How Indie Games Texture EVERYTHING

[@Smeaf]

The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/smeaf02231

[@Smietsde]

No Credit Card lmao.

[@ThefamousMrcroissant]

This video was about 10 times longer than it needed to be.

[@water1705]

A notable example I'd like to mention is the first Doom game where they actually use clay model and real-world things to make the sprites.

[@DJL3G3ND]

yeah Im surprised he didnt mention that, thats what all the old fps games used to do, and some others like mortal kombat used actual actors for the sprites

[@CubesAndPortals]

The Titanfall games also work like this. They had a crazy talented kitbash guy putting together models of the pilots, titans, etc. before scanning those into the game. Really enjoyed watching him build the titans.

[@Goalatio]

Didn’t know that, very cool :) it’s really amazing how art can be done and how creative people can be to get what they envision.

[@afrancis7475]

The video starts at 5:02

[@uminoro0776]

You we're at my side all along My true mentor My guiding moonlight

[@memerboi7128]

You dropped this: 👑

[@SavonarolaLabs]

thank you bro

[@andreteixeira1106]

kinda clickbait, indie games don't texture EVERYTHING with this method, truth is that most games still uses the traditional method, can be more time consuming but you have more controll on what you are doing at pixel level.

[@composerjalen]

I'm pretty sure the title and thumbnail was just a way to take some traffic from people who thought they'd be watching a StylizedStation video

[@LikuidStudios]

@@composerjalen Who you are how did you know that, I am calling the police right now!

[@anonimowelwiatko9811]

You also don't learn "how to do pixel art" but how to use shaders and different techniques to imitate pixel art. It's not the same.

[@mapron1]

@@anonimowelwiatko9811and you don't really learn anything meaningful either.

[@Emery_Pallas]

Some other notes: Pseudo pixel art 3D like dead cells isn’t the most common, in fact Dead Cells is one of the few games I can think of that do this. Fully drawn pixel art is still the standard when it comes to pixel art indie games, with recent hit Pizza Tower being an example of such, though in a lot of cases other old techniques are used Oddly enough, dyanamic lighting in Katana Zero uses a much simpler method, using a few sets of monochrome highlight sheets for a character which are coloured when a light shows up. This is often used for assets that can have their colour altered, with my first time seeing this being the portals in the Mario fan game Mari0 Meanwhile undertale is hand drawn, but uses layers of individual segments to create its smooth battle animations. This method is particularly common in older games, with examples such as the Mecha Dragon from Mega Man 2 (where sprites make up moving parts of his sprite and all stationary parts are a static background which scrolls to make the illusion of it flying around), and most bosses in Super Metroid (with Ridley’s tale being an example of this at it’s finest). These save on resources immensely (since static elements of the animation don’t need to be animated with the rest of the sprite) but also allows for smoother motions that would be extremely costly if drawing every frame (again, see Ridley’s tail and how it’s pretty much just segmented circles). These are really fun techniques to work with and help speed up animating immensely

[@overdev1993]

7:00 those are not imposters, they are called 'billboards' imposters are also flat planes, in general you take a picture every X degrees of an object, put it into a texture sheet and the imposter changes the texture to the correct one depending on the angle you are looking at

[@maxmustermann3938]

A single billboard can still be an impostor, just not a very good one. What you are describing as impostors is still using the billboard technique, it just switches out the billboard. Billboard is just the concept of a flat plane, impostor is the concept of using simple geometry with textures to fake a higher detailed geometry. Impostors typically use billboards, but not every billboard is an impostor.

[@Brax_animation]

Smeaf’s KZbin videos cured my acne, saved my marriage and made me a better human being.

[@Smeaf]

A true blessing

[@VertiDOOM]

Same

[@BTM_notBTS]

Didnt save my father from cancer tho

[@FloopieWorld]

This dudes channel is litterally just random memes on random topics!

[@treymtz]

I feel like its worth noting Dead Cells absolutely still looks like it was made on top of a 3D image, and doesn't truly encapsulate that pixel art bite something like Celeste has. There's usually some hand made imperfection within pixel art that is either deliberate compromise or happenstance choice by a person.

[@alexhydron]

Video starts at 5:00 you're welcome :D

[@stickguy9109]

There's also a method by a KZbinr aarthifical. He uses traditional spritesheet animation but every pixel is a lookup for another texture. This you only have one character animation but it is infinitely customizable

[@hiiambarney4489]

Yeah but that game is so low resolution, for a pixel art professional it's probably faster to repixel every skin or apply some shader techniques for different colors. Like her leg is literally 1px wide. I can do a sprite sheet of that caliber in minutes, a complete edit after it's finished in seconds (using Aseprite). I don't mean to flex here or anything, just thinking, realistically, how much customization is needed to make a complex system like this worth it and is it even feasible to implement this on larger sprites? That remains to be shown. (Because that kind of system would be a BANG for Stardew Valley like games. I had a client that made me do this. It's the most repetitive boring work I've ever done...)

[@ducc9816]

Making sprites from 3D renders results in a cool style that has worked well for many games, but I feel that it would be misleading to suggest that they are a faster way of achieving the same result as more traditional pixel art workflows. In general, 3D renders being used instead of hand-drawn/plotted art will appear uncannily on-model and perspective-correct in motion. Consider the difference between asking an artist to perform a 3D projection and asking an algorithm to do so: the artist favors appeal and readability over technical accuracy. By my reckoning, the audience similarly disagrees with the naïve mathematical approach to making a cartoon person move around the screen, and would easily recognize 3D character animations as being "3D-ish". Now, the artist COULD manually add squash and stretch, smear frames, and Xrd-style hand-tweaked vertex normals to the animations, but at that point you risk losing a lot of the time savings of the 3D approach. Also, even if this additional work has been done, the differences in shape and motion between products of 2D versus 3D workflows will still exist to some extent. These differences mean that using 3D renders is a commitment to a particular set of styles that would appear jarring in Undertale, Shovel Knight, or Celeste - so you're just not going to get the same look at all.

[@twerdeffan1080]

thank you for actually saying this. dude shows Undertale at the start as if to imply they use this method lol. this title is a straight up lie

[@PaonSol]

Well, Dead Cells proves that it absolutely can be a much faster way to achieve really good looking pixel art. All that he does is take the key frames and add interpolation and VFX, and the whole process takes minutes as opposed to many times that even for a talented pixel artist in Aseprite.

[@roach9136]

The point isnt really to achieve the same look of handmade pixel art 1:1, just more convenient + a pixel shader would make it look better than the original 3D It is 100% way less tedious and time consuming than handmade pixel art

[@NihongoWakannai]

Sure there are styles in traditional pixel art that can't be replicated perfectly. But it's still a much faster way to achieve a similar style If they want to add a new axe to the game, all they have to do is make a low poly model for it and then boom they're done. No animation needed at all

[@ouchhurts]

make a 2d game then 2-3 years later you have all the assets to make the same game 3d risk of rain did this.

[@KaizenTutorials]

I love normal imposters! They’re such a neat trick. Great vid as always 😎💪🏻

[@Smeaf]

Thanks man!

[@seinfeld2495]

"This workflow is insane" -Guy who UV unwraps and rigs on a regular basis

[@ArticuloM]

Your videos are always so informative yet entertaining! Thank you so much for posting these. The node tree is super helpful too, keep up the great work dude!

[@Smeaf]

Thanks! They take a while to put together, but I really enjoy it 😅

[@Mikelica69]

Dude your editing is fucking great and hilarious, i love you dude ❤😂

[@Smeaf]

Hard work is paying off 💪

[@DeozWorld]

1:09 you don’t need to create those sprite sheet by hand! There’s some ways to export them automatically.

[@mykoladavydenko3578]

Half a video through, there was an add, but not how they did this animation. What a waste of time and lack of respect for a viewer. I watched on x1.5 and still frustrated.

[@zillaquazar]

Sothern Shotty made a great video on turning your 3d renders into 2d all in blender

[@BRblazegaming]

can someone tell me what the song at 6:10 is? I've been wondering for days now

[@TimtamYoutube]

as someone who only does pixel art for video games and mods I do find it tedious at times but its not very hard or annoying, I think it's fun

[@legometaworld2728]

The quirky Earthbound-inspired indie RPG about serious subject matter with a pixelated art style

[@Smeaf]

Yes

[@JuhoSprite]

Personally I think just learning how to do some basic pixelart is gonna give you a better result than trying to learn blender and convert them into pixelart, cuz its easier to learn pixelart than 3d. Also the two give some very different vibes, its not the exact same. But if you like it or wanted to have the same deadcells style anyway its fine of course I guess.

[@PutineluAlin]

The workflow differs you can also use more specialized tools that do a great job with the filters making it really hard to think it was a 3D model. This workflow is to save time on objects that should not take 4-5 days to animate a flag or a windmill, in GDC there is also a talk using 3ds max for environments on a isometric strategy resource game. All those units you see from far away had to be animated by hand and the artist took a lot of time to do even the basic foot soldier. Now what is best is to prioritize for example you have better character design and pixel art on the hero characters the order of importance. Hope this helps the production is tied to the game development and optimizing the workflow is par for the course. All this so that the game won't become a one man passion project but more of a product for everyone.

[@lpcurse3042]

This video is a little deceptive. He's not saying traditional art is outdated, just that it takes time. I feel like this method is much more useful if you already know 3D but don't know or want to learn pixel art. People have different skill sets, but sometimes you want a specific style and don't have the time or motivation to learn how to create that style the "traditional" way. Making good pixel art is like making good 3D models. If you're willing to take the time to learn pixel art, then I recommend the traditional way. However, if you're a 3D designer who wants a pixel aesthetic for their game, then definitely consider this option.

[@egbert5871]

@@lpcurse3042 true , but also time is MONEY. Also for games, if want updates need speed as well, why do you think the Cuphead DLC tock so long... all hand drawn traditional animation (and even that they colored digitaly since actuly painted them for Cuphead would have takeken WAAAAY longer and cost way more

[@lhmsc]

The video is about 3D models to pixel art, not really about texturing. Plus it takes 4 min to start giving the answer.

[@Danger_N00dle]

There's another way I saw somewhere. Basically, the character is made out of a bunch of different parts and each parts have their own "UV" aka textures. Each limbs can be modified in shape or colors at will to create varieties without having to remake all the sprites. So all the devs have to do is to design the individual limbs and create textures akin to a 3D model.

[@incarnatemus]

aarthificial banger

[@Attucky]

What a fantastic breakdown. I love how you approach this theme, keep up!

[@Smeaf]

Thanks! Will do 🔥

[@Lattidude]

This is also how its done in Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition. Its more obvious that they started life out as 3D models when you see a castles destruction animation and all the bricks crumble like a physics simulation

[@naejimba]

Yes! Talking about workflow and the most efficient way to do something. THAT'S the sort of thing I'm looking for; I feel like I waste so much time trying to learn how to do everything and I need to speed up the process.

[@Ghaith.zoaiter]

Great Video🔥

[@Smeaf]

Thanks 🔥

[@simondavis750]

Back in 2015 at animation college we were given a task to make a character sprite sheet. I can not draw to save my life and didn't know what to do. So I modelled a character and posed it then took renders and put them in. The lecturer didn't know if to fail me or praise me. I got the job done in about half the time it took the others because I can model, rig and pose faster than they could draw. I didn't think much of it, it was just a solution to my inability to draw. I also used this technique when doing concept art and character design sketches. Now it turns out I was onto something without knowing what I was doing. I still have no idea what I am doing but now feel better that I could accidentally be a genius.

[@matthijs7861]

Your face looks sponsored by raid shadow legends

[@earthbound9999]

You know you don't *have* to use limited palettes for method 1, right? Also understanding color theory would still help regardless of which method you use. That's just good knowledge to have regardless.

[@Smeaf]

Yes

[@pomponi0]

You don't have to, but pixel art looks better with limited palettes.

[@earthbound9999]

@@pomponi0 wouldn't say it *always* looks better. Really comes down to how well you understand color theory

[@Wyi-the-rogue]

Lol u funny, from a pixel artist.

[@IAmBael]

@@pomponi0 Link's hair in A Link to the Past is purple because of the limited palette. I don't think anybody thinks that looks better than adding in an extra shade.

[@lmmffn]

5:20 yea i tried it for my second project in blender a year ago, but i didn't cut colour palette and i also used a sprite sheet method but for environment, like grass and flowers/bushes and i liked it now im about to mix it again with my current prj with unreal engine too

[@ertelmisegi]

The title says that pixel art is an art style. But is it a style or is it an art form? All the games you mentioned have their own unique style and in some cases the only common thing between them is basically just the pixelated nature.

[@earthbound9999]

Yeah it's a bit weird that he only focused on Dead Cells when pixel art is so varied and diverse. Smeaf is clearly a talented guy, but a shorter video just can't cover a topic as broad as pixel art while doing the topic the Justice it deserves.

[@ne_kitk_a]

Yeeessss As pixel artist im just so tierd of people calling a whole media just "style"

[@brandonstam626]

i almost skipped the sponsor placement until i heard that sweet Blinx Shop music, good taste :)

[@logame3]

I always wondered if they made EVERY sprites for every characters skins, now i have my answer

[@StephenTheSuipod]

You can't imagine how much this information will help me in developing my future projects. Thank you, sir.

[@Rafix]

really really awesome video

[@mikethegamedev]

(*THINGS I LEARNT FROM THIS VIDEO*) 1) Make pixel art with low budget and in short period of time: -Model it in 3D workspace, then rendered out into spreadsheets (If want to make it more pixel-art like 5:09 in blender using nodes) 2) Optimizing your game: -If the object is very far away from your perspective view, in 6:52 *render a flat plane image* of that object (Mostly used in 3D games) Great video btw👍

[@empplayz]

This is so helpful I am actually working on a pixel art styled game in unity right now thanks man!

[@Smeaf]

That’s awesome!

[@BillyJackman3D]

sick so all i have to do is learn 3d modeling to make 2d sprites

[@anoukk_]

The quantization step for the color palette can be done a lot more effectively by creating your own color palette and boundary values.

[@ItsBhavyaPatel]

This video had me dying. I love your sense of humour and delivery. I don't even use blender that much but that shit slaps

[@Grand_Alchemist]

I wouldn't really call it pixel art, more like low res. Pixel art would be closer to what it sounds like -- pixel by pixel hand drawn art. This is low res with a limited color palette.

[@TheChairmanZero]

So Low-Resolution as in Pixelated? Pixel art is exactly as its name would suggest, Pixelated Art... nowhere in the name does it sound "hand drawn" because almost no pixel art is "hand drawn" its done using a computer like 99.99% of the time. I want to know who your drug dealer is.

[@Hollowdude15]

Indie games are so cool and nice video dude :]

[@progCan]

7:38 DUDE I TOUGH U WAS GONNA SAY SKILLSHARE

[@StarstriketheVigil]

I was mad at how you kept me at the edge of my seat then sponsored, and then I heard the Blinx music and it was A-okay. You're a chill dude

[@DenisZaharenko]

Im supposed to make pixel art for a game but i actually suck and they don't known yet. Thanks so much brother.

[@kryperdev]

You can take it a step futher. Instead of baking sprites into sprite sheet you can use same processing in full blown 3D with a shader. Same exact processing as described but performed on actual 3D models in game engine with orthographic camera. Realistic lighting, reflections, SSAO, shiny materials like metal etc. Next step would be to remove also bleed pixels to give it even crispier look but some of it is already handeled by posterization.

[@lolcat69]

me being an indie game seeing that not everyone texture everything like that: 👀

[@visamalog]

Bro... I just found out thanks to this video that Motion Twin developed El Bruto (very popular when I was a kid) and they're also the developers of Dead Cells... My life is complete now

[@blender.creations]

Your videos are a masterpiece Truly a work of art!

[@amongusvr]

I love this style of editing a lot more than the videos with crazy fast edits. Nice

[@Smeaf]

Thank you 🙏

[@LoganLatios]

0:00 whats the name of this song? doesnt seem to be in the song credits that were linked

[@matthardy123]

Broooo this is such a informative video ....especially that normal map point is mind blowing...Keep it up Smeaf

[@Smeaf]

Thanks! 🙏

[@kukukachu]

There's an H game coming out REALLY soon that I'm excited for that used method 1 I believe to make their game. I cannot wait to see if that game is gonna be as good as it looks.

[@paranoidpumpkin98]

As an aspiring pixel artist this was pretty helpful

[@playerpogg]

Nice to see Dead Cells getting recognized, such a beautiful game in many ways Anyhow, that's a pretty interesting video!

[@agatasoda]

You see what he did? He french fried when he should've pizza'ed, if you french fry when you pizza you're goin to have a bad time!!

[@JewelOfSoul]

I'd also like to express that I like your videos. The voice, the editing, the memes, the cap, the mustache and beard. Oh and the info, indeed.

[@fogryu]

If only it was that simple! ^^"

[@lazycreator7794]

You're responsible for my late sleep. Coz you're making too good contents ...

[@Smeaf]

Lmao 😂

[@gegi4577]

0:20 and that makes the answer: pixel art is the easiest ducking thing to draw. you would still need to know all that artistic theoretical stuff and do lots of sprites if you drew it by hand, but it would be harder. and placing pixels is easier than drawing by hand so yeah... the answer is pretty obvious

[@schoonerthedog]

Not the Rapid99 music from JSRF at 0:51!

[@anbraxas]

So, I don't know why this hasn't caught on yet but you don't need sprite sheets anymore. If you design your characters modularly you can use kenemstic bones to animate them. Saving tons of space on sprite sheetz

[@rcecrfrcr8368]

Will you talk about the techniques used by techniques in his game Astortion?

[@NeonFraction]

I really appreciate this video but as a professional artist I can’t agree with: “pixel art is one of the few art styles born out of limitation” On a surface level this is true, but in practice every single video game style, including realistic ones, are beholden to hardware and budget limitations that intensely impact the art style choices of the game. Mobile games tend to be extremely stylized because of the limits of mobile, same with VR. Cell shaded looks are often a way to reduce lighting costs. Indie games are often 2D because 2D games are easier to optimize than 3D. Even ‘realistic’ AAA games have to make some very hard choices on what features are worth it or not onto hit frame rate. It’s the reason that people who optimize game graphics are usually called “technical artists” and not “optimizers.” It’s also a misconception that optimization is a process done at the end of a game. At a big studio, technical artists will be in the room when the art style is decided on, because limitations define art style.

[@PandaJerk007]

Its interesting how the Dead Cells team created this 3D -> pixels workflow and chose 3ds Max to do it. Do you know their specific steps or a tutorial? I also love that program ^_^

[@AraizHasan-ue1bj]

Bro your memes almost kill me every time. The LONG Wayyyy....

[@muniz9046]

ok thats the best editing ive seen in a looong while, really engaging pace, great comedic timing and sweet transitions, my compliments to the chef

[@Smeaf]

I'll let him know 👨‍🍳

[@kuronblue]

7:31 wait sans is that you?

[@mythicalhacker5]

I love your videos, there are both entertaining and informative.

[@lpcurse3042]

Plenty of game engines have filter options that allow 3D models to "look" like pixel art, plus you don't need to worry about lighting problems. However, this style is much more interesting to look at and is a lot closer to true pixel art. As someone who has never rendered a 3D image before (and doesn't have any dedicated external storage), I do want to ask, how much space does it cost? Like having a basic running animation would probably be fine, but having to render out thousands of frames to make an entire sprite sheet sounds costly in terms of computer storage.

[@monkeybtm6]

Very little, with the right file formats. Color palletes and resolutions of most sprite renders, most sprites are less than 20KB per frame. But even full color images can be less than 40KB. Thousands of frames can fit in the size of a single music MP3 if using a reduced color pallete. One frame of the cacodemon sprite from the original DOOM is 4KB at a resolution of 63x66. So the above examples are on the very generous side.

[@lpcurse3042]

@@monkeybtm6 That does seem pretty compact. Thank you for the info, I will consider it in the future.

[@Jimples]

Skip to 3:42 to avoid waffling meme nonsense

[@teabagNBG]

i really enjoyed this video

[@egoalter1276]

Rotascopimg was first uaed in prince of persia. Doom rather famously used scanned clay models. Rare might have been the first to do it with CGI, but its an ancient technique.

[@USP45Master]

7:05 Hello this is Nanite, how may I help you today

[@SinaNouri21]

Thanks for your tutorials, I have been watching your videos since morning ❤ But sir can you send me your blender theme ? 🥺 I fell in love with it

[@alirezajakson9436]

can we use this technique for characters but also draw regular pixel art for other static things like walls, pillars and etc.. and use them in the engine together? great video btw👌

[@Smeaf]

Yes! There's no limit to it :)

[@psychicchicken5263]

I know I'm replying a year late but Dead Cells does exactly that.

[@crybaby6781]

0:35 is that northernlion? Lmao

[@JulianoSchroederArt]

Another very nice example is Factorio.

[@wrillywonka1320]

Soooo how do you render 2d planes with displation maps? Im a super newbie but this info would be very helpful, as well as how to populate/seed them as background assets for video enviroments.

[@kinesta]

Baking normals onto 3d objects for import into games... Gotta look into that thanks!

[@saeedby7497]

Please say how we can make a cloudy sky. Clouds for near

[@Smeaf]

I’ll have hunk about it

[@Entikai]

Hey Smeaf, can I ask something, it's ok if you don't wish to answer. How much do you charge your sponsors, given the current size of your channel? I was thinking of looking for sponsorship sometimes in near future so I was just wondering.

[@josephsimsmusic]

Does anyone know the title of the game shown at 0:42? Thank you!

[@tiacool7978]

I miss Donkey Kong country, the game and the music was really good.

[@TheSnaKerz]

6:11 what is the name of the song here

[@esaackley]

What's the back song on 1:47?

[@Blendas2.0]

Hi Smeak, I really love your content, thank you ! I dont understand how to bake normal map from the 3D model and place it on a 2D image 😮

[@kruth6663]

It's funny how the method used by RARE decades ago to mimic the 3D visual is now being used backwards

[@parmesanzero7678]

> Why? > I did some research… Art budgets.

[@AMSASH]

Peanut butter jelly the lo-the long way

[@cpab27]

i think that this pixel art would look better with a cartoon shader and anime style normals.

[@Smeaf]

Yes

[@DragonaxFilms]

Just tried this myself and it's easily one of the most useful things I've ever learned. Saved me a huge amount of time :D

[@beans40269]

why is there no separate hsv and combine hsv, I can't find them. helppp

[@squawkwarren]

I'm using Blender 3.6.1 and the nodes called "Separate Color" and "Combine Color." Once you select either of the nodes choose HSV mode from drop-down menu

[@Peas3D]

Hello back again commenting to increase your retention. Hope you have a good day Mr Shmeem

[@Smeaf]

Peas has come through with the goods, thank you Mr Pea

[@magnus1383]

I did a character spritesheet for a mobile game once. Had I been better versed in 3D, I probably would have been able to do it more like this. Luckily, it was a very simple character that wouldn't change much and didn't have different light sources, so 3D could have very well been too much effort.

[@celestino9477]

3:53 The video starts here

[@HyperNova137]

Also: We already have free AI programs that can automatically interpolate dozens of frames between actual pixel sprites and spit out a full spritesheet with just a few sliders. If you can just make a few keyframes in real pixel art, you can turn it into a 30 fps animation with literally no effort at all.

[@PaonSol]

What program does this? I've been looking for something like that.

[@HyperNova137]

@@PaonSol The one I had in mind is called BitmapFlow, it's free and open-source... Looks like there may be some other similar programs out there (DAIN seems to be a popular one), but I haven't looked into them to see what the differences are.