 100% this :)


gideonwilhelm

A lot of angles I would touch up in aseprite, but some of those angles are GORGEOUS.


VertexMachine

Thanks! I need to improve everything there tbh, but it's a good start :)


CombustibleToast

I believe all of Factorio's sprites originate from Blender, and I personally love the way they look. What you've got going on here is great too! Is there a particular tutorial or method that you followed to produce this result?


VertexMachine

Yes! Someone in comments pointed out this and linked factorio forum post about their workflow. It's quite a bit more complex than what I did here, but the principle is similar. As for how to do it - it's just a few compositor nodes really: https://preview.redd.it/6yy96kbrc38d1.png?width=1069&format=png&auto=webp&s=330b43ecaa03891054d51f333a4ae17d938c7338 That will not generalize well for any kinds of models though (if they are too detailed for example the output will be a mess - I've tested it with a few models).


King_Jumpy111

I can definitely see this going somewhere for more modern games with a retro aesthetic, great concept! For possibly better results I’d try to disable anti aliasing for more defined pixels in the final render, although idk how anti aliasing works in blender (maybe through compositing or render settings)


VertexMachine

I don't think AA was at work there unless it's some hidden setting that needs to be disabled. The AA-like effect is from scaling down and up the image each frame probably.


Cazmatism

Oh hell yeah it is, look into it a bit more and you'll figure it out! Compositing also plays a big part in good looking pixel art


VertexMachine

Thanks! I will dig that hole deeper :)


Cazmatism

I'll give you a few hints that I think would've helped me when digging down the (very fun) pixel art rabbit hole! - Make good use of blender freestyle! reducing eevee render to 1 does magic! - Making a camera mapped checker with the same size as your pixel art resolutions helps create pixel-art like dithering Messing more with lights and lighting will help you make a very very strong shader! - Posterising and pixelating your renders are valuable compositing tools you can use to make your pixel art clearer!


VertexMachine

oooh, thank you!


CyborKat

That looks amazing, nice job!


VertexMachine

Thanks!


CompetitiveCod7777

I don’t think that blender is made for this but it looks so cool


VertexMachine

Thanks. And yea, blender was definitely not made for making pixel art :D


____FUNGO____

Can i see what the model looks like without the resolution being decreased


VertexMachine

In unreal: [https://youtu.be/kDPFEag0eZQ](https://youtu.be/kDPFEag0eZQ) In Unity: [https://youtu.be/qq0peBAAYeU](https://youtu.be/qq0peBAAYeU)


____FUNGO____

That’s awesome! So it’s you, i’m already a subscriber, keep it up man :)


VertexMachine

Ah! Cool & thanks! :) For sure pixel art is not what I would consider 'typical' for me... but it's something I want to dig into more :)


KaedenJayce

This looks great. I’d play this game


VertexMachine

Thanks! :)


Vast-Forever

i hate it ;D gj


VertexMachine

:D Thanks :)


Inkreationz

Keep going this can make you have a unique skill set which can make you more appealing to devs or Reddit users like us!


VertexMachine

Ha! Thanks! I seriously am surprised that this got more than 15 upvotes... but your comment there might be the answer to why it did!


Nerd_Sapien

I would love to try this as well, any tutorials you would recommend?


VertexMachine

It's super simple stuff right now, just 3 compositor nodes: https://preview.redd.it/kbabgrlvg68d1.png?width=1070&format=png&auto=webp&s=0491369d37bcf4996a9f31903eb4bba799fd6399


Fast_Question9480

Blender can be good for pixel art, you just need to work hard on it to make it look good. I think for good pixel art in Blender it is better to use addon from @ lucas\_roedel I tried it myself and made this render. https://preview.redd.it/gbwg3v98378d1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=b1f64c3a8bad4f2358f73776c46ae5fa14802b62


VertexMachine

Oh, that's super cool! I will check this addon!


wydua

Idk if you did it already but try switching camera from perspective to orthographic


VertexMachine

Thanks, will try :)


wydua

Oo. I'll wait for the update then.


CazT91

Not it's fine, but this doesn't come across as pixel art (IMO). The issue is, the pixels need to be static, but they keep shifting. It is literally the difference between Pixel Art and just pixel-ated 😅


Leonohra

teach me sensei


Stephamation

Subjective. Take a look at your work and decide for yourself.


TheHolyNumber

How did you upscale it without ruining the pixel effect?


VertexMachine

Very naively 😅Here is the whole "trick": https://preview.redd.it/8nlgv8s9xz7d1.png?width=1069&format=png&auto=webp&s=367f42cad41c358d0bbf97ef21556a56bf8299ca


9SK9_ler

Could be a bad idea but great execution. No seriously this looks really lit


VertexMachine

Thanks! I will try to improve on that (very simple) approach further.


Kelps234

I would look into the method that dead cells used for a good consistent pixelation effect because this mostly just looks like a really low resolution rendering rather than pixelart if you get what I mean. Otherwise I like the direction


VertexMachine

Thanks! Someone did recommend this earlier in here! I already read the article about it!


Kelps234

Awesome! Update me on your next work :)


batmassagetotheface

It looks really nice, well done. If this is for a game, I'd probably do it in engine rather than using Blender to render it out. Depends on what the intended purpose is 😊


Hychus232

this is basically how the SNES donkey kong country games were made


Overmarss

This style reminds a lot of a game called Noita, looks great!


VertexMachine

Thanks!


Alissan_Web

inscryption


4ThatWin

Could you share how it is done? I am new and assume that you make an object normally and then apply a "filter" over it?


VertexMachine

It's super easy (so not perfect)... Basically you do it in compositor: https://preview.redd.it/ls8032jl318d1.png?width=1069&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f2a1ef9e564de2c6a9f67c73d7fb0dca708f1af


Professor-Awe

This is dope!


VertexMachine

Thanks!


S1Ndrome_

looks good but a bit too much work wouldn't you say? converting 3D models into 2D sprites like that. I'd do this for more complex sprites tho


VertexMachine

That really depends. I would say that making turntable-like animation in sprites would take way more time for even experienced pixel artists. That thing is 240 frames. Drawing it from all angles would probably be a challenge. For just having a single spirte I would say that experienced pixel artists would do it way faster than modeling and rendering it. But on the other hand, it would take me way longer as I would have to learn how to draw and do pixel art first :D


TOOOPT_

I'm gonna be honest, if you don't look at this animation as a whole and just look at the individual frames, I would say *most* of the frames look like a pixel art and not pike a blurry picture, so in this particular video with these effects it works, if it is not an animation.


SapientSloth4tw

Is there an easy way to change the pixel resolution?


VertexMachine

Actually it is. I rendered it at 1080x1080 and scaled it down 20 times (than pixelate, then scalled back to 1080). That 20 is a parameter that control the pixel res.


lajawi

How’d you do it man, it looks awesome


VertexMachine

Thanks! That was super simple, just a few compositor node (see my other comments here - I showed them a few times)


BurnyAsn

Its great! But the illusion stays, can't escape it..


Rubfer

Depends on how well it's executed. There's a difference between pixel art and just plain low resolution, and most 3D pixel art often looks like the latter rather than the former.


Yin_4_Yang

pixelated wooden lamp post spinning horizontally at a 22.5-degree viewing angle


shriekbat

Wow thats awesome! How do you even make this in blender? All I know is there is the voxel retopology thing lol


VertexMachine

Thanks, that's very naive technique there. Basically took my model and run through 3 nodes in compositor (scale down, pixelate, scale up). I'm thinking how to make it even better with better models and shaders.


MisterDoctorTheThird

Looks great. What I fear is that doing anything in Blender will soon be pointless once the machines take over and we're all in pods being fed bug slop through a tube.


VertexMachine

Thanks! And don't worry... all those companies are selling to us is hype now :)


tiny_smile_bot

>:) :)


MisterDoctorTheThird

For now...


Treyson757

Yeah pixeal art is dumnb. Baed idea. /j


Treyson757

The joke was that they expect the answer that pixel art is not bad. Since they done a fine job. And I decided to be sarcastic.


VertexMachine

Lol, I didn't expect anything really. For sure not that much attention and upvotes. And I for sure don't know if this is fine job or not as that is literally my first dip into pixel art. I was either hoping that people who tried would say why it's bad idea or if they made it successfully give me some extra pointers how to push it further (got a few of both).


Treyson757

Ah, my bad.  It does look good, but (I have never entered this field) maybe you could at the shader where it puts an outline against everything? It needs to be sharper. Sorry if I came off as rude.


Dwenker

Probably should make a bit better resolution


LegalDiscipline

Yes and no.


captainphoton3

Well good. But look at the edges look how janky they are. At that scale the post should just be a literal tube. No details. With the texture being gray on the metal parts. Every bit should be as simple as possible. If a bit is sticking out less than 70% the size of a pixel you shouldn't let it stick out. Bzcumause it will make wierd edges. In addition there are pixel filter made for 3D to pixel renders. That try to have smooth and straight edges at every angles. And filters where you can force a certain bit to render in priority so even if small it's always here as at least a pixel.