Hexels, Brixels, Pixels, Crystals, Circles, Wiggles, Diagonal, and Zeez!
November 5, 2014 8:55 PM   Subscribe

Hexels is a unique grid-based art tool for PC and OS X that has garnered some acclaim from game developers for its retro digital aesthetic. See what people are making in Hexels, or try it yourself for free.

Hexels is the work of Ted Martens and Ken Kopecky. You may recognize Martens' pixel art from indie rhythm dungeon crawler Crypt of the NecroDancer.
posted by buriednexttoyou (12 comments total) 55 users marked this as a favorite
 
How cool! I can't wait to give this a shot. I'm not particularly artistically inclined, but it looks like something I could have fun with. Nice that the pro version lets you export the designs as vector art too.
posted by kryptondog at 10:00 PM on November 5, 2014


This is exactly the program I've been looking for. Hexie quilts, here I come!
posted by ocherdraco at 10:09 PM on November 5, 2014 [4 favorites]


Some of the same effect can be had in Inkscape by generating a clone tile grid and using the bucket fill tool. I'm somewhat surprised there isn't already a render extension to generate grids, honestly.
posted by pwnguin at 12:17 AM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


Having recently attempted to use Inkscape to make an app icon, I don't think I could recommend it to most people. UI/UX counts for a lot in these kinds of tools, and we've progressed really far over the past few years...
posted by archagon at 4:01 AM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


Installed! The interface is clunky looking, but it should be fun to play with.
posted by Going To Maine at 5:36 AM on November 6, 2014


Deluxe Paint forever.
posted by pashdown at 6:43 AM on November 6, 2014 [2 favorites]


I've been doodling around with this today. I like it! Here's what I've got so far.

It's important to note that the drawing tool is automatically set to less than 100% opacity (it took me a while to figure that out) and that it automatically displays "glow." It's worth futzing with the settings a bit before diving in. Also, it seems you can only expand the canvas down and to the right (as opposed to in all directions out from the center).
posted by ocherdraco at 7:34 AM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


Very cool! Thanks for this!!
posted by freakazoid at 7:46 AM on November 6, 2014


OMG Hex-Ray vision is even cooler than cool. I am so happy.
posted by freakazoid at 7:53 AM on November 6, 2014


It's important to note that the drawing tool is automatically set to less than 100% opacity (it took me a while to figure that out) and that it automatically displays "glow."

So just like Lite Brite, then? I think I might be in my element here.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:15 AM on November 6, 2014 [2 favorites]


It definitely has a Lite Brite feel.

Another thing to twiddle when you start: the canvas (background) is black by default. Changing it later results in very different colors if you're working with transparency.
posted by ocherdraco at 11:28 AM on November 6, 2014


As someone terrible at art this is really a lot of fun to play with. So far I've made lots of random geometric patterns and I also made this island thing. Thanks so much for this!
posted by CarolynG at 11:03 PM on November 6, 2014


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