Pixel Splash Studio

Tutorials

Short, practical workflows for common tasks. These match the current behavior: tools always edit the active pixel layer; “deep copy” only affects what gets copied.

Drawing tools: quick mini-tutorials

Each tool is a small, self-contained workflow. (Add screenshots later if you’d like.)

Pen

Select Pen in the toolbar.
Pick a palette swatch (left-click = primary color).
Click to place single pixels; click-drag to draw strokes.
Right-click draws with the secondary color (set it with Ctrl+click on a swatch).

Tip: If a stroke looks “blocky”, change the pen Size and Brush options.

Tip: Import palettes from LoSpec via the palette menu, or open a deep link like lospec-palette://oil-6 to apply it directly in the app.

Pen options: size + brush

With Pen active, set Size to 1px, 4px, or 8px.
Choose a Brush shape: fine-point, rectangle, or circle.
Draw the same stroke a few times to feel the difference.

Quick exercise: make a 3-step ramp (dark → mid → light) and practice shading with a larger brush.

Line

Select Line.
Press, drag, release to place a straight line.
Hold Shift while dragging to snap to 45° angles.

Tip: Use line previews to “aim” your endpoints before committing.

Rectangle

Select Rectangle.
Pick a mode: Filled, Outlined, or Outline + Fill.
Click-drag to set two corners, then release to commit.

Quick exercise: draw a “button” by using Outline + Fill, then add a 1px highlight with Pen.

Fill (bucket)

Select Fill.
Use Mode: Color to flood-fill a region connected to the pixel under your cursor.
If you have an active selection, use Mode: Selection to fill the entire selection.
For a ramped fill, use Gradient Dither and pick 2+ palette swatches (Shift+click).

Tip: Fill affects the active layer only. If you want to fill a different layer, select it first.

1) Layers: draw, reorder, hide

Open the Layers tab in the minimap panel.
Click + Layer to create a new layer (it becomes active).
Click a layer row to make it the active layer.
Toggle the checkbox to show/hide a layer.
Use ↑/↓ to reorder layers (top = drawn last).

Tip: Visibility affects rendering and “merged” reads (like deep copy / eyedropper), but tools still write only to the active layer.

Shortcut mental model

Active layer is where pixels are written. Visible layers are what you see (and what “merged” operations can sample from).

If you want to paste into a different layer, select that layer first.

2) Selection: copy vs deep copy

Make a selection with rectangle/oval/lasso selection tools.
Copy from the active layer only with Ctrl+C.
Deep copy a merged selection with Ctrl+Shift+C: active layer + all visible layers (stacked top-to-bottom).
Cut from the active layer with Ctrl+X.
Paste with the Stamp tool (or auto-switch after copy/cut).

Paste behavior: clipboard pixels always paste into the currently active pixel layer — even if the clipboard was created via deep copy.

When to use deep copy

Deep copy is best for “flattening” a composed view into one layer, like turning shading/linework across layers into a single stamp.

3) References: paste, transform, trace

Paste an image to add it as a reference underlay.
Use the reference handle tool to move/rotate/scale/flip and adjust opacity.
Use trace actions to convert reference pixels into palette-indexed pixels.

References don’t modify pixel layers until you trace or paint.

Suggested workflow

Keep references on for alignment, paint into one layer, then add additional layers for highlights/cleanup and deep-copy when you want to flatten.

4) Tile mapping: sample → paint → export

Use Tile Sampler to capture tiles from pixel data.
Paint into a tile map with Tile Pen / Tile Rectangle.
Export a region with Tile Export to tiles.png + tiles.tmx.

Tiles sample what you see

Tile sampling uses the rendered/merged pixel view (topmost visible pixels). If you need a clean source, hide layers or deep-copy into a single layer first.