Pixelmash News

For this release, we've added a much-requested new feature for Pixelmash: the ability to edit keyboard shortcuts. To get started, go to "Edit > Edit Keyboard Shortcuts..." to open the editor. You can then select any command and press the shortcut you wish to assign. You can also clear shortcuts or reset them to default.

We've also fixed an issue with pasting layer effects, and separated the Paste Layer Effects command into two commands, which will let you specify whether to add the pasted effects to any effects already applied, or to replace them.

We’re excited to announce that Pixelmash 2024.0 has been released with a powerful new Animation Timeline feature, and is ready for you to download now! Check out the release video to see how the new timeline works:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The new Animation Timeline has long been requested by users, and replaces the old hacked-in animation window that has been with Pixelmash from the beginning. This timeline is much more standard and powerful for easily making animated pixel art, letting you see all your layers, frames, keyframes and animation settings in one intuitive panel that lives at the bottom of the interface. It can be hidden and shown from the View menu when you’re not creating animations.

Use the right-click menu on frames and cells to access handy animation features like copying and pasting animation frames or setting and removing keyframes. Combined with Pixelmash’s unique ability to animate with layer transforms and vector tweening, this powerful new timeline makes creating beautiful pixel art animations easier than ever before!

Additionally, we’ve added the ability to export video files with an alpha channel (Mac-only for now), updated some of the tool icons, and fixed some bugs.

Enjoy!

We’re happy to announce the release of Pixelmash 2023.5, which includes a powerful new Ground Shadow layer effect, improvements to the Gradient and Repeat layer effects, and several bug fixes.

The new Ground Shadow effect is a powerful way to get perfect shadows beneath characters and other assets in your pixel art projects. The shadow will automatically update to the width of the pixels in any given frame (with sliders to adjust relative width and height, among other controls), so it moves perfectly with animations. Apply the effect in the master layer of a file, with different character animations in sub-layers, to get an automatic, beautiful, consistent shadow across multiple animations.

Pixelmash’s Gradient layer effect has also been expanded with support for multiple blend modes, in addition to new Blend Amount and Bias sliders. These extra controls bring tons of powerful new ways to use gradients in your pixel art.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Release Notes:

• Added native support for ARM processors on newer Macs, improves speed and responsiveness
  
• Added new Ground Shadow layer effect
  
• Added new options to the Gradient layer effect
  
• Added support for negative Spacing values in the Repeat effect
  
• Several bug fixes
  

Pixelmash 2023.4 is here!

This release features the new Animate Transform layer effect! This handy effect lets you animate a layer's rotation, scale, and position simply by entering values. For example: if you'd like a wheel to rotate at 20 degrees per second, simply enter 20 in the rotation field. Many of these animations would be time consuming to do via keyframes and are very straightforward with the new tool. You can also set an independent duration and loop type (such as Boomerang for moving back and forth), and since it's a layer effect you can even apply multiple animations to the same layer if you like!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

This update adds the much-requested ability to import animations from sprite sheets. It's a very handy way to get animations into Pixelmash, edit existing game animations, and much more. To use it, just choose Import Sprite Sheet from the File menu, choose an image, and enter your import settings. It supports simple horizontal, vertical, or grid-aligned sprite sheets, and also includes more advanced settings such as padding and the ability to only import from a certain area of an image (for when a single sprite sheet contains more than one animation). Give it a shot, and let us know what you think!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]