Depixelizing Pixel Art

[cosmiccow]

These guys developed a new algorithm to upscale pixel graphics. On most source material it's much better than existing upscalers.

Here is the document with lots of images: http://imgur.com/a/gRXPJ

There is a sample video with a snippet of Super Mario gameplay processed with their upscaler/vectorizer:
Video: http://ifile.it/gj1tlk5/video_ours_4x_h264.mp4
Alternative link: http://www.filesonic.com/file/1061063604/v...urs_4x_h264.mp4


The original source is kinda down...maybe a case of too much traffic.

Edit: Better source with PDF, more pics, videos.

 

[Windaga]

Wow, that was an awesome read. Thanks! The effect definitely varies, but in a lot of instances, their method certainly looks better in the upscaling. A lot of the time though, it looks kind of like a sloppy paint/blur job. (As in, actual paint, no MS paint.) Still though, it's very interesting. It'd be interesting to see a full game use this algorithm. Maybe as a filter?

 

[Midna]

Here's hoping this goes into the next build of snes9x or ZSNES.

 

[Sausage Head]

I'd love to see this as an application for desktop PCs.
habbo hotel would look awesome

 

[Vigilante]

Cool.
Super Mario World with unpixelated graphics=EPIC!

 

[Midna]

I'd love to see this as an application for desktop PCs.
habbo hotel would look awesome

 

[cosmiccow]

It depends a bit on the type of source.. not all pixel graphics are suited.

The new look it creates has it's own charm and alters the feeling of the original pixel art a lot. It's different, but not necessarily inferior.

Another thing is, an algorithm can never know how a 1-2 pixel detail has to look like exactly, if it was intended to look sharp or rounded, so it will never be accurate on everything.

But I guess it will work quite nice on a lot of NES & SNES games. I hope it will be implemented in an emulator soon.

 

[Quanno]

Oh, how would this look with 3d-games like Golden Sun DS? That'd be awesome!

 

[Tonitonichopchop]

I hope this makes it into some retro emulators. It's a bit crude in some areas, but it would be fun to mess around with.

 

[_Chaz_]

I don't get it, what's wrong with pixels?

 

[Snailface]

This would be a cool option in emulators as long as it can be turned off. (retro purist)

 

[R2DJ]

I don't get it, what's wrong with pixels?

I got nothing to say about that but the depixeled Yoshi sprite in the link looks really really disturbing. Pixeled Yoshi is better.

Also, I'd love to see a depixelized Doom

 

[Berthenk]

I don't get it, what's wrong with pixels?

A lot of people seem to have a polygon fetish these days.

 

[spinal_cord]

You lot should all be ashamed of yourselves. Pixel art is a dying talent and here you all are trying to give it that final kick off the roof. If you need to play old games on a huge TV, then do a pixel perfect resize, those pixels were designed to be seen, blurring and smoothing and stretching is not how these gfx should be viewed. There is no reason at all to ruin nice pixel art like that, if you don't like how it looks then don't play those games, simple.

 

[cosmiccow]

I don't get it, what's wrong with pixels?

Nothing is wrong with pixels. I love pixel art.

But this is impressive.

 

[_Chaz_]

Let's all take a page from the book of Porygon, or rather 3.

Spoiler: The Book of Porygon

Epic

Meh...

Kill yourself

Sharp edges aren't always a bad thing.

 

[RupeeClock]

Let's all take a page from the book of Porygon, or rather 3.

Spoiler: The Book of Porygon

Epic

Meh...

Kill yourself

Sharp edges aren't always a bad thing.
Familiarise yourself with 3D concepts such as surface subdivision.
That's literally what Porygon2 is, a Porygon with subdivided surfaces.
Also, Porygon-Z is a corruption of Porygon 2, the head is detached and then placed upside down as is the body (making the legs into arms)

QUOTE

What I'm particularly impressed with is how the algorithm successfully interpreted how the mouth should be displayed. I want to double-check this against other upscalers like SuperEagle now.

 

[_Chaz_]

Let's all take a page from the book of Porygon, or rather 3.

Spoiler: The Book of Porygon

Epic

Meh...

Kill yourself

Sharp edges aren't always a bad thing.

Familiarise yourself with 3D concepts such as surface subdivision.
That's literally what Porygon2 is, a Porygon with subdivided surfaces.
Also, Porygon-Z is a corruption of Porygon 2, the head is detached and then placed upside down as is the body (making the legs into arms)

I don't understand how that makes Porygon any less epic or the other 2 any less fail.

 

[KingAsix]

this is really neat....I would love to see how megaman games would look using this.

 

[Arm73]

You lot should all be ashamed of yourselves. Pixel art is a dying talent and here you all are trying to give it that final kick off the roof. If you need to play old games on a huge TV, then do a pixel perfect resize, those pixels were designed to be seen, blurring and smoothing and stretching is not how these gfx should be viewed. There is no reason at all to ruin nice pixel art like that, if you don't like how it looks then don't play those games, simple.

This.
Plus add some nice looking-non intrusive fake scanlines ( yes, the pixel artist took TVs scanlines into account when drawing their sprites and backgrounds ) and there you go with a true representation of the art !