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Pixx Suite

Pixx Suite · Intermediate

Working across apps — Intermediate

Move work between Pixx apps with confidence: Send to App, the Library, cloud versions, .pxasset files and habits that keep multi-app projects tidy.

#What you'll learn

  • How Send to App, the Library and cloud projects fit together, and which one to reach for.
  • How to hand the same piece of work through three or four apps without losing anything.
  • How cloud versions and conflict copies protect you when you work on two devices.
  • How to share work as a .pxasset file, even with someone who isn't signed in.
  • How to keep your storage tidy when every app saves to the same account.

#Before you start

  • You know the basics from Send to App and Cloud projects and your Library.
  • You're signed in. Send to App, the Library and the cloud all need an account and a connection.
  • Your plan includes the apps you want to move work between. Opening an app that isn't in your plan shows its lock screen.

#How-tos

#How to choose between Send to App, the Library and the cloud

  1. Ask yourself whether another app needs this. If yes, use Send to App: it saves a copy to your Library and opens the other app with it loaded.
  2. If you want to keep a finished piece for later or for several apps, save it to the Library (Library → Save current work to my library).
  3. If you want to keep editing in the same app, maybe on another device, use Cloud → Save to cloud. Only the app that made a cloud project can open it.

#How to pass one piece of work through several apps

  1. In the first app, click Send to App at the top.
  2. If the app offers more than one thing to send (for example the animation or just its palette), pick it with the chips at the top of the window.
  3. Click the next app's tile. Only apps that can open that kind of item are shown.
  4. The next app opens signed in, with your work loaded. Do your part there, then repeat from step 1.

Every hop leaves a copy in your Library, so you can go back to any stage later.

#How to send several kinds of thing from one app

  1. Open Send to App and look at the chips at the top. Each chip is something this app can send right now, such as an animation, a sprite sheet or a palette.
  2. Send one, then come back and send another. Each becomes its own Library item.

For example, send a character's animation to Pixxula to pack a sheet, then send its palette to Pixxulo to build variations.

#How to keep working on two devices

  1. On the first device, use Cloud → Save to cloud before you stop.
  2. On the second device, open the same app, sign in and use Cloud → Open from cloud….
  3. Save to the cloud again when you finish. The cloud keeps the last 10 versions of each project.

If you changed the same project on both devices without opening the newer copy first, your save is kept as a separate copy named "… (this device)" and you see Changed on another device too — saved yours as a copy. Nothing is overwritten; open both and keep the one you want.

#How to share work with someone outside your account

  1. Open Send to App and click Download .pxasset.
  2. Send the file however you like: email, chat, a USB stick.
  3. The other person opens their Pixx app, clicks Library → Open a .pxasset file…, or simply drags the file onto the app.

A .pxasset opens without signing in, and it carries everything the receiving app needs (frames and their timings, the sheet grid, palette colours, hitboxes and so on). If you're curious what's inside, see Pixx asset files.

#How to tidy your Library and projects

  1. Open Dashboard → My work on pixxsuite.com.
  2. Use the Projects (per app) and Shared assets tabs, the app and kind filters, and sort by Largest first or Most versions.
  3. Click Select, pick what you no longer need, and delete them in one go. The space you'll free is shown before you confirm.

Every stored version counts toward your storage, so deleting an old project frees all of its versions at once. See Your account and storage — Intermediate.

#Workflows

#Character from sketch to sprite sheet

  1. Draw and animate in Pixxivi.
  2. Send to App → Pixxeta to add hitboxes, pivots and frame events.
  3. Send to App → Pixxula to pack a sprite sheet. The hitboxes travel with the frames.
  4. Send to App → Pixxizi to export it for your game engine. See Game engine hand-offs.

#One palette for a whole project

  1. Build the palette in Pixxulo and save it to the Library.
  2. In every other app you use, open it from Library. Apps that accept palettes show it in their Library window.
  3. When you change the palette, save it again and reopen it where you need the update. Library items are copies, so older work keeps the colours it was made with.

#A level with its own look

  1. Make textures in Pixxexa and send them to Pixxori.
  2. Build the level in Pixxori, then Send to App → Pixxado to light it, or → Pixxizi to export it as an engine level.

#Tips and shortcuts

  • The Send to App window only lists apps that can open what you're sending. If an app is missing, it can't read that kind of item. The full table is in Send to App.
  • The Library window in each app only shows the kinds of item that app can open.
  • Signed out, Send to App offers a .pxasset download instead, so you never lose a hand-off.
  • Library hand-offs carry pixels at their real size (1×). Scale up as a last step in Pixxoni, or with an app's own export scale.
  • A cloud project can't be opened by another app. When you want another app to use it, send its result instead.
  • One project file can be up to 50 MB.

#Troubleshooting

  • The app I want isn't in the Send to App window. It can't open that kind of item. Send a different chip (for example the sheet instead of the animation), or check the table in Send to App.
  • The other app opened but my work isn't there. Make sure you're signed in on both sites, then open it from that app's Library window: the item is already saved there.
  • I see a "(this device)" copy. The project changed on another device too. Open both copies and keep the one you want.
  • Cloud saving is refused. You may be out of storage, or this app isn't in your plan. Check Account → My Plan.
  • A .pxasset won't open. The receiving app can't read that kind of item. Try an app that accepts it, or ask for a different export.