Pixel Char Maker

Instructions:

1. If there are layers in the layer list but no image is showing in the preview, press the preview Refresh button.
2. Click on a folder button to show its assets.
3. Click on an asset image to select it (you will see a black border around the selected one).
4. Click on the button next to the layer list. This will add a new layer at the top of the list with the selected asset (sometimes it also adds a layer at the bottom, in case the assets has a "back" image, and the name of this additional layer starts with 'b').
5. You can delete and reorder layers freely, and also duplicate layers with the button next to the layer list.
6. You can also replace the asset of a layer (note: if a layer is a "back" type, it will always load the back image, you can't change this).
7. Choose the colorable part of the asset (the selector with Part 1, Part 2, etc). Each part has an independent color. The number of parts depends on the selected layer.
8. Click on the color squares to select a palette. Each palette was a fixed number of tones, and the tones are swapped when you select a palette.
9. Use the RGB sliders to adjust the color of the selected part, if needed (you can use that to make it darker).
10. Move each layer around by changing the offset. Check the All layers box to affect all layers.
11. The Flip cells button flips horizontally each individual cell of the selected layer. Check the All layers box to flip all layers.
12. Increase the space between sprites by changing the horizontal and vertical spacing. Check the All layers box to affect all layers.
13. Click on a specific cell in the preview to hide/show it. It only affects the selected layer. The Show all and Hide all buttons are there as a shortcut for this.
14. Increase/decrease animation preview speed with the buttons next to the Refresh button.
15. When done, simply save the preview image or press the Download PNG button. Press the Refresh button before that just to make sure.

For IT people, see more at the project's repository.

Creating Templates:

If you want to make your own template, I recommend you to download and unzip the project's lattest version from the repository, then copy the "templates/lth" folder and start from there by modifying the "settings.json" file and adding new assets.
Templates for sprites are configurable with the following attributes:

• rows: how many rows are in the spritesheet (4 if you are using templates from RPG Maker VX or newer);
• cols: how many columns are in the spritesheet (3 if you are using templates from RPG Maker VX or newer);
• width: total width of the template image;
• height: total height of the template image;
• paletteFile: name of the PNG file with the tones for each palette (do not include '.png' in the name). The file is mandatory, but if you do not want to use the palette system, just put a single-pixel image there;
• folders: list of categories for layers. For each folder we have the following attributes:
  • name: name of the folder. Only used to display;
  • assets: list of PNG files in this folder (do not include '.png' in the name). If it ends with '_back', then this assets has to layers, one for the front and one for the back. In this case, the back image must have the same name as the front image except for '_back' in the end (ONLY include the name of the back image in the asset list in this case).

Once it's done, click on the 'Import template' button and selected ALL files in the template folder, including .png and .json files.

Limitations:

For templates:

• All assets (clothes, body, etc) must have the same size;
• All images (assets and palettes) must be in the same folder as the settings.json file;
• Sprites must be equally spaced.

For palettes:

• You can only swap palettes for a part of the layer image if these colors are included in the palette image ("palettes.png"). You can use an asset with a new color set that isn't in the palette image, but you cant swap its palette;
• All palettes must have the same number of tones (it is okay to repeat tones in the same palette to fill in the number, though);
• If an asset contains two colors (for example, a striped shirt) these two parts MUST have two different palettes in the image, otherwise they won't be interpreted as separated parts;
• Do not use two different palettes with a tone in common, otherwise the program won't me able to identify each palette does that tone belong to. If you need to, use almost-equal colors, but not the exact same.