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What is the best alternative to Fusion Character Animator?
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Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional)
All
8
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
2
Top
Con
No more support
Adobe ditched AIR which they will EOL at 2020
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Pro
Powerful tool
This program has developed AAA TV Series and Movies like Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
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Con
Exspensive
Flash can be priced at $999.99 on the official Abobe store.
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Pro
Export to HTML5
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Pro
Interpolation between frames
Several ways to create animation and special effects: motion tweens, classic tweens.
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Pro
Create and organize layers
Layers help you organize the artwork in your document. You can draw and edit objects on one layer without affecting objects on another layer.
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Pro
Bone tool
Bone tool that enables you to link symbols together quickly and easily in a parent/child relationship commonly referred to as inverse kinematics.
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Pro
Easy to use
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Experiences
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18
2
Tiled
All
14
Experiences
Pros
12
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
Multi-platform
Not everyone uses the same operating system and why should they? Tiled supports Windows, Mac, and Linux so you can work in any environment you like. Also with daily builds you get to stay ahead of the curve!
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Con
Must implement .tmx if your engine doesn’t support Tiled.
It’s not a huge deal but you do need to implement Tiled into your engine if you don’t have it. Don't be lazy just follow this guideline to get your game running. Must implement .tmx if your engine doesn’t support Tiled.
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Pro
Free and open-source
Using the GPL license means you get to use this software free and are free to make changes to it as you see fit.
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Pro
Unlimited layers
Sometimes you need 20 layers to make something epic. Tiled lets you create as many layers as you need.
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Pro
Use shell commands
Setup shell commands within Tiled so you can setup workflows for each of your games.
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Pro
Supports Orthographic and Isometric tiles
Whether you want a straight on look at your world or a slightly skewed one Tiled has you covered.
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Pro
Terrains
Setup boarders with your tilesets so making tiles provide the correct connections automatically. This feature will speed up your level creation.
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Pro
Auto-mapping
One of the coolest things is to create rules so you can automate the mapping process. Want to have certain tiles to always have a collider? Simply make a rule for it and it'll do it automatically. Speed up your mapping process with this feature.
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Pro
Many engines already have support
A big list of engines already have support for Tiled provided by those in the community. See if the engine you use is already on the list.
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Pro
Can create colliders and triggers within editor
Tiled makes it easy to setup triggers and colliders with its vector tools or you can set up a tile that’s invisible in your game. Change collider/trigger properties so you can access them within your game.
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Pro
Tile size and image size do not have to match
Want to import a giant object but don’t want to split it up? Import it and place it the exact size you want it as one object.
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Pro
Properties
Create properties for your map, layers, tilesets, tiles, and objects. Have the flexibility you need to create the best levels for your game.
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Pro
Engine agnostic
Tiled provides an easy solution for tile maps for any engine even the custom engine you are now making. This makes Tiled a very versatile tool for 2D games.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac
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Experiences
Free
102
13
Piskel
All
15
Experiences
Pros
9
Cons
5
Specs
Top
Pro
Works in any browser
WPiskel is HTML5-based so it works in any modern browser.
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Con
Lacks a true resizing tool
There doesn't seem to be any decent tool in Piskel for an easy stretch or shrink. The only ways possible is resizing the whole image or importing and image and shrinking it from the export tool.
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Pro
Animation support
Piskel includes onion skinning, exporting to sprite sheets or gifs, defining frame rate, and present live playback.
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Con
No button for undo
Have to use ctrl+Z.
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Pro
Sleek interface
It is also easy on the eyes.
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Con
Rotation is limited
Rotation is only made in predefined angles. Does not support variable rotations or mouse based rotation. Does not support rotating selected areas, only frames-layers.
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Pro
Very simple for beginners
Once you get the hang of it its a very powerful tool
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Con
Shading by hand
Shading can be difficult.
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Pro
Offline versions available
The downloadable version of Piskel (built with node-webkit) is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
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Con
Doesn't work well with drawpads
In the online tool you can't draw lines at all, yet using a graphic tablet, being in the offline version controls are pretty chunky and everytime you start drawing a line, the screen flickers black for a short period of time.
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Pro
Easy to use lighten and darken tool
With the click of a button you can create amazing shading.
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Pro
Enough tools to be powerful
It has enough tools to be powerful, but not too many to put off beginners.
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Pro
Open source
Piskel is licensed under Apache License, meaning that the user can use the software for any purpose.
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Pro
Has a straight foreward tile view mode
... so you can instantly see the result while drawing tiles
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Specs
License:
Apache
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Experiences
FREE
45
7
GrafX2
All
13
Experiences
Pros
10
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
Scriptable using Lua
GrafX2 is scriptable using the Lua language, which can be used to automate tasks and add new functionality to it. The script library features advanced color reduction and enhancement tools, palette analysis, and much more.
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Top
Con
Dated look and feel
It looks like it was never supposed to be used in the modern world.
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Pro
Supports many file formats
GrafX2 supports many file formats, including the popular gif and png, but also importing and exporting from deluxe paint, degas elite, and various other editors using custom formats.
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Con
Lack of modern features
Some modern features that are necessary to do pixel art creation for game dev work are lacking.
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Pro
Very large number of tools and effects
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Pro
Free, open source, and cross-platform
GrafX2 is totally free to use, copy, and modify. It's available on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Haiku, AROS, MorphOS, SkyOS, Syllable, Mint, and a few more systems. Basically anything is supported by the SDL library.
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Pro
Palette color cycling
GraphX2 being based on older 256 bitmap software has inherited some tricks that modern pixel editors do not have . One of them being the ability to cycle color palette and produce animations and effects with it.
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Pro
Has a great palette tool
You can create gradients from one color to another, work in either RGB or HSL color space, save and load palettes, sort and organize palettes, and even work on "color cycling" images.
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Pro
Supports tileset addition and extraction
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Pro
Supports animations
The program has a basic support for animation using frames in newer versions. Graphics can be cloned and copied between frames and changed slightly. See here how to animate with GrapfX2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnq6zBZOqoM
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Pro
Has a customizable UI with themes support
Theme UI style can easily be changed from settings including buttons and colors.
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Pro
Drawing constraint mode for vintage 8bits machine
The program is able to enforce the pixel constraints of old machines (C64, ZX Spectrum, Apple II, Game Boy Color, etc.) For example, in ZX Spectrum mode, only 2 different colors can be used in a 8x8 pixel block.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, macOS, Haiku
License:
GPL2
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Experiences
FREE
126
20
Blender
All
25
Experiences
Pros
16
Cons
8
Specs
Top
Pro
Free and open source
Blender is licensed under the GPL. Some Blender modules such as the Cycles rendering engine are licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.
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Top
Con
Too many possibilities, no unified workflow
The operations are not optimized enough for specific tasks.
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Pro
Wide import and export format support
Support lots of modern 3D formats including DAE and FBX - ideal for game developers.
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Top
Con
The physics engine is a bit lagging behind, especially the destruction physics
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Pro
Has a powerful rendering engine
Blender runs the Cycles path tracing engine under the hood. Cycles is a very powerful rendering engine capable of full path tracing (light fall off, caustics, volumetrics). It is mostly compatible with OpenCL and CUDA rendering, and is implementing mycropolygon displacement features. The upcoming release has a viewport engine called EEVEE whereby you can see and interact with your work in render mode in real time!
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Con
Difficult learning curve
Blender has a history of being unintuitive, but the 2.8 overhaul made the program far easier for beginners to pick up, and changes continue to be made to further improve the experience. However, there is still a learning curve.
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Pro
Python extensibility
Blender embeds Python 3, which can be used to write add-ons, tools, extend the interface, rig characters and automate tasks.
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Con
Not good for Industrial Design because it uses average vertex normals
You can not create a hard surface with a radius continuity degree along a surface using a specific radius value.
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Pro
Powerful animation suite
Blender provides a full rigging system, and automates animation by interpolating between keyframe positions.
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Top
Con
Vertex normal issues on edges after boolean operations.
After creating a simple boolean operation the vertex normals are broken. A lot of work to fix the issue and you loos surface continuity.
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Pro
Supports both low-poly and hi-poly modeling
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Top
Con
Bad vertex normal after boolean operations
Does not handle well polygon intersections. And need tweaking by hand points or adding average vertex normals via modifiers.
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Pro
Regular release schedule
Releases are made every ~3 months.
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Top
Con
Does not handle NURBs
Is not capable of real hard surface for industrial design because is not able to reproduce surface continuity degree as a NURBs does and average vertex normal destroy surface radius.
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Pro
Sculpting and 3D painting features
Although Blender's 3d painting and sculpting tools (mostly painting) are not at par with specialized software like Substance Painter, ZBrush, or Mari, it is more than capable of getting most jobs done if the user takes the time to learn and understand it.
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Con
Poor particle system
The Blender particle system can at times be a little limiting and finicky (and buggy) to get working. Even if it can get most straight forward jobs done, it is far from the most advanced system, and could benefit largely from advancements.
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Pro
Includes video editing & compositing tools
Blender's node-based compositor has comprehensive video sequencing and post-processing features.
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Pro
Node based modeling support
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Pro
Keyboard shortcuts
Good keyboard shortcuts for everything. Keep your left hand on the keyboard and your right hand on the mouse.
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Pro
Very useful for a freelancer
It offers a round solution (it covers many areas and professional fields) for a freelancer, for free, constantly updated, very polished, and allowing high quality results that clients do require. After some learning, it becomes very useful for professional work.
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Pro
Has a large community
There's a huge community to help you get started immediately.
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Pro
Coherent and streamlined workflow / internal use logic
The trick with Blender is to get used to its usage philosophy, as it keeps consistent through all the application. Once you get it, every feature or addition is learnt naturally, almost effortlessly.
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Pro
Very versatile
You don't have to switch between software when you want to do different things. Because modeling, sculpting, composting, video editing etc can all be done in blender.
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Pro
Generative geometry using nodes
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac, FreeBSD
Technology:
C, Python
3D:
Yes
2D:
Yes (as of 2.8)
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Experiences
Free
663
95
Spine
All
10
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
4
Top
Pro
Integration libraries support most engines
Spine provides integrated modules for 14 major engines including GameMaker Studio, Cocos2Dx, LOVE, MonoGame, Unity, XNA, Flash, HTML 5, libgdx, Corona, and more. Generic runtime libraries are also available for C, C++, Objective C, C#, JavaScript, Lua and ActionScript 3. Dozens of third party libraries support additional targets.
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Top
Con
Spine Professional is expensive
Spine Essential includes nearly all features, except IK, weights, and meshes. Spine Professional is expensive, though it does give all future updates for life (Spine is updated very often).
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Pro
Simplified UI allows for an easy learning curve
No-nonsense workflow allows you to create your artwork in programs much better suited for the task like Illustrator and Inkscape for example, while Spine itself focuses only on the important task of skeletal animation.
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Con
Requires EVERY developer to have a license
Ever developer needs a license, not just the animator, or an overall license for the project. The license agreement is extremely restrictive.
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Top
Pro
Allows for easy use of artwork from third party programs
Spine's developers provide scripts which makes exporting artwork from third party programs much easier to do.
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Top
Con
Doesn't support gamemaker 2.3
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Pro
Community-driven feature roadmap
Esoteric Software maintains public Waffle issue trackers to help plan and prioritize feature additions.
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Top
Con
No integration for lesser known engines
Spine does not directly support some game engines, such as Construct 2 or Clickteam Fusion.
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Pro
Funded via Kickstarter
Spine received resounding support from Kickstarter backers, beating its pledge goal by over 5 times. A second successful Kickstarter added meshes and other important features.
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Pro
Price high for this product
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Experiences
$69 / $299
227
41
GAF Converter
All
4
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
1
Top
Pro
Supports 99% of what can be created in Flash
Artists and animators don’t need any special planning or preparations of their SWF files before converting.
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Top
Con
Sound support only in Premium version
GAF Converter supports sound but only in the Premium version.
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Top
Pro
Allows using Flash animations in Unity
You can convert Flash animations directly in Unity with the help of plug-in. The converted .gaf file consists of a texturte atlas and a binary config.
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Top
Pro
Supports different frameworks
Full playback API supported in Unity3d, Cocos2d-x, Cocos2d, Starling.
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3
1
DragonBones Pro
All
13
Experiences
Pros
10
Cons
3
Top
Con
Almost no documentation
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Top
Pro
Animation weight
This is a very useful feature because you can make a walk animation that you can simply change the animation weight to see the character start running, because it will increase the scale of the movement of the bones in the animation. This will increase the hand and the leg swing as you increase the animation weight and the character, making it appear as though it is running.
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Top
Con
Not developed anymore
Publisher/ Developer dropped support for the software and left it in the dark. Use Spine instead.
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Top
Pro
Switch sprites
Can easily switch sprites in between the animations like switching clothes and other multiple behaviors.
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Top
Con
Deceptive pricing
It's not "free" if you can't save, and tutorials cost money.
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Top
Pro
Completely programmable animations
Watching and moving can be programed depending upon certain events.
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Pro
Animation speed changing, bone scaling, switching postures
Size as well as animation speed can be easily changed during an animation.
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Pro
Multiresolution with texture scale
Can easily export to different texture sizes to target multiple resolution platforms.
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Pro
Color transform, changeable Z-Order
Can easily change the Z-Order of a sprite during an animation and can also change the color mask on a sprite, in between an animation.
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Pro
Animation reuse/clone
Create once and use the same animation for different characters just by simply cloning the same animation for the new characters.
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Pro
Nesting skeleton, timeline tween
You can nest skeletons and change the timeline of the animation in between the animations in order to make some cool effects.
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Top
Pro
Flash Pro extension, WYSWYG
There is an extension available for Adobe Flash users, which gives a WYSWYG design window inside of flash.
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Pro
Open source
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Experiences
Free
113
30
Pyxel Edit
All
14
Experiences
Pros
7
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Pro
Supports animations
Tiles can be animated within Pyxel Edit, with "onion skin" frame overlays to assist in making smooth frame transitions.
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Top
Con
development has stopped -- developer has stated 8/20 that a new version will be released soon
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Top
Pro
Intuitive UI
Pyxel Edit is widely acclaimed for its ease of use.
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Con
Lacks some tools
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Pro
Tileset extraction
Given an image and specified tile dimensions, Pyxel Edit will extract a tileset with no duplicate tiles. This mostly works for flat images though. If you feed Pyxel "finished maps" you will still get a lot of duplicates.
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Top
Con
No Linux version
There is no Linux version of the editor.
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Top
Pro
Tilemap serialization support
Tile-based images (maps) built in Pyxel Edit can be serialized via XML or JSON for easy import elsewhere.
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Top
Con
Free version lacks features
The free version of Pyxel Edit is an outdated beta. It does not receive updates.
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Top
Pro
Cheap compared to others
For only $9 (£6), this is one of the cheapest but also one of the best pixel editors out there.
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Top
Con
Proprietary, closed-source software
This software does not respect your freedom.
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Pro
Live tile-update
Instantly see if your tiles are tileable and/or seamless and fix it easily.
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Con
Mac version is dependent on Adobe Air
The OSX version of the application requires Adobe Air to run.
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Top
Pro
Indexed tiles can be used for reusing objects in animations
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows; OSX
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Experiences
$0-$9
130
35
Creature
All
3
Experiences
Pros
3
Top
Pro
Automated animation
One of Creature's strengths is its ability to assign motors on bones which will generate animations based on parameters set on the motors.
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Pro
Unity runtime always up to date
Among various game engine supported, Unity is the most up to date runtime including the most recent features, many samples, integrating well in the Unity editor.
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Top
Pro
Easy to use
Creature has a simple workflow structured into 3 steps: Meshing, Rig and Animate.
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65
23
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