Quick Setup and Try Pixel Densities ========================================= Try pixel sizes **on the model, live**, before anything is made or changed, then make the texture (``Quick Setup``) or give a model that already has a texture its new pixel size (``Try Pixel Densities``). Nothing is made or changed until you click ``Create Texture`` or ``Apply New Density``, and each of them is one :kbd:`Ctrl+Z`. .. image:: _static/images/v2/quick-setup-step1.png Both are the same mode: ``Quick Setup`` for a model with no texture, ``Try Pixel Densities`` for a model that has one. .. _quick-setup-open: Opening it ---------- * **The big** ``Setup`` **button**, at the top of the ``Pixel Art Studio`` panel, between the help buttons and the tools. It shows while the selected object is a mesh with no texture of its own (in the 3D Viewport and in the Image Editor; from the Image Editor it opens over the biggest 3D Viewport of the window). * **A click on the model with any tool**, on a mesh with no texture. * ``Try Pixel Densities``, at the top of the ``Pixel Density`` panel (3D Viewport), for a mesh with a texture. Greyed out, with the reason in its tooltip, when that texture can never be painted (a sequence, a movie, a file that's gone). * **The eye beside** ``Quick Unwrap Model`` (``UV`` panel, 3D Viewport): opens on ``Preview UVs: Quick Unwrap``, to try new UVs without changing your model and texture (see :ref:`quick-setup-uvs`). .. image:: _static/images/v2/uv-panel-eye.png When the model's pixel size isn't the scene's (you picked another preset after setting it up), ``Try Pixel Densities`` turns **red**, in its usual place at the top of the ``Pixel Density`` panel, so you know the model and the scene disagree. A model Pixel Art Studio never measured (a textured model you just opened) doesn't turn it red. .. image:: _static/images/v2/quick-setup-due.png What happens when it opens -------------------------- * **Every armed tool is put away**, and no tool can be armed until you leave (``Leave Quick Setup to use the tools``). * **The 3D Viewport is maximized** (Blender's own :kbd:`Ctrl+Space`) and cleaned up: the toolbar, the floor grid, the axes, the 3D cursor and the other overlays hide, X-Ray goes off and Wireframe shading goes to Solid. The model is framed in the middle. * **The grid is drawn on the model** at the density you're trying, one cell per pixel, and it follows the model as you orbit and zoom. Nothing is written into the model or the file: it's only drawn. * **The text at the top left** says the density (``Texel Density Preview: 50 px/m``), what one pixel is (``1 pixel = 2 cm``) and the texture size it needs. The keys are listed at the bottom. * **The sidebar becomes the mode's panel**, and the other Pixel Art Studio panels hide until you leave. * **Navigation stays Blender's**: orbit, pan, zoom, the numpad views, the navigation gizmo and the trackpad all work as always. * **Nothing goes into Blender's undo history** while you try. .. _quick-setup-step1: Step 1: select a pixel size --------------------------- From the top: * ``Current Density`` (``Try Pixel Densities`` only): back to the density the model has now, for example ``Current Density · 30 px/m``. * **The presets**: ``Low · 16``, ``Medium · 50``, ``High · 110``, ``Very High · 220``, then your own presets (see :ref:`density-presets`). Hover one for what one pixel is at that density. * ``Custom px/m``: type your own density. * **The numbers**: ``1 pixel`` (its size on the model), ``1 metre`` (how many pixels), ``Texture`` (the size the model needs at this density; red, with ``This model needs more than that at this density``, past 2048). ``Try Pixel Densities`` also says ``Now``, the density the model has. * ``Preview UVs:`` ``Quick Unwrap`` or ``The Model UVs`` (see :ref:`quick-setup-uvs`). * ``Preview Texture:`` ``Current Texture`` (``Try Pixel Densities`` only, see :ref:`quick-setup-current-texture`), then the grid: ``PICO-8``, ``Checker``, ``Color``, ``UV``. * ``Isolate Selected``: shows only the selected objects, the model and the lights (Blender's own Local View). Click it again, or press :kbd:`Numpad /`, to show everything again. * ``Quick Unwrap`` box (``Try Pixel Densities`` only, under ``UVs``). * ``Cancel`` and ``Next`` (``Quick Setup``), or ``Close`` and ``Apply New Density`` (``Try Pixel Densities``). Keys while it's open (everything else is Blender's): .. list-table:: :widths: 30 70 :header-rows: 1 * - Key - What it does * - :kbd:`Ctrl+Wheel` - The next preset up or down. * - :kbd:`Ctrl+Z`, :kbd:`Ctrl+Shift+Z` - Back and forward through the densities you tried (Blender's undo history is never touched). * - :kbd:`Enter` - ``Next`` (``Quick Setup``), ``Apply New Density`` (``Try Pixel Densities``). In step 2, ``Create Texture``. * - :kbd:`Esc` - Leave with nothing made. In step 2, back to step 1. * - :kbd:`Numpad /` or :kbd:`/` - ``Isolate Selected``, on and off. .. _quick-setup-uvs: Preview UVs: Quick Unwrap or The Model UVs ------------------------------------------ .. image:: _static/images/v2/quick-setup-preview-uvs.png * ``Quick Unwrap``: the UVs ``Quick Unwrap Model`` would give the model, every face flat at the pixel size, joined faces in one piece, stacked faces on one spot, each density zone at its own pixel size (see :doc:`uv-tools`). What you see is what ``Create Texture`` and ``Apply New Density`` lay out, and the texture size follows that layout. * ``The Model UVs``: the grid through the UVs the model already has, at the size they get when they're kept. Stretched pixels show right away (above: the hat's UVs projected from a bad angle). Greyed out for a model with no UVs. Picking ``The Model UVs`` unticks the ``Quick Unwrap`` box, picking ``Quick Unwrap`` ticks it. .. note:: A model whose modifiers change its faces (a Subdivision, a Mirror that mirrors the UVs) is previewed face by face, and the text at the top left says so. .. _quick-setup-step2: Step 2: create the texture -------------------------- ``Quick Setup`` only. Click ``Next`` (or :kbd:`Enter`): .. image:: _static/images/v2/quick-setup-step2-panel.png * ``Density``: the one you picked, ``50 px/m (Medium)``. * ``UVs``: the ``Quick Unwrap`` box. * **Ticked** (default): the model gets new UVs at that pixel size, the ones the preview showed. * **Unticked**: the model keeps its own UVs, scaled to the pixel size and snapped on whole pixels. * Held ticked (greyed) for a model with no UVs. * ``Texture Size``: opens on the size the model needs. A smaller one shows a red line (``Cube needs 512px at 50 px/m``). * ``Name`` (``T_`` and the model's name), ``Base Color``, ``Transparent``, ``Pixel Grid Layer`` and ``Grid`` (on the grid you previewed): the same as the canvas wizard (see :ref:`setup-pixel-art-canvas`). * ``Setup Viewport``: runs it too, with the parts ticked under the arrow (see :ref:`setup-viewport`). * ``Back`` and ``Create Texture``. ``Create Texture`` leaves the mode and makes everything as **one undo step**: the texture with its layers, the unlit material, the UVs, the scene's density and the viewport. The status bar says ``T_Cube ready (512x512) at 50 px/m``. .. _quick-setup-try: Try Pixel Densities ------------------- For a model that already has a texture, painted or not. .. image:: _static/images/v2/quick-setup-try.png * It opens on the model's own density (``Current Density`` pressed), on ``The Model UVs``, with the ``Quick Unwrap`` box unticked. * ``Apply New Density`` is live once the density you try gives the model **another pixel size**, or with the ``Quick Unwrap`` box ticked (new UVs, even at the pixel size it has). .. image:: _static/images/v2/quick-setup-try-panel.png .. _quick-setup-current-texture: Current Texture ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ``Preview Texture: Current Texture`` shows the model's own texture at the density you try, **the way** ``Keep my painting`` **would scale it**: * Up by a whole ratio (2 times, 3 times): every pixel is repeated. * Down by a whole ratio: each new pixel takes the most common color of the pixels it covers. * Any other ratio: each new pixel takes the color of the pixel under its middle. * A pixel grid layer nobody painted on is drawn again at the new pixel size. .. image:: _static/images/v2/quick-setup-current-texture.png Apply New Density ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * **Nothing painted on the texture**: applied right away. * **Painted**: it asks first. A texture that came with the model counts as painted. .. image:: _static/images/v2/quick-setup-apply-question.png * ``This density needs`` and ``The texture is``: the sizes before and after. * ``Keep my painting``: the painting stays where it is on the model, every layer scaled to the new pixel size (and the texture grows when it needs to). With the ``Quick Unwrap`` box ticked, the model gets new UVs and every layer is carried onto them. * ``Start with a blank texture``: the same texture, with the same name and file, emptied and resized. * ``Shrink texture to fit`` (going down only): makes the texture as small as the new density needs. Off, it keeps its size. * **Not a whole ratio** (30 to 50 px/m is 1.67 times): the scaled pixels come out uneven, and it says so. ``These densities scale exactly:`` offers the nearest densities that don't (60 px/m, 2 times, above). * **One** :kbd:`Ctrl+Z` brings everything back. On a texture that wasn't painted with Pixel Art Studio yet, it's two: the apply, then the canvas (see :ref:`automatic-canvas`). When something stops it, nothing changes and a popup says why (``Nothing was applied``), before the question shows: the model is in Edit Mode, the texture comes from another file, keeping the painting needs a texture bigger than 4096, and so on. .. note:: Going to a density that isn't a whole number of pixels per Blender unit with new UVs (63.6 px/m, for example), the new UVs land on whole pixels: 64 px/m. The question, the report and the model all say 64. .. _quick-setup-follow: Trying the other parts of a model --------------------------------- Click another mesh while the mode is open (in the 3D Viewport or the Outliner) and **it becomes the model**, at the same density, so you can compare the parts of a model at one pixel size: * A mesh with a texture opens in ``Try Pixel Densities``, a mesh with none in ``Quick Setup``'s step 1. * An Armature, an Empty or a linked mesh can't be the model: the last one stays (you can still select the rig). * ``Create Texture`` and ``Apply New Density`` make the model the active object first. Leaving ------- ``Cancel``, ``Close``, :kbd:`Esc`, ``Create Texture`` or ``Apply New Density``: the view is put back exactly as it was. It also ends, putting everything back, on Blender's own :kbd:`Ctrl+Space` or ``Back to Previous``, closing the sidebar, another editor or workspace, opening a file, or Blender's undo. :kbd:`Ctrl+S` saves with no trace of the mode, and the mode stays open. .. _density-question: The same question from Apply Texel Density and Setup Viewport ------------------------------------------------------------- ``Apply Texel Density`` and ``Setup Viewport`` never rescale a painted texture without asking: when the scene's density would move the faces of a painted texture, they ask the same ``Keep my painting`` / ``Start with a blank texture`` question (one undo step for the answer). Other meshes are laid out as usual, and the report says which texture was left alone. .. _remove-unused-textures: Remove Unused Textures ---------------------- Tried a few densities and made a texture each time? ``Remove Unused Textures`` (``Setup`` panel) lists the textures a setup made that **nothing uses any more** (no material samples them and no Image Editor shows them), and removes them with their layers, grid and material, as one undo step. .. image:: _static/images/v2/remove-unused-textures.png * Only textures made by ``Setup Pixel Art Canvas`` or ``Create Texture`` are listed, never one you made yourself or one that came with a model. * ``No unused textures`` when there's nothing to remove. Good to know ------------ * **Quick Setup always lays the UVs at the density you try**, even when the unwrap density in ``Pixel Density`` is ``Fit Texture``. The other ``Unwrap Options`` (margin, density zones, pixel aspect, the joined faces layout) are followed. * **Density zones**: ``Try Pixel Densities`` scales every zone by the new density over the model's own, exactly as ``Apply New Density`` does. ``Quick Setup`` keeps the zones as they are, and only faces in no zone take the density you try (see :doc:`density-zones`). * **Blender 3.6 and 4.0**: the sidebar can't be brought to the ``Pixel Art Studio`` tab by itself, so the text at the top left says where the controls are. * Disabling the add-on while a visit waits on another workspace leaves that view as it was during the visit: :kbd:`Ctrl+Space` puts it back.