How do you add color variation and contrast to your pixel art materials in Substance Designer?

1 What is pixel art?

Pixel art is a style of digital art that uses pixels, or small squares of color, as the basic unit of composition. Pixel art is often associated with old-school video games, where the low resolution and limited color palette forced artists to use pixels creatively and efficiently. Pixel art can also be used as a deliberate aesthetic choice, to evoke nostalgia, simplicity, or challenge. Pixel art can have different levels of detail and realism, depending on the size, number, and placement of the pixels.

2 How to create a pixel art base in Substance Designer

To create a pixel art base in Substance Designer, you need to use a Pixel Processor node, which allows you to manipulate the pixels of an input image according to a custom function. The Pixel Processor node has two inputs: a grayscale image that defines the shape of the pixel art, and a color image that defines the color palette of the pixel art. You can use any image as the grayscale input, such as a noise, a pattern, or a drawing. For the color input, you can use a Gradient node, a Color node, or an image with the colors you want. The Pixel Processor node also has a parameter called Pixel Size, which controls how big each pixel is in the output. By adjusting this parameter, you can create different levels of pixelation.

3 How to add color variation to your pixel art in Substance Designer

To add color variation to your pixel art in Substance Designer, you can use a Blend node to mix your pixel art base with another image that has some color variation. For example, you can use a Perlin Noise node, a Gradient node, or a Color node with some noise or hue variation. You can also use different blending modes, such as Overlay, Multiply, or Color, to achieve different effects. By adding color variation, you can create more depth, contrast, and interest to your pixel art.

4 How to add contrast to your pixel art in Substance Designer

To add contrast to your pixel art in Substance Designer, you can use a Levels node or a Histogram Scan node to adjust the brightness and darkness of your pixel art. The Levels node allows you to change the input and output ranges of the grayscale values of your image, while the Histogram Scan node allows you to isolate a specific range of values and clamp the rest. By using these nodes, you can create more contrast between the pixels, and make your pixel art more visible and sharp.

5 How to preview and export your pixel art in Substance Designer

To preview and export your pixel art in Substance Designer, you need to use a 2D View node, which displays your pixel art in a 2D window. You can zoom in and out of the 2D View node using the mouse wheel, and pan around using the right mouse button. You can also change the background color of the 2D View node using the Background Color parameter. To export your pixel art, you need to use an Output node, which allows you to save your pixel art as an image file. You can choose the format, resolution, and quality of your output image using the Output node parameters.