How to Convert High Colour Images for the Sega Genesis & Mega Drive - Beginner Game Dev Tutorials

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Link to the programme used to convert images:
rilden.github....
Link to forum post featuring the creator of the tool:
forums.nesdev....

[@dan_perry]

IIRC, Markey Jester made a tool that does this conversion with the MD/Genesis pallette built in. I think it also allows you to use the shadow/highlight mode for increased fidelity with many filters and can output a native MD image binary format.

[@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials]

What's the name of the tool?

[@dan_perry]

@@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials it's called Bitmap MD. There's a YT vid of him going over it on his channel.

[@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials]

@@dan_perry Thanks!

[@dan_perry]

@@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials anytime my friend, for a fellow programmer/guitarist.

[@paolozago6123]

That's a great tool, but I have a suggestion for cases where the image has smooth gradients or more "natural" detail: run first the image through a floyd steinberg dithering palette reduction routine, reducing the colors to the minimum you think still gives a good result (e.g. 64 unique colors with no palette limitation), then run it again through palette quantization with no dithering. I think the result can be even better for some kind of pictures

[@kaxcommentssomethingREAL]

comes to show that even with a limited color palette like that on the Genesis, you can still get some pretty as hell graphics, the crunchy colors in the images look so weirdly satisfying to see...!

[@WakandaForever1776]

Hell yeah! Thanks for a tool that actually transforms pics into actual pixel art ;)

[@GimblyGFR]

I didn't know Tiled Palette Quantization existed! What an amazing tool! Thank you very much! I was trying to convert maps from arcade games by hand using GIMP and Krita, and it was a really long and complicated work. This tool gives you a workable image in seconds. As usual, an excellent and very informative video.

[@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials]

Maybe you can get better results converting level tile maps than I did. Be careful that it doesn't create too many unique tiles though.

[@GimblyGFR]

@@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials I tried with the first stages from Double Dragon and Knights of the Round, and the results were pretty good. Not perfect, but a good starting point. I can keep working from there. Thanks for the tip.

[@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials]

@@GimblyGFR I'm glad you're seeing good results from it. Looking back at my SotN example again, it looks like the tool is doing a good job in not creating extra unique tiles so it''l' probably be fine

[@GimblyGFR]

​@@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials I think that the stages I used work rather well with the tool 'cause they were designed with well-defined tilesets and a relatively small color count from the get-go. The results are not perfect, but you can use the output from the tool and tweak the images as you did on the video. In any case, it is a very useful tool. I was using GIMP to edit the images and Krita to convert the colors to the Genny palette, and TPQ reduced the work considerably.

[@guillaumenunes9319]

This tool is very efficient. Thanks for sharing this.

[@martinhardy7659]

Wow this is now so much easier to create images! Thanks for heads-up

[@GreyMatterShades]

Cool stuff. That tool looks like it could be very useful for things like a title screen, or maybe specific scenes where there isn't a lot of movement (like the courtroom scene in Chrono Trigger). I don't think it'd be too useful for skilled artists like Pyron, but for us non-artistically talented mortals it could help a lot!

[@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials]

It can always be used and then manually touched up afterwards. A lot of the time though it's best to completely re-think the use of colour rather than attempt to replicate the original image as closely as possible (as Pyron does with SotN)

[@RetroSegaDev]

Thanks for the mention 😃

[@jbmaru]

Nice rendering of the Transformers intro!

[@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials]

No problem, I really liked the FMV

[@panzerdragonlegend6664]

Informative As Always Pigsy's Xd I Hope That By June Castlevania SOTN You Release New Parts

[@thehumbleone1983]

Another great video PigsyRetro 👍

[@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials]

🙏

[@mrnicktoyou]

I wonder if this method can be used for the grey stone background in the character select screen for Mortal Kombat 1 and 2. I have always thought they could look much better and it has bothered me all this time with how off they look on the Mega Drive.

[@krushingbro6620]

yea especialy MK2 it was way too bright and jarring

[@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials]

The MD palette doesn't have many dark colours unfortunately, so that kind of background with lots of dark greys is very difficult to do. I'm not sure how possible it is to do much better, but feel free to give it a try, who knows!

[@mrnicktoyou]

​@@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials I already tried it by exporting in different formats in Photoshop and I could never get it to look good when displaying it on the Mega Drive proper. But I'll try again with this program.

[@mrnicktoyou]

@@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials I just tried doing a simple conversion with MK and MK2 and it doesn't look much better than what Probe did, but it makes a huge difference when I select the dithering option. Almost arcade perfect. Awesome! But, dithering adds noise so still not as good, really.

[@mrnicktoyou]

@@rafaelantonio6765 The colours look the same as the standard MK2 in MK Unlimited.

[@axelguzman-rb8nj]

Podría decirnos del Sega mega CD o Sega 32X full motion fmv

[@StevenCusic]

cool stuff i need something like this

[@exoria-x]

😊 muy bueno como pensé está jugando con las paletas de colores y usando trucos de escalado de sombras y transparencia , ceo estar en lo correcto Master pigsys si no corrija 👍🎮

[@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials]

No special effects, just the regular palette being used.

[@DDRmails]

sadly that convertation methods is still so raw. and it breakin on pallet so wrong, omg...

[@NoSpamForYou]

Is there a utility for 512 color pictures or video yet, or supported in SGDK?

[@PigsysRetroGameDevTutorials]

Not that I'm aware of. You have to do some hardware tricks to get more than 61 colours