About GIMP

[Aurawhisperer]

How hard is it to master? I've seen peoples work off of creating battler sprites and sharing them on here for the past year and a half, and if that is GIMP work, I never knew it can be that dynamic. Is it that easy to master or just designers that know what they're doing?


Reason I ask is because I may need to create some of my own battlers, and seeing I can't find the site I use to use for VX I'm out of options

 

[Kes]

This is not directly related to MV, so


I've moved this thread to Useful Development Tools. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.


In answer to your question, I use GIMP a lot.  In effect it does virtually everything that PhotoShop does and certainly everything that I need  If, however, you want to specialize in sprites, there are dedicated programs which you can use and which give e.g. animation previews.

 

[mogwai]

Apart from the psuedo layer, I find some parts of it are better than Photoshop. (the money for example) That being said the only thing I had to get used to was converting the psuedo layer to an actual layer. The bounding boxes are also kind of a pain, but they are actually kind of handy for animations. You can only edit one layer at a time which kinda sucks, but I've gotten used to the layers in Gimp. The parts that I find better than Photoshop, you can use + - / * () math operators in the number inputs, so to tile an RPG Maker sprite canvas size for instance 48 * 12 wide you don't have to use mental math. Also the selections can be dynamically resized after you draw them. The lasso tool does both lasso and straight select at the same time whether you hold or let go of the mouse. This is handy. There is more, but I can't think of it off the top of my head. Master Gimp and you never go back.

 

[Sharm]

I used Photoshop for the longest time, switched to GIMP because I'm not fond of how Adobe runs their business.  Once I modified a few key commands it didn't take me all that long to get used to.  I personally wouldn't use it to make battlers, but only because I'd prefer other art tools better.  GIMP is powerful enough.

 

[Reapergurl]

Straight up, GIMP rocks.


It may not be for the budding novice (try MSPaint), but for those who have a decent idea of what they intend to do and how to go about it, GIMP is perfect.


Honestly, Photoshop is MEGA overrated and far more expensive than what the software calls for; definitely inflated but that's how things are (Damned Greed!)


Personally, for certain things, I have to use an online image editor for bloating effects because GIMP doesn't really have this, and then Pyxel Edit (once I get used to it) is also good for some of the pixel art.


Oh, why would I need a bloating effect?


Well, if a battler eats one of my characters and isn't mega large, wouldn't it make sense to have a graphic with an enlarged abdomen?

 

[Andar]

It may not be for the budding novice (try MSPaint)

No, please not.


If you're looking for a simpler program there are other candidates, but MS Paint has a technical problem that makes it absolutely unusable for any real work with the Makers (or other game engines): It does not support transparency, automatically making all transparent PNG-backgrounds to white. That is deadly for sprites and upper tiles and most icons

 

[mlogan]

I also use Gimp for any sprite work I do. I started using it as a newbie to any art programs because it was free. I tried a trial of Photoshop and felt frustrated trying to learn it, being so used to Gimp. 

 

[Reapergurl]

@Andar I actually meant for novices in general. Those that are just above incompetent with computer mice. 


Ick, yeah I know about MSPaint's transparency bug (technically it IS programmed to handle and output transparency but some sort of bug that Microsoft will likely never fix causes it to force transparency loss - ugh)...Microsoft...jeeeeeeeeeezzzzz..... 


But for those of us who have a good idea on what we're doing with digital art and don't need AI MOMMY to hold our hand, I vote GIMP once, twice, ten times over and a cartridge full of dust more (an 8-bit gamers joke). 

 

[mlogan]

I dunno, I mean, I really knew nothing about digital art when I started using Gimp. I figured it out. But Andar is right, MSPaint should not be used for RM stuff, causes too many issues.

 

[Aurawhisperer]

I'll try and give it a shot then. All I've used it for is resizing the humanoid battle sprites to make it similar size to the actor SV battlers due to the fact their original size seemed a bit... off. I know games from FF1-4 didn't care about the size of sprites, but now days they're heavily adjusted when it comes to 2D gaming.

 

[mightYXu]

but only because I'd prefer other art tools better. 

Mind sharing which ones you prefer?


Personally I'm still learning GIMP, and use it to edit sprites. I still find it a bit cumbersome, but that's probably the uphill learning curve.


I would recommend however a few settings that makes it a bit easier.


1 - Single Window Mode


2 - Global Shortcuts

 

[Sharm]

I prefer Clip Studio Paint for non-pixel art battlers and Asesprite for pixel battlers.

 

[palinskyjoe]

I'm just echoing the sentiments of a lot of others here but I love GIMP. I use Photoshop primarily for photography and graphic design, but I haven't found something I like better than GIMP for pixel stuff. I am, however, still not completely aware of its total power after using it for half a year and I get excited about discovering each new aspect.