What is best pixel art editor for 2d on OSX?

Ok so there are some nice tools for windows - ProMotion, GraphicsGale, even PaintShop Pro is not bad for 2d pixel art (also photoshop of course)... but what about on Mac? Surely our only choices aren't all these photo editors, or GIMP? There just doesn't seem to be a really good 2d art editor for Mac?

 

Anyone know if Pixelmator is any good for this purpose? I'm going to be needing an answer to this question as well and was going to look into this one.

 

Aseprite hands down. http://www.aseprite.org

 

Gotta say Aseprite looks pretty bad in terms of user interface. Seems like there are quite a few tutorials on setting up GIMP for pixel art. I don't really see any good tool for making animation frames and previewing them.

I have an Amiga emulator which runs Deluxe Paint 5 which is hands down better than anything else for this, but being emulated its kinda slow and limited palette/resolution.

 

Yeah, if that's your preference. I can say that when I was looking for a sprite editor, I wanted something that loads quickly, works responsively, plays at the proper frame rate, supports layers, doesn't clutter the interface unnecessarily, provides quick customizable shortcut keys for rapid iteration, exports to sprite sheets, manipulates sprites, layers, and frames intuitively, provides extensive palette options specific to sprites, is actively developed, is reasonably priced, or free with open source code, is backed by some independent studios with some popular names in the industry, and aseprite fit the bill.

 

It's a pity there isn't a good animation option in Gimp ... it has a bunch of other things like palettes and multiple zoom views and tools etc.... but no easy way to quickly see an animation playing. ?

 

It sounds nuts but I'm seriously thinking of using my Amiga emulator and working with Deluxe Paint 5 and 256-color palettes that I later convert to truecolor. It doesn't have layers but it is very good for pixel art and animation, if I can tolerate the slower performance.

 

I'm not associated with aseprite at all, but I'm curious as to what aseprite lacks that deluxe paint 5 running on an emulator makes up for.

 

Familiarity partly, reputation (massive popularity on the Amiga, used for many games), very easy animation, tools etc.

[edit] I just tried that tool.... it's certainly not bad... but DPaint is still much better.

 

@imaginaryhuman - what is it exactly you're looking for? Something comparable to ??? on the pc.
I was going to suggest inkscape, but you mentioned animation ability and I don't think it has any animation tools. I've only played with it for a couple minutes, but others like it a lot.

 

Apparently grafx2 is available for Mac (haven't tried it yet) .. a blend of Amiga programs Brilliance and Deluxe Paint... https://code.google.com/p/grafx2/

Yeah I'd like a modern version of deluxe paint-like tools.... animation support especially, onion-skinning, easy playback and recording, brushes, palettes, color cycling, at least 256-color support, fast performance, designed to be comfortable for drawing lots of pixels etc, gradients, all that jazz. I think for now I will have to go with Gimp and just try to work around its clunkiness.

 

TvPaint is pretty cool, available for mac, been around since the Amiga days, very geared toward animation... but ~$1300

http://www.tvpaint.com/v2/content/article/home/

 

If you like tv paint but not the price, are you familiar with Toon Boom Studio? Which will soon be known as Toon Boom Harmony Essentials? Basically what I used after I moved on from using Autodesk Animator back in the day. GrafX2 reminds me of AA. There's also Anime Studio, but not a fan.

Also, Inkscape is great for vector graphics, but I don't think it has animation, and it's used more for desktop publishing/print, still graphics.

 

I just tried out GrafX2, and while it got me all nostalgic about Autodesk Animator, sizing the canvas to something smaller than the screen put it in the upper left hand corner. Not sure I can work like that.

 

Looked at the toon studio thing but it seemed basted on vectors not bitmaps/pixels.

 

Oh right. Sorry about that. Looking at the TV paint screens, I forgot it was pixel-based since the results were so finished. I just remember doing some research on pixel-based animators for Android, and I couldn't find any good ones except for FlipaClip. Reason I mention it is because there's an Android port of TV Paint available somewhere, but it was horrible.

 

@imaginaryhuman I haven't used either of these two but they look promising if aseprite isn't the thing you're looking for a simple editor:
For pixel art - Pyxeledit: http://pyxeledit.com/features.php
For 2D rigged animations - Spriter: http://www.brashmonkey.com/spriter.htm (I think there's also a script that imports animations from Spriter to Unity).

I thought about using DPaint IV via emulator myself, again. Just for fun. But to be honest - it's not the same any more. It was the best program in the late 90s but using it now isn't as pleasant any more as it used to be. At least to me. There has to be an alternative you can use as well.

 

Good find with Pyxeledit! I'll have to give it a try. Spriter recommendation is probably a little late, considering it was for cheap on the Humble Bundle a week or two ago.

 

Pyxeledit looks interesting, might give it a whirl. I hear what you're saying about DPaint being old - it is... there are some things about it that are definitely clunky and it just doesn't run very quickly in emulator. I've kinda drifted more toward using Gimp just because it has such a plethora of features...rather have more features than not enough.

 

Does anyone using Photoshop CC (the photograph package, $9.99/mo) have any input about using it for pixel art vs using Gimp? I'm considering paying the $120 a year to get all the nice photoshop features.

 

I don't have CC but it should be the same. One tip I have is to have two windows up of the same document at the same time.
Because I like to draw at the pixel level - zoomed in a lot - I have another window open of the same file set to 100% so I can see how it will look at the resolution it is intended for.
This is just how I like to work though - I'm also left handed and curse at having to use ctl z to undo.

 

I've been using Pixen http://www.pixenapp.com/

 

That's pretty much what happened in Deluxe Paint. I can get a second view in Gimp, how do you get a second live/connected view in Photoshop?

 

Well, PS is very widely known and expensive, but that not means it is the best drawing tool
Maybe the best photo editor, but not the best drawing tool.

For me is Clipstudio the best of all Drawing Tool that i have used ever .
http://www.clipstudio.net/en
I know many Tools, because I love to test and use any kind of creativity tools for MAC and PC.

The Brush feeling, Inking and Settings in ClipStudio are outstanding.
No worry if the promo too much like Manga style, because japanese Company, but of course you can Draw what ever you want, also Pixel Art
Here is a Brushset.special for that
http://draconianrain.deviantart.com/art/Pixel-Set-for-Clip-Paint-Studio-522800545

 

Clipstudio does look pretty nice. I tend to go with the tools I have on hand, and get the job done. The tool really isn't as important as the artist's ability.

@imaginaryhuman
Windows tab / arrange / New window for "file name"

 

Cool, thanks for the tip. Also that clipstudio does look good for drawing, but maybe a bit heavily focussed on vectors rather than pixel art. I went ahead and signed up for a year of photoshop. In general, definitely a better more polished/better organized/more consitsent experience than using Gimp. Gimp is a bit like a large collection of separate pieces that have been created by many different people and bundled together (open-source style?).

 

Seems you mix up some terms here ? Clip Studio is pure pixel based just the same principle for drawing like as Photoshop

 

Pixelmator - Cheap/Solid - 12800% zoom

 

try editors with retina display support only. gimp (for example) appears particularly difficult to me. i had nice experience with this photo editor for mac http://macphun.com and it does the job for me. it also have user-friendly interface to use

 

Look up the UPA Toolkit in the asset store. It's free and it can be used inside unity