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Pixx Suite

Enhance · Pixel-perfect image scaling & resizing · Intermediate

Pixxoni — Intermediate

Pick the right upscaler for each job, hit exact sizes with fit, fill or pad, rebuild art from screenshots and scale animations and sheets in batches.

Open Pixxoni

#What you'll learn

  • When to use each algorithm, and how the pixel-art upscalers behave at factors they don't support.
  • How exact sizes, Keep the shape, Fit, Fill + crop and Fit + pad work together with the Canvas panel.
  • How to read the Check panel to prove a result is pixel-perfect.
  • How to rebuild real-size art from screenshots and JPEGs with Detect pixel grid.
  • How to save your own recipes and scale many files the same way.

#Before you start

  • You should know the basics from the Pixxoni Beginner guide: opening an image, factors, Export.
  • Have a few test images ready: a clean sprite, an upscaled screenshot, and an animated GIF or sprite sheet.

#How-tos

#How to pick an algorithm by job

  1. Screenshots, trailers, store art: Nearest neighbour at a whole-number factor (2×, 3×, 4×, 8×). Every pixel becomes an even square.
  2. Rounder edges, same palette: Scale2x (EPX) or Eagle (chunkier corners) at 2×, Scale3x at 3×, Scale4x at 4×. They only reshape staircase diagonals.
  3. Soft, smooth look: Smooth (xBR-lite) at 2× or 4×. It is the only mode that adds new colours.
  4. Shrinking: Mode (majority) gives each block its most common colour, which keeps outlines and flat areas cleaner than nearest when going down.
  5. If you choose a factor an upscaler doesn't support (for example Scale2x at 5×), Pixxoni runs the upscaler at its own size first, then finishes with nearest neighbour. The panel warns you when that happens.

#How to make an image an exact size

  1. In Size, choose Exact size and type a Width and Height (or click a preset).
  2. With Keep the shape off, the image is stretched to exactly that size.
  3. With Keep the shape on, choose how it fits:
    • Fit: the whole image fits inside the box; the result can be smaller than the box on one side.
    • Fill + crop: the image covers the whole box; the overflow is cut off.
    • Fit + pad: the whole image fits, and the empty space is filled so the result is exactly the box size.
  4. Leave Width or Height empty to set only one side; the other follows the shape.

#How to place art on a canvas

  1. Open Canvas and tick Put it on a canvas (crop / pad).
  2. Set Canvas W and Canvas H. A canvas smaller than the result crops it; a larger one pads it.
  3. Click one of the 9 Anchor points: for example bottom-centre keeps a character's feet on the canvas edge.
  4. Choose Edges: Clear (transparent) or Colour.

#How to use non-square pixels

  1. In Size, open Pixel shape.
  2. Choose Wide 2:1, Tall 1:2, Wide 4:3, Tall 3:4 or SNES 8:7. Pixels are stretched horizontally (or vertically) by that ratio on top of your factor.
  3. Wide pixels 2:1 (×3) in Recipes is a ready-made example.

#How to read the Check panel

  1. Colours shows the number of colours before → after.
  2. New colours must say "none" for any mode except Smooth (xBR-lite). If it doesn't, something blended your pixels.
  3. Half-transparent px counts pixels that are neither fully clear nor fully solid. Clean pixel art usually has none.
  4. The badge under the canvas shows the size change, and crisp when no new colours appeared.

#How to rebuild art from a screenshot or JPEG

  1. Crop away anything that isn't the art (UI, borders) in another app if needed; detection expects one even grid.
  2. Choose Detect pixel grid.
  3. Pixxoni finds the pixel size and offset, then rebuilds each pixel from the typical colour inside its cell (ignoring the cell edges), which also removes JPEG noise.
  4. Keep 1× to get the real-size sprite, or pick a factor to re-enlarge it cleanly.
  5. If it says no pixel grid was found, the image is already at its real size.

#How to save and reuse recipes

  1. Set up everything you want: algorithm, size, pixel shape and canvas.
  2. Recipes → Save this recipe… and give it a name.
  3. Your recipes appear under Yours in Recipes. Delete a recipe… removes one.
  4. Recipes are saved on this device.

#Workflows

#Store icons and screenshots from one sprite

  1. Open your sprite. Apply Store icon 512×512, Export as PNG.
  2. Apply Crisp 8× for screenshots and export again for promo images.
  3. Send to App → Pixxkit to drop the result into store and social templates.

#Clean up art someone sent you at the wrong size

  1. Open the enlarged or blurry file and choose Detect pixel grid at 1×.
  2. Send to App → Pixxivi to keep editing the real-size sprite.

#Scale a whole animation consistently

  1. Open the animated GIF, or bring in frames or a sheet from Library.
  2. Choose your recipe. Every frame uses the same settings; with Detect pixel grid, all frames share the first frame's grid.
  3. Export as GIF, APNG, Sheet PNG or Frames ZIP, or Send to App → Pixxula to repack it.

#Tips and shortcuts

  • Ctrl+O open · Ctrl+S export · Ctrl+V paste an image · 0 fit view · 1 real size · + / - zoom · Space play/pause an animation · Esc close windows.
  • Double-click the image to fit it in the view.
  • The pixel grid button draws pixel lines when you zoom in, useful for checking upscaler edges.
  • Results are capped at 8192 pixels per side, with a warning.
  • Sprite sheets are scaled cell by cell, so upscalers never bleed between frames, and the sheet keeps its columns.

#Troubleshooting

  • The result is smaller than the box I typed: you're on Fit with Keep the shape. Use Fit + pad for an exact size.
  • Edges of the art are cut off: you're on Fill + crop, or your canvas is smaller than the result.
  • Scale2x at 6× looks blocky: the upscaler runs at 2×, then nearest neighbour does the rest. Use 2×, 4× or 8× for the best edges.
  • Detect pixel grid picks the wrong size: remove borders and UI first, or check the source wasn't resized by a non-whole factor.
  • New colours appeared with Nearest neighbour: the source has half-transparent pixels or was already blurred. Try Detect pixel grid first.